NCAA Women’s Championships: Bella Sims, Isabel Ivey Power Florida to Dominant 800 Freestyle Relay Triumph

bella-sims-isabel-ivey-emma-weyant-micayla-cronk-florida-800-free-relay-2024-ncaa

Florida's Bella Sims, Isabel Ivey, Emma Weyant & Micayla Cronk -- Photo Courtesy: Tony Walsh/University of Georgia

NCAA Women’s Championships: Bella Sims, Isabel Ivey Power Florida to Dominant 800 Freestyle Relay Triumph

The University of Florida entered this week’s NCAA Women’s Championships looking to make a statement, and the Gators produced that right away, with a wire-to-wire win in the second event of the competition, the 800 freestyle relay.

The Gators have not finished in the top-five on the national level since 2010, when the program last won a national title, and the team is just seven seasons removed from failing to score a point at the national level. Florida’s ninth-place finish last season was the program’s first since 2015. But Florida is back, with Olympian Bella Sims bringing her talents to Gainesville this season and Isabel Ivey joining the team as a transfer swimmer, and the potential of those two athletes turned Florida into a serious top-three contender.

Now, thanks to Sims, Ivey, Weyant and Micayla Cronk, Florida has an enormous relay win to start out the meet, building key momentum heading into the first individual events of the meet while also taking a narrow lead in the team competition.

On the opening leg of the 800 free relay, Sims established up a big lead for her team, only for Indiana’s Anna Peplowski to accelerate and touch almost dead-even with the Gators. Sims touched in 1:41.03, just ahead of Peplowski’s 1:41.16, but after that, it was all Florida as Ivey opened up a lead of almost two bodylengths by halfway through her leg. Ivey ended up splitting 1:41.64 to build a two-second lead at the halfway point, making the thought of catching Florida a near-impossibility.

Career-best splits followed for Weyant (1:42.90) and Cronk (1:43.02), and the Gators hit the wall in 6:48.59 to secure the national crown. The win was Florida’s first national title this event since 1989 and the Gators’ first win in any relay at the NCAA Championships since 2010, a meet when a 200 free relay win produced Florida’s only previous relay title of the 21st century.

“It was pretty big,” Sims said. “Didn’t know that we hadn’t won that race in 35 years, so that was awesome, and to do it with these ladies was even more awesome.”

Ivey added, “I think from the beginning of the year we had it set in the back of our heads that we could win this relay. I think going into tonight, we just had to focus on our own race. We did it, and we did our job.”

Ivey was the only member of the Florida relay who had won an NCAA title before, having contributed to Cal’s win in the 400 free relay at the NCAA Championships as a freshman back in 2019. After a year away from college swimming, Ivey has brought

“The last time I was in a room like this was my freshman year. I think just overall it’s interesting because I was a freshman then, obviously a fifth-year now, but this is only my fourth NCAAs,” Ivey said. “Having the experience on this team has been completely new for me but really exciting because this team welcomed me with open arms, and I think we just had a really great year, and we’re excited to show what we’ve been working toward.”

Virginia, meanwhile, entered as the defending national champions in this event, and the Cavaliers swam a time of 6:46.28 at last month’s ACC Championships for the second-fastest performance in history, less than four tenths off the NCAA record established by an Olympian-laden Stanford team in 2017. But Virginia made a lineup switch at the national meet, choosing to sit out Gretchen Walsh to put the sprint star on the Cavaliers’ other three relays.

That strategy worked with Virginia nearly breaking the NCAA record in the 200 medley relay, but the story was much different in the 800 free relay. The Cavaliers tried to close the gap on Florida, at one point moving into second place heading into the anchor leg before falling back to fourth place in a tight finish down the stretch.

Second place instead went to Tennessee, with the Volunteers unleashing an inspired effort to pull ahead on the anchor leg. After Brooklyn Douthwright led off in 1:42.45, freshman Camille Spink went 1:42.08. Julia Mrozinski handled the third leg (1:43.81) before Josephine Fuller came through on the final leg to pull Tennessee into second place with a time of 6:50.82.

Heading into the final 50, Virginia was still in third place, but Stanford had one last burst thanks to an inspired effort from sophomore Kayla Wilson, who went 1:42.28 for the quickest anchor leg to run down and pass Virginia by 24-hundredths. Aurora Roghair, Lillie Nordmann and Natalie Mannion provided the first three legs for the Cardinal on the way to a time of 6:51.17.

Virginia ended up fourth in 6:51.41 with Aimee Canny, Alex Walsh, Ella Nelson and Reilly Tiltmann, with the Cavaliers’ time more than five seconds slower than their result at the conference meet. Walsh’s split of 1:41.88 was third-quickest in the race behind Sims and Ivey, but caught in the wash of the Florida Gators, Walsh was off her top form, which included a 1:41.23 split at last month’s ACC Championships.

Indiana ended up fifth in 6:54.03, followed by the Georgia Bulldogs, who held off Michigan to win the second-to-last heat by a measly three hundredths, 6:54.67 to 6:54.70. Texas clocked 6:54.68 in the final heat to finish between those two teams.

Florida’s win combined with a third-place finish in the 200 medley relay gives the Gators 72 points, just ahead of Virginia at 50. Tennessee is in third place (62), followed by Stanford (54) and Texas (50).

“It sets the tone for the rest of the meet, and it puts a really high standard for the rest of the University of Florida swimmers,” Cronk said. “I think we can all hold ourselves to this standard and keep doing well throughout the meet.”

Event 2  Women 800 Yard Freestyle Relay
==================================================================================
         NCAA: N 6:45.91  3/15/2017 Stanford
                          S Manuel, L Neal, E Eastin, K Ledecky
         Meet: M 6:45.91  3/15/2017 Stanford
                          S Manuel, L Neal, E Eastin, K Ledecky
     American: A 6:45.91  3/15/2017 Stanford
                          S Manuel, L Neal, E Eastin, K Ledecky
      US Open: O 6:45.91  3/15/2017 Stanford
                          S Manuel, L Neal, E Eastin, K Ledecky
         Pool: P 6:53.04  2/18/2014 Georgia
                          Vreeland, McDermott, Margalis, MacLean
    School                                 Seed     Finals Points 
==================================================================================
  1 Florida                             6:49.65    6:48.59P  40  
     1) Sims, Bella FR                2) r:0.15 Ivey, Isabel 5Y       
     3) r:0.45 Weyant, Emma JR        4) r:0.25 Cronk, Micayla JR     
    r:+0.56  23.42        48.82 (48.82)
      1:15.31 (1:15.31)   1:41.03 (1:41.03)
        2:03.95 (22.92)     2:29.39 (48.36)
      2:55.70 (1:14.67)   3:22.67 (1:41.64)
        3:46.07 (23.40)     4:11.80 (49.13)
      4:38.44 (1:15.77)   5:05.57 (1:42.90)
        5:28.68 (23.11)     5:54.33 (48.76)
      6:21.23 (1:15.66)   6:48.59 (1:43.02)
  2 Tennessee                           6:53.43    6:50.82P  34  
     1) Douthwright, Brooklyn JR      2) r:0.33 Spink, Camille FR     
     3) r:0.22 Mrozinski, Julia JR    4) r:0.34 Fuller, Josephine JR  
    r:+0.62  24.24        50.00 (50.00)
      1:16.25 (1:16.25)   1:42.45 (1:42.45)
        2:05.37 (22.92)     2:31.17 (48.72)
      2:57.92 (1:15.47)   3:24.53 (1:42.08)
        3:47.95 (23.42)     4:14.39 (49.86)
      4:41.47 (1:16.94)   5:08.34 (1:43.81)
        5:31.67 (23.33)     5:57.74 (49.40)
      6:24.37 (1:16.03)   6:50.82 (1:42.48)
  3 Stanford                            6:53.33    6:51.17P  32  
     1) Roghair, Aurora JR            2) r:0.19 Nordmann, Lillie JR   
     3) r:0.49 Mannion, Natalie SO    4) r:0.22 Wilson, Kayla SO      
    r:+0.80  24.33        49.96 (49.96)
      1:16.05 (1:16.05)   1:42.82 (1:42.82)
        2:06.21 (23.39)     2:32.07 (49.25)
      2:58.29 (1:15.47)   3:25.14 (1:42.32)
        3:49.17 (24.03)     4:15.54 (50.40)
      4:42.13 (1:16.99)   5:08.89 (1:43.75)
        5:32.48 (23.59)     5:58.56 (49.67)
      6:24.89 (1:16.00)   6:51.17 (1:42.28)
  4 Virginia                            6:46.28    6:51.41P  30  
     1) Canny, Aimee SO               2) r:0.27 Walsh, Alex SR        
     3) r:0.29 Nelson, Ella 5Y        4) r:0.52 Tiltmann, Reilly JR   
    r:+0.75  23.95        49.83 (49.83)
      1:16.18 (1:16.18)   1:42.83 (1:42.83)
        2:06.03 (23.20)     2:31.83 (49.00)
      2:58.18 (1:15.35)   3:24.71 (1:41.88)
        3:48.74 (24.03)     4:14.53 (49.82)
      4:40.61 (1:15.90)   5:07.08 (1:42.37)
        5:31.42 (24.34)     5:58.05 (50.97)
      6:24.52 (1:17.44)   6:51.41 (1:44.33)
  5 Indiana                             6:55.45    6:54.03   28  
     1) Peplowski, Anna JR            2) r:0.46 Ristic, Ella SR       
     3) r:0.18 Gan, Ching Hwee JR     4) r:0.35 Paegle, Kristina SO   
    r:+0.70  23.96        49.45 (49.45)
      1:15.31 (1:15.31)   1:41.16 (1:41.16)
        2:04.99 (23.83)     2:31.24 (50.08)
      2:58.08 (1:16.92)   3:26.00 (1:44.84)
        3:50.20 (24.20)     4:16.69 (50.69)
      4:43.62 (1:17.62)   5:10.56 (1:44.56)
        5:34.09 (23.53)     6:00.24 (49.68)
      6:26.92 (1:16.36)   6:54.03 (1:43.47)
  6 Georgia                             6:56.96    6:54.67   26  
     1) Furse, Shea SO                2) r:0.25 Reinstein, Sloane SR  
     3) r:0.35 Coetzee, Dune JR       4) r:0.33 Hartman, Zoie 5Y      
    r:+0.66  24.27        50.47 (50.47)
      1:17.08 (1:17.08)   1:43.81 (1:43.81)
        2:07.46 (23.65)     2:33.56 (49.75)
      2:59.95 (1:16.14)   3:26.88 (1:43.07)
        3:50.93 (24.05)     4:17.23 (50.35)
      4:43.91 (1:17.03)   5:10.72 (1:43.84)
        5:34.24 (23.52)     6:00.22 (49.50)
      6:27.38 (1:16.66)   6:54.67 (1:43.95)
  7 Texas                               6:56.37    6:54.68   24  
     1) Pash, Kelly 5Y                2) r:0.17 Gemmell, Erin FR      
     3) r:0.29 Sullivan, Erica JR     4) r:0.10 Bray, Olivia SR       
    r:+0.68  23.72        50.00 (50.00)
      1:16.37 (1:16.37)   1:42.89 (1:42.89)
        2:05.86 (22.97)     2:31.90 (49.01)
      2:58.89 (1:16.00)   3:26.06 (1:43.17)
        3:50.35 (24.29)     4:16.87 (50.81)
      4:43.93 (1:17.87)   5:10.62 (1:44.56)
        5:33.56 (22.94)     5:59.43 (48.81)
      6:26.72 (1:16.10)   6:54.68 (1:44.06)
  8 Michigan                            6:57.09    6:54.70   22  
     1) Crom, Katelyn SO              2) r:0.24 Amuan, Malia SO       
     3) r:0.12 Balduccini, Steanie FR 4) r:0.34 Liang, Christey SO    
    r:+0.68  24.25        50.54 (50.54)
      1:17.02 (1:17.02)   1:43.55 (1:43.55)
        2:07.46 (23.91)     2:33.97 (50.42)
      3:00.91 (1:17.36)   3:28.32 (1:44.77)
        3:51.85 (23.53)     4:17.81 (49.49)
      4:44.32 (1:16.00)   5:10.70 (1:42.38)
        5:34.68 (23.98)     6:00.94 (50.24)
      6:27.79 (1:17.09)   6:54.70 (1:44.00)

Women - Team Rankings - Through Event 2                      
 
  1. Florida                            72   2. Virginia                           70
  3. Tennessee                          62   4. Stanford                           54
  5. Texas                              50   6. California                         48
  7. Indiana                            36   7. Southern California                36
  7. Ohio St                            36  10. Michigan                           32
 11. Georgia                            26  12. Wisconsin                          20
 12. Louisville                         20  14. Duke                               18
 15. UNC                                14  16. Arizona St                         10
 17. Virginia Tech                       6  18. Auburn                              4
 18. Texas A&M                           4  20. Alabama                             2

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