NCAA Women’s Championships, Day 2 Prelims: Gretchen Walsh Blasts 20.44 50 Free; Big Names Miss in 500 Free
The first individual event of the NCAA Women’s Championships started out with some unexpected results as the top-two finishers from last season’s NCAA Championships did not advance in the 500 freestyle. Top contenders including Indiana’s Anna Peplowski, Stanford’s Aurora Roghair, Texas’ Jillian Cox and Virginia’s Katie Grimes all comfortably advanced, but the anticipated race will go off without Florida teammates Bella Sims and Emma Weyant.
The session also included qualifying in the 200 IM and 50 freestyle, with 1-meter diving and the 200 freestyle relay to come later in the day. The medley event set up a showdown between two-time Olympians Alex Walsh (Virginia) and Torri Huske (Stanford) while Virginia’s Gretchen Walsh put on her usual show in the 50 free with the third-fastest mark in prelims to comfortably lead all qualifiers and scare her own American, NCAA and U.S. Open records.
After the first evening of competition, Stanford and Virginia are tied for first lace with 74 points each, with both teams having first and second-place finishes in the relay events. Florida is third (60), followed by Texas (55) and Michigan (46).
Women - Team Rankings - Through Event 2 1. Stanford 74 1. Virginia 74 3. Florida 60 4. Texas 55 5. Michigan 46 6. California 44 7. Louisville 42 8. Indiana 36 9. Tennessee 34 10. Wisconsin 30 11. Southern California 28 12. NC State 27 13. Arizona St 22 14. Georgia 12 15. Alabama 10 16. Ohio St 8 17. Virginia Tech 6 17. Texas A&M 6 19. Lsu 4 20. UNC 2
500 Freestyle
Last year’s top-three finishers in the event all raced in heat eight. Peplowski and defending champion Bella Sims of Florida established an edge on the field early, but Sims faded badly and ended up five seconds behind Peplowski. The Indiana senior came in at 4:33.93 while Sims ended up third in the heat at 4:38.92, six-and-a-half seconds slower than she swam in her title-winning effort last year and 10 seconds off her best time. Sims ended up 17th in the event, 16-hundredths away from earning a second swim.
Fellow Gator Emma Weyant, the runnerup finisher at last year’s meet, ended up fifth in the heat at 4:39.24, and she did not advance to the evening session. Florida did have some good news as Julie Brousseau clocked 4:37.25 in the same heat for ninth overall while Mabel Zavaros moved up to also reach the B-final, clocking 4:38.17. However, the team’s two most highly-acclaimed swimmers missing out entirely will sting as the Gators attempt to return to the top-five i nthe team standings.
Stanford’s Aurora Roghair followed up her career-best 1:41.89 split on Stanford’s first-place 800 free relay by dominating her heat of 500 qualifying. Roghair trailed USC’s Claire Tuggle in the early going, but she accelerated through the middle and latter portions of the race to open up up a advantage of more than a bodylength. Roghair finished in 4:34.87 for the second-best time of the morning behind Roghair.
In the last heat, a pair of highly-ranked first-year collegians raced in the middle lanes. Texas’ Jillian Cox came into the meet as the top seed, and she held off Virginia’s Katie Grimes to win their heat, 4:35.84 to 4:36.03. Indiana’s Ching Gan swam a personal best time of 4:36.97 to place third in the heat and book her spot in the A-final. Virginia got two swimmers into the top as Cavan Gormsen was fifth (4:36.15), and rounding out the A-final were Georgia’s Rachel Stege (4:36.41) and Ohio State’s Mila Nikanorov (4:37.01).
Justina Kozan posted the fastest time entering the circle-seeded heats at 4:38.00, knocking a half-second from her lifetime best. Georgia’s Abby McCulloh, last year’s national champion in the 1650 free, also advanced with her time of 4:37.78, and the last swimmer to make it back was Cal’s Maya Gehringer at 4:38.76. That mark was just a tick quicker than the 4:38.87 it took for a top-16 slot at last year’s NCAA Championships.
Event 3 Women 500 Yard Freestyle
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NCAA: N 4:24.06 3/16/2017 Katie Ledecky, Stanford
Meet: M 4:24.06 3/16/2017 Katie Ledecky, Stanford
American: A 4:24.06 3/16/2017 Katie Ledecky, Stanford
US Open: O 4:24.06 3/16/2017 Katie Ledecky, Stanford
Name Year School Seed Prelims
==================================================================
=== Preliminaries ===
1 Peplowski, Anna SR Indiana 4:33.86 4:33.93
r:+0.73 23.91 50.16 (26.25)
1:17.44 (27.28) 1:45.14 (27.70)
2:13.08 (27.94) 2:41.08 (28.00)
3:09.42 (28.34) 3:37.50 (28.08)
4:05.76 (28.26) 4:33.93 (28.17)
2 Roghair, Aurora SR Stanford 4:31.63 4:34.87
r:+0.79 25.88 53.55 (27.67)
1:21.33 (27.78) 1:48.98 (27.65)
2:16.65 (27.67) 2:44.17 (27.52)
3:11.60 (27.43) 3:39.14 (27.54)
4:07.00 (27.86) 4:34.87 (27.87)
3 Cox, Jillian SO Texas 4:30.68 4:35.84
r:+0.66 25.67 53.36 (27.69)
1:21.06 (27.70) 1:49.17 (28.11)
2:17.23 (28.06) 2:45.42 (28.19)
3:13.50 (28.08) 3:41.25 (27.75)
4:09.00 (27.75) 4:35.84 (26.84)
4 Grimes, Katie FR Virginia 4:32.69 4:36.03
r:+0.67 25.19 53.09 (27.90)
1:21.25 (28.16) 1:49.26 (28.01)
2:17.46 (28.20) 2:45.49 (28.03)
3:13.67 (28.18) 3:41.41 (27.74)
4:09.25 (27.84) 4:36.03 (26.78)
5 Gormsen, Cavan SO Virginia 4:35.60 4:36.15
r:+0.69 26.11 54.18 (28.07)
1:22.15 (27.97) 1:50.22 (28.07)
2:17.84 (27.62) 2:45.32 (27.48)
3:12.80 (27.48) 3:40.61 (27.81)
4:08.60 (27.99) 4:36.15 (27.55)
6 Stege, Rachel SR Georgia 4:34.27 4:36.41
r:+0.74 25.68 53.30 (27.62)
1:21.03 (27.73) 1:48.92 (27.89)
2:16.93 (28.01) 2:44.92 (27.99)
3:13.04 (28.12) 3:41.20 (28.16)
4:09.08 (27.88) 4:36.41 (27.33)
7 Gan, Ching SR Indiana 4:37.49 4:36.97
r:+0.62 25.66 53.42 (27.76)
1:21.43 (28.01) 1:49.69 (28.26)
2:17.86 (28.17) 2:45.91 (28.05)
3:13.95 (28.04) 3:41.89 (27.94)
4:09.69 (27.80) 4:36.97 (27.28)
8 Nikanorov, Mila FR OSU 4:37.43 4:37.01
r:+0.65 26.12 53.73 (27.61)
1:21.79 (28.06) 1:49.98 (28.19)
2:18.25 (28.27) 2:46.23 (27.98)
3:14.27 (28.04) 3:42.33 (28.06)
4:09.97 (27.64) 4:37.01 (27.04)
200 IM
Torri Huske has twice been the national runnerup in the 200 IM, finishing behind Alex Walsh in 2022 and Kate Douglass in 2023, and her best time of 1:50.06 ranks third all-time. Now, Huske is in pole position to earn her first collegiate national title after clocking the top time in the 200 IM prelims. She started off her meet with a scintillating 20.39 anchor split on the Cardinal’s 200 medley relay, and in the morning session, she went 1:51.53 to lead all qualifiers.
Walsh, meanwhile, is one of only two swimmers to ever break 1:50 in the event and a three-time national winner in this race during her undergraduate years, and she earned the fourth seed by winning her heat in 1:52.37. Walsh held off Caroline Bricker, a Stanford sophomore who clocked a best time of 1:52.77 in the same heat. However, two impressive personal-best performances in prelims mean that the two favorites will not swim next to each other in the evening session.
Cal’s Lea Polonsky, fresh off a 1:41.42 split on her team’s 800 free relay Wednesday evening, stayed close to Huske in the final preliminary heat and closed the gap with a 31.79 breaststroke split that led the field. Polonsky broke 1:52 for the first time as she qualified second in 1:51.91.
Texas fifth-year swimmer Emma Sticklen finds herself in national contention in the 200 IM for the first time in her impressive college career. The two-time defending national champion in the 200 fly came into the NCAA Championships with a best time of 1:52.42, and she improved on that in the morning session with a time of 1:52.11. Sticklen held off Wisconsin’s Phoebe Bacon, another fifth-year, in the last heat, with Bacon going 1:52.86.
Stanford’s Lucy Bell made it three Cardinal swimmers in the top heat as she clocked 1:53.44 for seventh, and fellow Stanford swimmers Lillie Nordmann and Emily Thompson qualified for the B-final. Tennessee’s Josephine Fuller was the last swimmer to reach the A-final with her time of 1:53.77. A time of 1:55.50 was required to score in the event, with Michigan’s Letitia Sim the last swimmer in.
Event 4 Women 200 Yard IM
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NCAA: N 1:48.37 3/16/2023 Kate Douglass, Virginia
Meet: M 1:48.37 3/16/2023 Kate Douglass, Virginia
American: A 1:48.37 3/16/2023 Kate Douglass, Virginia
US Open: O 1:48.37 3/16/2023 Kate Douglass, Virginia
Name Year School Seed Prelims
==================================================================
=== Preliminaries ===
1 Huske, Torri JR Stanford 1:51.46 1:51.53
r:+0.59 23.02 51.12 (28.10)
1:24.31 (33.19) 1:51.53 (27.22)
2 Polonsky, Lea SR California 1:53.28 1:51.91
r:+0.65 24.81 52.84 (28.03)
1:24.63 (31.79) 1:51.91 (27.28)
3 Sticklen, Emma 5Y Texas 1:52.42 1:52.11
r:+0.65 23.45 51.08 (27.63)
1:24.65 (33.57) 1:52.11 (27.46)
4 Walsh, Alex 5Y Virginia 1:51.80 1:52.37
r:+0.76 24.23 52.19 (27.96)
1:24.81 (32.62) 1:52.37 (27.56)
5 Bricker, Caroline SO Stanford 1:52.97 1:52.77
r:+0.65 24.73 53.36 (28.63)
1:25.89 (32.53) 1:52.77 (26.88)
6 Bacon, Phoebe 5Y Wisconsin 1:53.12 1:52.86
r:+0.67 24.41 53.05 (28.64)
1:25.45 (32.40) 1:52.86 (27.41)
7 Bell, Lucy JR Stanford 1:54.74 1:53.44
r:+0.67 25.21 54.32 (29.11)
1:26.30 (31.98) 1:53.44 (27.14)
8 Fuller, Josephine SR Tennessee 1:52.86 1:53.72
r:+0.62 24.29 52.19 (27.90)
1:26.21 (34.02) 1:53.72 (27.51)
50 Freestyle
The fastest swimmer in women’s collegiate swimming history scared one of her many records in the final heat of the prelims session. Virginia senior Gretchen Walsh owns the all-time best time in the 50 free at 20.37, more than four tenths quicker than history’s next-best performer, Maggie Mac Neil.
In her first individual race in Federal Way, Walsh annihilated her heat by a full second while posting a time of 20.44, seven hundredths off her own record. The time is actually the third-quickest ever recorded, with Walsh going 20.37 and 20.41 at last year’s meet. She did take down her own season top time of 20.60. Walsh will be heavily favored to defend her NCAA title in the evening session and to take another record shot.
Louisville’s Julia Dennis had the fastest non-Walsh time of the morning with her time of 21.25, not far off the 21.08 she posted at the ACC Championships to become the seventh-fastest swimmer ever in the event. Tennessee’s Camille Spink also had a strong prelims swim as she dominated heat eight in 21.34. The Tennessee sophomore ranks No. 13 all-time in the event at 21.23.
Virginia put three swimmers into the A-final here as Claire Curzan took fourth in 21.44 and Maxine Parker tied for seventh in 21.63. Both swimmers joined Walsh on Virginia’s record-breaking 200 medley relay Wednesday, and they will be part of a heavily-favored 200 free relay Thursday evening. Pitt’s Sophie Yendell got fifth in 21.54, followed by Alabama’s Cadence Vincent at 21.57. Louisville also went two-up as Gabi Albiero tied Parker for the last spot in the final.
Twenty-two swimmers cracked 22 in prelims, with Arizona State’s Caroline Bentz beating Washington State’s Darcy Revitt by one hunredth, 21.89 to 21.90, for the last scoring slot.
Event 5 Women 50 Yard Freestyle
==================================================================
NCAA: N 20.37 3/21/2024 Gretchen Walsh, Virginia
Meet: M 20.37 3/21/2024 Gretchen Walsh, Virginia
American: A 20.37 3/21/2024 Gretchen Walsh, Virginia
US Open: O 20.37 3/21/2024 Gretchen Walsh, Virginia
Name Year School Seed Prelims
==================================================================
=== Preliminaries ===
1 Walsh, Gretchen SR Virginia 20.60 20.44
r:+0.72 9.93 20.44 (10.51)
2 Dennis, Julia JR Louisville 21.08 21.25
r:+0.63 10.19 21.25 (11.06)
3 Spink, Camille SO Tennessee 21.23 21.34
r:+0.66 10.28 21.34 (11.06)
4 Curzan, Claire JR Virginia 21.26 21.44
r:+0.69 10.34 21.44 (11.10)
5 Yendell, Sophie 5Y Pittsburgh 21.30 21.54
r:+0.66 10.37 21.54 (11.17)
6 Vincent, Cadence SO Alabama 21.59 21.57
r:+0.67 10.49 21.57 (11.08)
7 Parker, Maxine 5Y Virginia 21.75 21.63
r:+0.68 10.67 21.63 (10.96)
7 Albiero, Gabi 5Y Louisville 21.71 21.63
r:+0.63 10.52 21.63 (11.11)
