Katie McLaughlin Set for Another NCAA Daily Friday Double

Photo Courtesy: Al Sermeno/KLC fotos

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Last year, Katie McLaughlin, in her own words, “snuck into eighth” in the 200 free prelims at the NCAA Championships to make the final, and give her a tough double with the 100 fly.

Making the finals in both events was a rare feat — at least it was last year.

This year, the Cal senior is focused on the double again. Now that she knows she can do it, McLaughlin has embraced it.

At the Pac-12 Championships, McLaughlin did the same double and finished second in both events.

“I think it was a little different than last year. Going into the double this year, I feel like I was able to take it one thing as a time. I knew that is what I was training for. I felt more prepared mentally going in,” McLaughlin told Swimming World. “We had so much fun at Pac-12s, so getting to feed into my team’s energy definitely helped going into the 200.”

Her double was overlooked at the time since in the 100 fly, she finished behind USC’s Louise Hansson, who broke the NCAA record in the event (49.34).

But McLaughlin wasn’t far off the pace at 50.67, then turned around and clocked a 1:43.04 in the 200 to finish behind teammate Abbey Weitzeil (1:41.97).

Photo Courtesy: Al Sermeno/KLC fotos

“Getting to practice that the past two years gives me more confidence,” she said. “I kind of like that challenge. I love to race the 100 fly and 200 free. It is a bit of a bummer that they are back-to-back, but it is a challenge. Points-wise with my team, that is my best option. I know that is where I can be the most help for my team. It is not about winning as an individual. That is way more important to the team. I want to give the team the best opportunity.”

In fact, her double-runner-up finish wasn’t even the biggest thing that happened to McLaughlin during the meet. On the final night, she teamed with Robin Neumann, Amy Bilquist and Weitzeil to break the NCAA record in the 400 free relay, clocking a 3:07.41, stunningly taking down the 2017 Stanford team of Simone Manuel, Katie Ledecky, Janet Hu and Lia Neal (3:07.61).

“We wanted to really put the focus on our relays,” McLaughlin said. “The relays are always so exciting. At least half our team lost their voices by the end of the meet.

“Finishing out with the NCAA record was really special. We didn’t know what the record was, but we knew we were going to put together a strong relay. Those are three of my best friends. I knew they were going to do even better on the relay. I wanted to be at my best for them. We didn’t expect that to happen. It was really exciting.”

The Bears are looking to put together an even faster relay at NCAAs.

“We all had really good splits and good swims. We were surprised we got a record. We are going to have another opportunity to bring it down. It is just momentum in the NCAA community. Seeing people go fast is inspiring. It pushes people around them,” she said. “It is going to be really exciting.”

It was one of many dominant Cal relays at Pac-12s that give the Bears a shot at unseating Stanford at the NCAA championships.

McLaughlin also teamed with Bilquist, Ema Rajic and Weitzeil to win the 400 medley relay (3:26.41), teaming with Weitzeil, Maddie Murphy and Bilquist to win the 200 free relay (1:26.00) and with Izzy Ivey, Neumann and Bilquist to win the 800 free relay (6:50.63).

McLaughlin and Ivey had a special bond in the meet because Ivey also did the same double. She finished third in the 100 fly (51.15) and eighth in the 200 free (1:46.03). They got out together, started to swim down in the diving well, hopped out for awards, then back in to finish cooling down before the 200 free, just like McLaughlin did at last year’s NCAA meet.

“There was a little lane in the diving well, pretty similar to NCAAs. My teammate Isabel Ivy was doing the same thing. We hopped out for the awards of the 100 fly, then jumped back in. Watching the rest of the team do so well was really inspiring,” McLaughlin said. “It was fun having a teammate in there with me. She did a great job. It is definitely a difficult double to do.”

But for McLaughlin, the difficulty of the deed started with an easy decision to make that sacrifice again for the good of the team. It is about the team’s chance at winning, not McLaughlin’s chance at winning anything individually.

“It is really exciting to think about. It has really motivated our team knowing we have a chance at winning,” McLaughlin said. “Our focus isn’t doing anything we can to win, of course we want to. But we do our best when we are having fun together, which is why our relays do so well. For me as a senior, I want to enjoy my last NCAAs. I am going to put it on the line and I know my teammates will, too. That is all you can ask for.”

Check our more NCAA Championship coverage here.

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