NCAA Women’s Championships, Day 3 Finals: Caroline Bricker Pulls Ahead of 400 IM Field on Breaststroke Leg to Score Upset Win
The field assembled in the NCAA final of the 400 IM included two swimmers who won Olympic medals in the meters version of the event at the Paris Olympics, Virginia’s Katie Grimes and Florida’s Emma Weyant, but the moment instead belonged to the Stanford. Sophomore Caroline Bricker scored a major upset victory and teammate Lucy Bell came in third as the Cardinal continued a strong meet with a signature achievement.
“I didn’t want to count myself out,” Bricker said. “I knew I had something in me. I didn’t know it was that, but I just wanted to see what I could do.”
Grimes was the early leader, a lead of seven tenths after butterfly extended to more than one-and-a-half seconds during the backstroke segment. Bricker turned fifth at the halfway point, but the breaststroke leg would be decisive. She erased that advantage on the opening 50 yards while Weyant pulled into a tie with Grimes. Entering the freestyle leg, Bricker had build a dominant lead with her 1:06.12 split. Weyant was still second while Bell rode a 1:06.45 breaststroke split, second-best in the field, to move into the top-three as well.
On the freestyle, Bricker showed the poise of a confident veteran, not the nerves of a swimmer in pole position for an NCAA title for the first time in her career. She pulled away to finish in 3:57.36, 1.69 seconds ahead of Weyant and good enough to make her the seventh-fastest swimmer ever in the event.
I think I have the tendency to get caught up in what other people are doing, so the fly and backstroke, I tried to put blinders on, and when I got to the breaststroke, it was just every stroke, how much can I get back, how much can I gain. And then freestyle, it was just holding on,” Bricker said. “I train for the freestyle at the end of IM sets. We do freestyle to prepare for that moment. I have so much trust in (Stanford coach) Greg (Meehan), so I knew I could do it.”
Fourth in the event at last season’s NCAA Championships, Bricker swam a best time by two seconds at midseason as she dipped under 4:00 for the first time, and her she annihilated that best time by another two-and-a-half seconds on the way to a title. Going back further, Bricker entered Stanford with a best time of 4:09.57, meaning she has cut more than 12 seconds from her personal best in two years.
“The trust I have in my training has continued to build over these past two years,” Bricker said. “I remember my first goal meeting my freshman year, and I had no idea what to say. I was like, ‘I don’t know how to make a goal for this. I don’t know what I’m doing.’ Being around this whole year, I’ve figured out how to make goals, and I kind of came into this year with the goal of breaking 4:00 and just building off that as the year went by.”
Weyant took second in 3:59.05, just five hundredths off her own best time from last year’s meet that ranks her 13th all-time. Bell ended up third in 4:00.24, repeating her finish from last season but cutting a second off her best time while jumping to No. 8 on the all-time list.
Grimes fell to fourth in the 500 free Thursday evening, and she again finished in that spot, her time of 4:01.10 five seconds off her personal best time of 3:57.02 set in 2022. Virginia did manage to keep most of its lead, however, with Grimes and Leah Hayes (fifth, 4:01.62) providing 29 points to counter the Cardinal’s 36.
At the conclusion of the event, Stanford swimmers crowded behind she blocks to congratulate Bricker and Bell, and the two swimmers whose bond stretches back long before their college years slowly navigated through their teammates to embrace each other.
“I don’t think we really need to say much to each other. We kind of have a wavelength with each other. We just knew exactly what each other was thinking in that moment. We’ve swum together forever. We’re both from Colorado. Glad I could do it with her,” Bricker said. “I remember when I was 10 or 11 and she had just moved from Hawaii to Colorado, and I was like, ‘Oh my goodness. Who is this girl?’ We’ve been friends since. It’s been a long ride.”
Bricker’s win gave Stanford its 14th national win in the 400 IM, double the total of any other school. Previous winners include Michelle Griglione (1989), Janet Evans (1990), Summer Sanders (1991-1992), Julia Smit (2008-2010), Maya DiRado (2014), Ella Eastin (2016-2019) and Brooke Forde (2021). Eastin remains the fastest swimmer in history with the 3:54.60 she clocked in 2018, but Bricker’s rapid improvement has brought her to within three seconds of that standard.
“I hope I can fulfill our legacy,” Bricker said. “I don’t know if trying to break a record is in my wheelhouse. Ella Eastin is amazing. If I can even come close to that, being mentioned in the same sentence as her is amazing.”
Stanford won three consecutive team titles from 2017 through 2019 but has not finished in the top-two at the national level since then. Fifth at last year’s NCAA Championships, the team was sure to improve with the return of Olympic gold medalist Torri Huske from a redshirt year, but significant improvements from lesser-acclaimed swimmers such Bricker, Bell, Aurora Roghair, Lillie Nordmann and Gigi Johnson have helped Stanford stay narrowly ahead of Texas for second place in the national standings.
Bricker was part of Stanford’s dominant win in the 800 free relay Wednesday night, and the team earned second and third-place finishes in the 200-yard relays. This 400 IM win was Stanford’s second individual title of the meet following Huske’s win in the 200 IM, but she was considered a co-favorite alongside Alex Walsh in the event. This race, however, marked a significant upset, one representative of a magical meet thus far for Stanford.
“I think we’re all just staying in the moment and not riding the highs too much that we can’t come back and focus on the next thing,” Bricker said. “I think our leadership, all of our coaches help us stay like that.”
Event 9 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
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
=========================================================================
=== Championship Final ===
1 Bricker, Caroline SO Stanford 4:01.68 3:57.36 20
r:+0.65 25.91 55.39 (29.48)
1:26.32 (30.93) 1:56.75 (30.43)
2:29.46 (32.71) 3:02.87 (33.41)
3:30.38 (27.51) 3:57.36 (26.98)
2 Weyant, Emma SR Florida 4:01.35 3:59.05 17
r:+0.76 26.28 55.66 (29.38)
1:26.05 (30.39) 1:55.88 (29.83)
2:29.74 (33.86) 3:04.30 (34.56)
3:32.07 (27.77) 3:59.05 (26.98)
3 Bell, Lucy JR Stanford 4:01.86 4:00.24 16
r:+0.68 25.81 55.00 (29.19)
1:26.78 (31.78) 1:57.77 (30.99)
2:30.77 (33.00) 3:04.22 (33.45)
3:32.81 (28.59) 4:00.24 (27.43)
4 Grimes, Katie FR Virginia 4:02.80 4:01.10 15
r:+0.65 25.69 54.31 (28.62)
1:24.43 (30.12) 1:54.36 (29.93)
2:29.74 (35.38) 3:06.04 (36.30)
3:33.93 (27.89) 4:01.10 (27.17)
5 Hayes, Leah FR Virginia 4:03.17 4:01.62 14
r:+0.77 26.54 56.31 (29.77)
1:26.33 (30.02) 1:56.38 (30.05)
2:30.51 (34.13) 3:05.44 (34.93)
3:34.01 (28.57) 4:01.62 (27.61)
6 Zavaros, Mabel 5Y Florida 4:01.68 4:03.99 13
r:+0.69 25.65 55.23 (29.58)
1:25.95 (30.72) 1:55.82 (29.87)
2:31.32 (35.50) 3:07.39 (36.07)
3:36.32 (28.93) 4:03.99 (27.67)
7 Dunn, Callahan 5Y Wisconsin 4:04.85 4:04.20 12
r:+0.65 26.38 56.48 (30.10)
1:27.98 (31.50) 1:58.88 (30.90)
2:33.34 (34.46) 3:08.23 (34.89)
3:36.73 (28.50) 4:04.20 (27.47)
8 Angove, Sienna FR OSU 4:04.60 4:07.83 11
r:+0.67 26.00 56.66 (30.66)
1:28.46 (31.80) 1:59.36 (30.90)
2:35.68 (36.32) 3:12.54 (36.86)
3:40.68 (28.14) 4:07.83 (27.15)
