NCAA Women’s Championships: Claire Curzan Breaks 1:50 to Lead 200 Back Prelims; Rhyan White Misses A-Final
Stanford’s Claire Curzan has flown somewhat under the radar at her first NCAA Championships, mostly thanks to record-smashing performances in her first two individual events. Curzan placed fourth in the 100 butterfly final as three swimmers got into the 48-second range while Kate Douglass and Maggie Mac Neil both smashed the NCAA record, and then Curzan took third in the 100 backstroke behind Gretchen Walsh’s NCAA record of 48.26.
But Curzan has posted impressive results in the 200 back all season, including a time of 1:47.43 at the Pac-12 Championships last month that was within three tenths of the fastest time ever and ranks her fourth all-time behind Regan Smith, Beata Nelson and Kathleen Baker. Now, Curzan enters the NCAA final as the favorite after swimming a time of 1:49.48 to win the final heat. Curzan was flying for the first 150 yards, flipping in 1:20.98 with 50 to go, and although she slowed slightly at the end, she comfortably held off Tennessee’s Josephine Fuller to take the win. Fuller ended up touching at 1:50.12 for the third-best time of the morning.
Wisconsin’s Phoebe Bacon was only seeded eighth entering the event after she skipped the event at the Big Ten Championships, but she blasted a time of 1:50.03 to lead the way in the second-to-last heat, and that time was good enough for the second-best time of the morning behind Curzan. Cal’s Isabelle Stadden (1:50.44) and NC State’s Kennedy Noble (1:50.88) also swam 1:50s in that heat, with those times good enough for fourth and fifth overall, respectively.
In the first of the seeded heats, NC State’s Emma Muzzy held off Texas’ Olivia Bray for the win, 1:51.00 to 1:51.18, but behind them, there was a surprising result as Alabama’s Rhyan White fell to third place in 1:52.70. White, the World Championships bronze medalist in the 200-meter back, is the eighth-fastest performer in history at 1:48.06, but she has not approached that form in several years. White ended up qualifying for the B-final in the 15th spot.
Virginia’s Reilly Tiltmann narrowly held off Indiana’s Anna Peplowski in the final heat to earn the last spot in the A-final, 1:51.23 to 1:51.32. Tiltmann joins Bacon, Stadden and Muzzy in returning to the A-final from last season while Stanford’s Lucie Nordmann ended up 14th (1:52.54) and Virginia Tech’s Emma Atkinson fell to a tie for 20th (1:53.21).
Event 16 Women 200 Yard Backstroke
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NCAA: N 1:47.24 3/23/2019 Beata Nelson, Wisconsin
Meet: M 1:47.24 3/23/2019 Beata Nelson, Wisconsin
American: A 1:47.16 3/10/2019 Regan Smith, Riptide
US Open: O 1:47.16 3/10/2019 Regan Smith, Riptide
Pool: P 1:49.30 11/21/2020Rhyan White, Alabama
Name Year School Seed Prelims
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=== Preliminaries ===
1 Curzan, Claire FR Stanford 1:47.43 1:49.48
r:+0.57 25.75 52.99 (27.24)
1:20.98 (27.99) 1:49.48 (28.50)
2 Bacon, Phoebe JR Wisconsin 1:51.22 1:50.03
r:+0.63 26.00 53.60 (27.60)
1:21.82 (28.22) 1:50.03 (28.21)
3 Fuller, Josephine SO Tennessee 1:50.12 1:50.12
r:+0.74 26.15 54.07 (27.92)
1:22.25 (28.18) 1:50.12 (27.87)
4 Stadden, Isabelle JR California 1:48.75 1:50.44
r:+0.95 25.96 53.87 (27.91)
1:22.47 (28.60) 1:50.44 (27.97)
5 Noble, Kennedy FR NC State 1:50.24 1:50.88
r:+0.69 26.31 54.52 (28.21)
1:22.76 (28.24) 1:50.88 (28.12)
6 Muzzy, Emma 5Y NC State 1:50.96 1:51.00
r:+0.84 26.35 54.49 (28.14)
1:22.86 (28.37) 1:51.00 (28.14)
7 Bray, Olivia JR Texas 1:50.09 1:51.18
r:+0.74 26.08 54.49 (28.41)
1:22.97 (28.48) 1:51.18 (28.21)
8 Tiltmann, Reilly SO Virginia 1:51.05 1:51.23
r:+0.70 26.30 53.84 (27.54)
1:22.02 (28.18) 1:51.23 (29.21)
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9 Peplowski, Anna SO Indiana 1:51.81 1:51.32
r:+0.62 26.07 53.78 (27.71)
1:22.24 (28.46) 1:51.32 (29.08)
10 Lindner, Sophie 5Y UNC 1:53.46 1:51.72
r:+0.79 26.93 54.95 (28.02)
1:23.15 (28.20) 1:51.72 (28.57)
11 Hetrick, Paige JR Louisville 1:51.70 1:51.84
r:+0.65 26.03 54.12 (28.09)
1:23.05 (28.93) 1:51.84 (28.79)
12 Brooks, Caitlin SR Kentucky 1:52.38 1:52.35
r:+0.69 26.31 54.38 (28.07)
1:23.06 (28.68) 1:52.35 (29.29)
13 Gorecka, Weronika SR Akron 1:53.33 1:52.43
r:+0.66 26.62 55.19 (28.57)
1:23.55 (28.36) 1:52.43 (28.88)
14 Nordmann, Lucie SR Stanford 1:53.70 1:52.54
r:+0.71 25.96 54.09 (28.13)
1:22.98 (28.89) 1:52.54 (29.56)
15 White, Rhyan 5Y Alabama 1:51.53 1:52.70
r:+0.76 26.42 54.77 (28.35)
1:23.88 (29.11) 1:52.70 (28.82)
16 Bentz, Caroline JR VT 1:53.78 1:52.76
r:+0.80 26.53 54.80 (28.27)
1:23.57 (28.77) 1:52.76 (29.19)
