NCAA Women’s Championships: Alex Walsh Dominates 400 IM Final With Fifth-Fastest Time Ever; Virginia Goes 1-2
Aiming for a third consecutive NCAA title in the 200 IM, Alex Walsh ended up in third place despite swimming one hundredth quicker than the existing American and NCAA records she set last season. It was just that Walsh came up against amazing swims by her University of Virginia teammate Kate Douglass and Stanford’s Torri Huske.
In the 400 IM, however, Walsh left no doubt. She immediately crushed the field on the butterfly leg, leading by almost two seconds at that point, and the advantage was a full four seconds by the halfway point. Walsh was under American-record pace through 250 yards, and although she could not keep up with Ella Eastin’s overwhelming speed from her 3:54.60 in 2018, she held on to win the event in 3:57.24.
That swim was the fifth-fastest time in history, one hundredth ahead of her 2022 winning time and behind only Eastin, Katie Ledecky and Katinka Hosszu on the all-time list. Walsh has now captured five individual NCAA titles, with a pair of wins in both individual medley events as well as the 200 fly last season.
“I’m really happy with that swim,” Walsh said. “I just went for it, and my butterfly at least bodes well for [the 200 fly] tomorrow, and I’m really excited for tomorrow. The 200 IM was a great race, but yeah, getting third doesn’t always feel great. I’m just super happy to have put together the race I was able to put together.”
And for the first time this meet, it was a first-second finish for Virginia as the Cavaliers’ Ella Nelson came in second at 3:59.54, just slightly off her best time of 3:59.33 that ranks her 11th all-time. For both Walsh and Nelson, the feeling of racing together and sweeping the top two spots was both comforting and familiar. Before their three seasons as teammates at Virginia, the two (plus Alex’s younger sister Gretchen Walsh) trained together at the Nashville Aquatic Club.
“It really did give me so much comfort having her in that race,” Nelson said. “I was under 4:00 for the first time at ACCs, which was a big mark for me to check off the list, so I was a little bit nervous about doing that again because I dropped a lot of time. My best was 4:02 before that, so I dropped nearly three seconds. Having Alex in there, I know I’m three days older than her, but I look up to her so much. She carries so much poise and confidence with her, and having her right there, we train a lot together, so it was comforting to have her there.”
While the Walsh sisters and Douglass remain the clear headliners, Nelson has made huge contributions to Virginia’s big lead in the team competition. Before the 400 IM, she placed fourth in the 200 IM (a race where Virginia had three of the top four finishers) and swam a lifetime-best split of 1:42.92 anchoring Virginia’s upset win in the 800 freestyle relay. Nelson’s senior season can certainly be considered the best one of her careeer.
“It’s been pretty cool,” Nelson said.” Last year, the coaches and I would both agree that something was just kind of off. Nothing big. I was still swimming really fast, and I was still really happy with it, doing it for the team, but I was expecting my times to be a little bit faster. This year, I’ve been saying I’m not surprised that the times have been so great, but I am happy to see it paying off. I also know that’s kind of how my swimming career has gone. I’ve been level for a few years and then had a big drop. I’m really happy with it, though.”
Behind that Virginia duo, Florida claimed 3-4 in the standings as Emma Weyant grabbed third in 4:03.50 ahead of teammate Mabel Zavaros (4:04.08). Weyant is the Olympic silver medalist in the 400-meter IM and World Championships bronze medalist in the event.
NC State’s Grace Sheble was fifth in 4:04.83, with Minnesota’s Megan Van Berkom (4:05.37), Stanford’s Lucy Bell (4:05.56) and Kentucky’s Lauren Poole (4:05.74) rounding out a quick championship heat. Meanwhile, in the B-final, Nicole Maier of Miami (Ohio) put on a huge freestyle surge to make up a deficit of almost four seconds over the last 100 yards. She touched in 4:05.84 to knock more than three seconds off her season-best time.
Event 8 Women 400 Yard IM
=========================================================================
NCAA: N 3:54.60 3/16/2018 Ella Eastin, Stanford
Meet: M 3:54.60 3/16/2018 Ella Eastin, Stanford
American: A 3:54.60 3/16/2018 Ella Eastin, Stanford
US Open: O 3:54.60 3/16/2018 Ella Eastin, Stanford
Pool: P 3:58.36 2/15/2012 Elizabeth Beisel, Florida
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
=========================================================================
=== Championship Final ===
1 Walsh, Alex JR Virginia 4:01.86 3:57.24P 20
r:+0.78 25.11 53.51 (28.40)
1:23.80 (30.29) 1:53.17 (29.37)
2:26.35 (33.18) 3:00.30 (33.95)
3:29.34 (29.04) 3:57.24 (27.90)
2 Nelson, Ella SR Virginia 4:01.87 3:59.54 17
r:+0.72 26.29 55.53 (29.24)
1:26.62 (31.09) 1:57.19 (30.57)
2:29.76 (32.57) 3:03.06 (33.30)
3:31.63 (28.57) 3:59.54 (27.91)
3 Weyant, Emma SO Florida 4:05.61 4:03.50 16
r:+0.66 26.69 56.29 (29.60)
1:27.56 (31.27) 1:58.11 (30.55)
2:32.56 (34.45) 3:07.73 (35.17)
3:36.25 (28.52) 4:03.50 (27.25)
4 Zavaros, Mabel JR Florida 4:05.72 4:04.08 15
r:+0.69 26.00 55.55 (29.55)
1:26.51 (30.96) 1:56.93 (30.42)
2:32.31 (35.38) 3:08.19 (35.88)
3:36.76 (28.57) 4:04.08 (27.32)
5 Sheble, Grace SO NC State 4:04.65 4:04.83 14
r:+0.65 25.87 55.54 (29.67)
1:27.57 (32.03) 1:59.49 (31.92)
2:32.94 (33.45) 3:07.88 (34.94)
3:36.97 (29.09) 4:04.83 (27.86)
6 Van Berkom, Megan JR Minnesota 4:06.70 4:05.37 13
r:+0.67 25.85 55.43 (29.58)
1:27.86 (32.43) 1:59.24 (31.38)
2:34.21 (34.97) 3:09.13 (34.92)
3:38.44 (29.31) 4:05.37 (26.93)
7 Bell, Lucy FR Stanford 4:06.05 4:05.56 12
r:+0.65 26.00 55.56 (29.56)
1:27.72 (32.16) 1:59.46 (31.74)
2:33.76 (34.30) 3:09.03 (35.27)
3:37.94 (28.91) 4:05.56 (27.62)
8 Poole, Lauren SR Kentucky 4:06.33 4:05.74 11
r:+0.71 26.34 56.42 (30.08)
1:27.29 (30.87) 1:58.10 (30.81)
2:33.10 (35.00) 3:07.78 (34.68)
3:37.20 (29.42) 4:05.74 (28.54)
=== Consolation Final ===
9 Maier, Nicole JR Miami (Ohio) 4:09.61 4:05.84 9
r:+0.70 25.92 56.63 (30.71)
1:29.31 (32.68) 2:01.74 (32.43)
2:36.34 (34.60) 3:11.74 (35.40)
3:39.64 (27.90) 4:05.84 (26.20)
10 Hay, Abby SR Louisville 4:07.46 4:06.30 7
r:+0.71 25.52 55.05 (29.53)
1:26.34 (31.29) 1:57.38 (31.04)
2:32.37 (34.99) 3:07.84 (35.47)
3:37.71 (29.87) 4:06.30 (28.59)
11 Dixon, Zoe FR Florida 4:08.14 4:06.92 6
r:+0.66 25.74 55.52 (29.78)
1:27.03 (31.51) 1:57.68 (30.65)
2:33.39 (35.71) 3:09.17 (35.78)
3:38.99 (29.82) 4:06.92 (27.93)
12 Tadder, Samantha SO Stanford 4:08.67 4:07.40 5
r:+0.62 26.19 56.41 (30.22)
1:29.10 (32.69) 2:01.16 (32.06)
2:35.38 (34.22) 3:09.84 (34.46)
3:38.98 (29.14) 4:07.40 (28.42)
13 Pasadyn, Felicia 5Y Ohio St 4:06.95 4:07.48 4
r:+0.68 25.44 55.03 (29.59)
1:26.97 (31.94) 1:58.14 (31.17)
2:34.22 (36.08) 3:10.46 (36.24)
3:39.51 (29.05) 4:07.48 (27.97)
14 Polonsky, Leah SO California 4:06.94 4:07.49 3
r:+0.66 26.36 56.21 (29.85)
1:27.83 (31.62) 1:58.61 (30.78)
2:33.32 (34.71) 3:08.92 (35.60)
3:39.17 (30.25) 4:07.49 (28.32)
15 MacEachern, Paige SO UCLA 4:08.10 4:09.76 2
r:+0.70 26.44 56.83 (30.39)
1:29.22 (32.39) 2:01.00 (31.78)
2:35.96 (34.96) 3:11.60 (35.64)
3:40.88 (29.28) 4:09.76 (28.88)
16 Looze, Mac 5Y Indiana 4:09.33 4:12.54 1
r:+0.70 27.47 58.40 (30.93)
1:31.48 (33.08) 2:04.13 (32.65)
2:39.22 (35.09) 3:14.72 (35.50)
3:43.80 (29.08) 4:12.54 (28.74)
Women - Team Rankings - Through Event 8
1. Virginia 245.5 2. Texas 162
3. Louisville 124 4. Stanford 123
5. Florida 113 6. Ohio St 97
7. Indiana 84 8. NC State 80
9. California 77 10. UNC 73
11. Georgia 66.5 12. Lsu 62
13. Tennessee 61 14. Alabama 56
15. Wisconsin 49 16. Kentucky 37
16. Southern California 37 18. Minnesota 24
19. Virginia Tech 18 20. Arizona 17
21. Miami (Fl) 16 22. Duke 13
23. Arkansas 12 24. Michigan 10
25. Miami (Ohio) 9 25. South Carolina 9
27. Texas A&M 7 27. Florida St 7
29. UCLA 6 30. Arizona St 4
31. Auburn 2 31. Northwestern 2
31. Utah 2
