Katie Ledecky Pulls Away for Stanford Win in 4×200 Free Relay to Open NCAAs

katie-ledecky-
Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Editorial content for the 2018 NCAA DI Championship coverage is sponsored by TritonWear. Visit TritonWear.com for more information on our sponsor. For full Swimming World coverage, check event coverage page.

The Stanford women pulled away to win the first title of the women’s NCAA championships, with Katie Ledecky anchoring the Cardinal to a win in the 4×200 free relay. Katie Drabot (1:42.99) and Ella Eastin (1:41.13) had the Cardinal in contention before Brooke Forde (1:42.94) opened up a lead and Ledecky (1:39.87) extended it.

The Cardinal finished in 6:46.93, just one second off their American and NCAA record of 6:45.91 set last year. Simone Manuel swam on that relay in 2017 but sat it out this time around.

Michigan ended up finishing second in 6:50.03, with the Wolverines just edging out Cal, which settled for third in 6:50.83. Catie DeLoofSiobhan HaugheyRose Bi and Gabby DeLoof swam for the Wolverines, with Haughey posting the fastest split of 1:40.49.

Cal’s team consisted of Robin NeumannKathleen BakerKatie McLaughlin and Amy Bilquist. McLaughlin’s 1:41.64 split on the third leg put the Bears into contention.

Swimming out of the second of three heats, Tennessee took fourth in 6:52.12 after a sterling 1:42.39 opening leg from Erika Brown. Texas was fifth in 6:53.42, with Claire Adams leading the way with a 1:41.71 split.

Louisville finished sixth in 6:53.75, and as usual, Mallory Comerford starred for the Cardinals. She split 1:39.14, believed to be the quickest split in history.

Rounding out the top eight teams were Virginia (6:54.60) and Minnesota (6:56.40).

Four swimmers outside of the top eight teams posted sub-1:43 splits: Georgia’s Meaghan Raab anchored in 1:42.95, Kentucky’s Asia Seidt was 1:42.93, USC’s Louise Hansson led off in 1:42.71, and Wisconsin’s Beata Nelson put up a 1:42.58 anchor split.

In the team race, Stanford opened a lead with 40 points, followed by Michigan (34) and Cal (32) with the first full day of competition to come Thursday.

Event 1  Women 800 Yard Freestyle Relay
====================================================================
    School                                 Seed     Finals        
====================================================================
  1 Stanford                            6:53.86    6:46.93  
     1) Katie Drabot SO               2) Ella Eastin JR               
     3) Brooke Forde FR               4) Katie Ledecky SO             
                 24.09        50.37 (50.37)
      1:16.66 (1:16.66)   1:42.99 (1:42.99)
        2:06.97 (23.98)     2:33.11 (50.12)
      2:58.77 (1:15.78)   3:24.12 (1:41.13)
        3:48.14 (24.02)     4:14.60 (50.48)
      4:40.89 (1:16.77)   5:07.06 (1:42.94)
        5:30.32 (23.26)     5:55.44 (48.38)
      6:21.21 (1:14.15)   6:46.93 (1:39.87)
  2 Michigan                            6:52.04    6:50.03  
     1) Catie Deloof JR               2) Siobhan Haughey JR           
     3) Rose Bi JR                    4) Gabby Deloof SR              
                 24.50        50.83 (50.83)
      1:17.01 (1:17.01)   1:43.35 (1:43.35)
        2:06.42 (23.07)     2:32.00 (48.65)
      2:57.94 (1:14.59)   3:23.84 (1:40.49)
        3:48.06 (24.22)     4:14.21 (50.37)
      4:40.95 (1:17.11)   5:07.72 (1:43.88)
        5:31.52 (23.80)     5:57.54 (49.82)
      6:23.53 (1:15.81)   6:50.03 (1:42.31)
  3 California                          6:52.62    6:50.83  
     1) Robin Neumann FR              2) Kathleen Baker JR            
     3) Katie McLaughlin JR           4) Amy Bilquist JR              
                 24.26        50.65 (50.65)
      1:17.27 (1:17.27)   1:43.78 (1:43.78)
        2:06.99 (23.21)     2:32.71 (48.93)
      2:59.01 (1:15.23)   3:26.56 (1:42.78)
        3:49.69 (23.13)     4:15.69 (49.13)
      4:42.02 (1:15.46)   5:08.20 (1:41.64)
        5:31.33 (23.13)     5:57.34 (49.14)
      6:23.96 (1:15.76)   6:50.83 (1:42.63)
  4 Tennessee                           6:58.85    6:52.12  
     1) Erika Brown SO                2) Stanzi Moseley SO            
     3) Tessa Cieplucha SO            4) Meghan Small SO              
                 23.59        49.59 (49.59)
      1:15.88 (1:15.88)   1:42.39 (1:42.39)
        2:06.03 (23.64)     2:32.11 (49.72)
      2:58.50 (1:16.11)   3:25.49 (1:43.10)
        3:49.59 (24.10)     4:16.04 (50.55)
      4:42.74 (1:17.25)   5:09.67 (1:44.18)
        5:33.11 (23.44)     5:58.68 (49.01)
      6:25.18 (1:15.51)   6:52.12 (1:42.45)
  5 Texas                               6:57.84    6:53.42  
     1) Quinn Carrozza JR             2) Claire Adams SO              
     3) Evie Pfeifer FR               4) Rebecca Millard SR           
                 24.26        50.05 (50.05)
      1:16.59 (1:16.59)   1:43.72 (1:43.72)
        2:06.78 (23.06)     2:32.10 (48.38)
      2:58.55 (1:14.83)   3:25.43 (1:41.71)
        3:49.47 (24.04)     4:15.85 (50.42)
      4:42.43 (1:17.00)   5:08.61 (1:43.18)
        5:32.57 (23.96)     5:58.89 (50.28)
      6:26.04 (1:17.43)   6:53.42 (1:44.81)
  6 Louisville                          6:56.32    6:53.75  
     1) Sophie Cattermole JR          2) Mallory Comerford JR         
     3) Arina Openysheva FR           4) Rachael Bradford-Feldman JR  
                 24.75        51.04 (51.04)
      1:17.75 (1:17.75)   1:44.36 (1:44.36)
        2:07.31 (22.95)     2:32.76 (48.40)
      2:58.09 (1:13.73)   3:23.50 (1:39.14)
        3:47.27 (23.77)     4:14.11 (50.61)
      4:41.05 (1:17.55)   5:07.91 (1:44.41)
        5:31.91 (24.00)     5:58.55 (50.64)
      6:25.81 (1:17.90)   6:53.75 (1:45.84)
  7 Virginia                            6:55.55    6:54.60  
     1) Morgan Hill SO                2) Jen Marrkand SR              
     3) Megan Moroney SO              4) Eryn Eddy JR                 
                 24.78        50.71 (50.71)
      1:17.33 (1:17.33)   1:44.11 (1:44.11)
        2:07.63 (23.52)     2:33.46 (49.35)
      2:59.81 (1:15.70)   3:26.50 (1:42.39)
        3:50.67 (24.17)     4:16.54 (50.04)
      4:43.08 (1:16.58)   5:10.09 (1:43.59)
        5:33.71 (23.62)     6:00.06 (49.97)
      6:27.39 (1:17.30)   6:54.60 (1:44.51)
  8 Minnesota                           6:59.53    6:56.40  
     1) Danielle Nack SR              2) Chantal Nack JR              
     3) Mackenzie Padington FR        4) Zoe Avestruz JR              
                 24.03        50.36 (50.36)
      1:17.24 (1:17.24)   1:44.33 (1:44.33)
        2:08.65 (24.32)     2:35.28 (50.95)
      3:02.06 (1:17.73)   3:28.79 (1:44.46)
        3:52.32 (23.53)     4:18.56 (49.77)
      4:45.36 (1:16.57)   5:12.06 (1:43.27)
        5:35.80 (23.74)     6:02.45 (50.39)
      6:29.42 (1:17.36)   6:56.40 (1:44.34)

Full results

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

3 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Ibolya Garai
6 years ago

Dopping

Lane Four
Lane Four
6 years ago
Reply to  Ibolya Garai

Dopping? Yes, you are right! They dopped! You dopp. I dopp. We all dopp. Maybe someone could write a really catchy tune called She Dopp.

Trevor Dove
6 years ago

League of her own

3
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x