NCAA Women’s Championships: Kate Douglass ‘A Little Speechless’ After Another American, NCAA Record This Week in 200 Breast
For the second consecutive season, Virginia’s Kate Douglass has won all three of individual events at the NCAA Women’s Championships, all of them in American-record time and five of the six in the fastest time ever. Her first two races this week in Knoxville, Tenn., saw Douglass emerge victorious after clashing with loaded fields, both of which featuring other swimmers who also surpassed the previous fastest time ever, but in the 200 breaststroke, Douglass had no peer.
Short on adjectives to describe her performance? That’s fair, and the 21-year-old from Pelham, N.Y., feels the same.
“I think I’ve left myself a little speechless. I was very shocked with last year’s performance, and coming into the season, I was kind of like, ‘I have no idea how I can be better than that.’ To see myself outdo myself from last year was a little crazy,” Douglass said. “I’ve just worked really hard this year, and I’ve just seen a lot of improvement in a lot of areas. I’m stronger. I’ve worked hard in the weight room, and I’m definitely a lot more confident than I was a year ago.”
After her earlier wins in the 200 IM and 100 butterfly, Douglass led wire-to-wire in the 200 breast, and she ended up more than two seconds clear of the runnerup, Texas’ Anna Elendt. More, she beat the American, NCAA and U.S. Open records for the third time this season. Originally, she swam a time of 2:02.19 at last season’s NCAA Championships to knock off Lilly King’s four-year-old record, and over the course of this year, she dropped that record to 2:01.87 at the Tennessee Invitational in November and then to 2:01.43 at the Cavalier Invitational in February.
Entering the race, it seemed plausible that Douglass could break into the 2:00-range or perhaps even get under 2:00, but she would merely settle for once again swimming faster than anyone ever had before.
“I definitely have grown to love the 200 breast,” Douglass said. “I feel like I’ve gotten pretty good at swimming the race. Just being able to go three best times in one season I think is pretty awesome. Once I started to think about that, I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m pretty happy with that swim.’ I love that race, and I was pretty happy to come out with a best time tonight.
Douglass was under record pace the entire way, and she finished in 2:01.29 to clip 14 hundredths from her previous top mark. Compared to her previous swims, Douglass was actually slower on the final 50, not that fading slightly ended up hurting her title or record chances.
Splits from 2022 NCAA Championships: 27.84, 58.98 (31.14), 1:30.54 (31.56), 2:02.19 (31.65)
Splits from 2022 Tennessee Invitational: 27.94, 58.76 (30.82), 1:30.25 (31.49), 2:01.87 (31.62)
Splits from 2023 Cavalier Invitational: 27.71, 58.59 (30.88), 1:30.12 (31.53), 2:01.43 (31.31)
Splits from 2023 NCAA Championships: 27.60, 58.29 (30.69), 1:29.59 (31.30), 2:01.29 (31.70)
Meanwhile, Elendt was in second place for the entire distance, and she finished in 2:03.26 to tie Bethany Galat for fourth all-time in the event. Only Douglass, King and Alex Walsh have ever posted quicker times. Third went to Virginia’s Ella Nelson in 2:04.33 as she overtook Tennessee’s Mona McSharry on the last 50. Nelson clipped two hundredths from her previous best time, and she remains 10th all-time in this race. McSharry touched fourth in 2:04.59, good for 12th-fastest all-time in the event.
Event 18 Women 200 Yard Breaststroke
=========================================================================
NCAA: N 2:01.43 2/4/2023 Kate Douglass, Virginia
Meet: M 2:02.19 3/19/2022 Kate Douglass, Virginia
American: A 2:01.43 2/4/2023 Kate Douglass, Virginia
US Open: O 2:01.43 2/4/2023 Kate Douglass, Virginia
Pool: P 2:01.87 11/19/2022Kate Douglass, Virginia
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
=========================================================================
=== Championship Final ===
1 Douglass, Kate SR Virginia 2:02.60 2:01.29N 20
r:+0.64 27.60 58.29 (30.69)
1:29.59 (31.30) 2:01.29 (31.70)
2 Elendt, Anna JR Texas 2:06.64 2:03.26 17
r:+0.68 27.81 58.85 (31.04)
1:30.69 (31.84) 2:03.26 (32.57)
3 Nelson, Ella SR Virginia 2:05.72 2:04.33 16
r:+0.72 28.64 59.94 (31.30)
1:31.94 (32.00) 2:04.33 (32.39)
4 McSharry, Mona JR Tennessee 2:06.39 2:04.59 15
r:+0.62 28.10 59.72 (31.62)
1:31.69 (31.97) 2:04.59 (32.90)
5 Peplowski, Noelle 5Y Indiana 2:06.35 2:06.16 14
r:+0.71 28.57 1:00.36 (31.79)
1:32.57 (32.21) 2:06.16 (33.59)
6 Gridley, Kaelyn FR Duke 2:07.32 2:06.26 13
r:+0.70 29.04 1:00.81 (31.77)
1:33.30 (32.49) 2:06.26 (32.96)
7 Keating, Anna JR Virginia 2:07.12 2:06.73 12
r:+0.69 28.90 1:00.91 (32.01)
1:33.62 (32.71) 2:06.73 (33.11)
8 Odgers, Isabelle 5Y USC 2:06.92 2:07.13 11
r:+0.75 29.21 1:01.23 (32.02)
1:33.76 (32.53) 2:07.13 (33.37)
=== Consolation Final ===
9 Foley, Sally JR Duke 2:07.43 2:06.58 9
r:+0.64 28.89 1:01.27 (32.38)
1:33.80 (32.53) 2:06.58 (32.78)
10 Kucheran, Nina 5Y Florida 2:08.30 2:06.59 7
r:+0.56 28.77 1:00.61 (31.84)
1:33.13 (32.52) 2:06.59 (33.46)
11 Jacoby, Lydia FR Texas 2:07.58 2:06.66 6
r:+0.67 28.18 59.71 (31.53)
1:32.66 (32.95) 2:06.66 (34.00)
12 Davey, Gillian SR Kentucky 2:07.88 2:07.26 5
r:+0.71 29.56 1:01.86 (32.30)
1:34.46 (32.60) 2:07.26 (32.80)
13 Wiseman, Avery SO Alabama 2:07.77 2:08.00 4
r:+0.70 29.81 1:02.73 (32.92)
1:35.30 (32.57) 2:08.00 (32.70)
14 Hartman, Zoie SR Georgia 2:07.85 2:08.13 3
r:+0.69 29.29 1:01.79 (32.50)
1:34.79 (33.00) 2:08.13 (33.34)
15 Dobler, Kaitlyn JR USC 2:07.89 2:09.14 2
r:+0.64 29.19 1:02.02 (32.83)
1:35.37 (33.35) 2:09.14 (33.77)
16 MacCausland, Heather SR NC State 2:08.14 2:10.04 1
r:+0.64 28.86 1:01.25 (32.39)
1:35.11 (33.86) 2:10.04 (34.93)
Women - Team Rankings - Through Event 18
1. Virginia 472.5 2. Texas 321.5
3. Stanford 277 4. Louisville 234
5. NC State 230 6. Ohio St 195
7. Tennessee 193 8. Indiana 178
9. Florida 157 10. UNC 132
11. California 121 12. Alabama 111
13. Wisconsin 100 14. Southern California 99
15. Lsu 95 16. Georgia 89.5
17. Kentucky 49 18. Duke 42
19. Minnesota 37 20. Miami (Fl) 36
21. Arizona 32 22. Michigan 29
23. Virginia Tech 28 24. Texas A&M 26
25. South Carolina 25 26. Auburn 14
27. Northwestern 13 28. Arkansas 12
29. Hawaii 11.5 30. Miami (Ohio) 9
31. Penn 7 31. Purdue 7
31. Florida St 7 34. UCLA 6
35. Akron 5 36. Arizona St 4
37. Georgia Tech 2 37. Utah 2
39. Florida Int'l 1
Now will the NCAA allow and bealogicial men to break all of these womens records like they’ve allowed in the past?