The 2023 NCAA Division I Women’s Championships concluded its individual swimming events with the finals of the 200 butterfly.
After prelims, the field was loaded with interesting possibilities with defending champion Alex Walsh seeded in the middle of three stellar Texas swimmers – Emma Sticklen, Kelly Pash and Dakota Luther.
Walsh and Sticklen were out fast. At the 100 mark, Walsh started to pull ahead, as the Texas trio was forced to chase. Walsh steadily had a half body lead on Sticklen until the final turn when Sticklen made a late charge in the final 25 and passed Walsh in the final five yards to pull off the stunning title.
She is the fourth-fastest swimmer in the event, and fastest non-Stanford swimmer in history in the event.
Sticklen finished in 1:49.95, breaking the meet record. Walsh was next in 1:50.23, the fifth-fastest time in history and a half-second faster than her NCAA title time from last year.
“I never expected a time like that, let alone a meet record. That belongs to me now – that’s just crazy,” Sticklen said. “I knew I had to stick to my own race plan. That’s something I’ve been repeating to myself all day between prelims and finals: follow my race plan. It’s just relax on the first 100, and I am really confident in my finishes, really work on my underwaters on the last wall. That’s something I’m really confident in, and I just was like, ‘Push it as hard as a I can on the last wall, and charge the wall, and hope for the best.’
“The 200 fly is really hard. It is a hard race to finish. You know others will struggle at the end, and that is when you have to turn on the jets. I saw her a little bit ahead when I turned on the last wall, and then I couldn’t see anything. I was just like, ‘Go! Go! Go!’ and had some really positive self talk on the last 25.”
Sticklen has been one of the Longhorn leaders the past few years, leading the team to third, second and tonight, another second.
“I love my team so much. I really show that a lot. I just love being able to be myself around the other girls, and me being my 100% self makes them feel like they can be themselves. I love them all so much,” she said.
Pash finished third in 1:51.89 and Luther was fifth at 1:52.27, behind Arizona State senior Lindsay Looney (1:52.25).
“My teammates are what made it all possible. It is just such a big deal to be able to have both teammates at your side,” Sticklen said. “It made me feel comfortable, and that played a huge role.”
Stanford’s Charlotte Hook was sixth (1:53.17), Virginia’s Abby Harter was seventh (1:53.56) and Louisville’s Abby Hay was eighth (1:53.90).
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The Longhorns had the 1-2-4 seeds heading into finals.
Sticklen took the top seed in 1:51.71, just two tenths ahead of Luther (1:51.91).
Defending champion Walsh took the third seed in 1:52.05, ahead of Pash (1:52.73), who was fourth.
Arizona State senior Lindsay Looney took the fifth seed in 1:53.19, followed by Louisville senior Abby Hay (1:53.21), Virginia junior Abby Harter (1:53.28) and Stanford freshman Charlotte Hook (1:53.86).
Event 19 Women 200 Yard Butterfly
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NCAA: N 1:49.51 2/24/2018 Ella Eastin, Stanford
Meet: M 1:50.01 3/17/2018 Ella Eastin, Stanford
American: A 1:49.51 2/24/2018 Ella Eastin, Stanford
US Open: O 1:49.51 2/24/2018 Ella Eastin, Stanford
Pool: P 1:51.51 2/18/2022 Riley Gaines, Kentucky
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
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=== Championship Final ===
1 Sticklen, Emma JR Texas 1:51.71 1:49.95M 20
r:+0.65 24.18 52.53 (28.35)
1:21.16 (28.63) 1:49.95 (28.79)
2 Walsh, Alex JR Virginia 1:52.05 1:50.23P 17
r:+0.75 24.18 50.57 (26.39)
1:19.83 (29.26) 1:50.23 (30.40)
3 Pash, Kelly SR Texas 1:52.73 1:51.89 16
r:+0.66 25.21 53.45 (28.24)
1:22.09 (28.64) 1:51.89 (29.80)
4 Looney, Lindsay SR ASU 1:53.19 1:52.25 15
r:+0.67 25.25 53.50 (28.25)
1:22.64 (29.14) 1:52.25 (29.61)
5 Luther, Dakota 5Y Texas 1:51.91 1:52.27 14
r:+0.70 24.94 53.05 (28.11)
1:22.07 (29.02) 1:52.27 (30.20)
6 Hook, Charlotte FR Stanford 1:53.86 1:53.17 13
r:+0.65 25.87 54.58 (28.71)
1:23.68 (29.10) 1:53.17 (29.49)
7 Harter, Abby JR Virginia 1:53.28 1:53.56 12
r:+0.74 25.29 54.06 (28.77)
1:23.37 (29.31) 1:53.56 (30.19)
8 Hay, Abby SR Louisville 1:53.21 1:53.90 11
r:+0.68 25.67 54.53 (28.86)
1:24.09 (29.56) 1:53.90 (29.81)
=== Consolation Final ===
9 Nordmann, Lillie SO Stanford 1:54.29 1:53.90 9
r:+0.68 25.63 54.41 (28.78)
1:23.54 (29.13) 1:53.90 (30.36)
10 Stotler, Sara SO Tennessee 1:54.71 1:53.94 7
r:+0.69 25.39 53.98 (28.59)
1:23.60 (29.62) 1:53.94 (30.34)
11 Klinker, Rachel SR California 1:54.16 1:54.03 6
r:+0.70 25.80 54.14 (28.34)
1:23.44 (29.30) 1:54.03 (30.59)
12 VanNote, Ellie SR UNC 1:54.84 1:55.04 5
r:+0.71 25.52 54.30 (28.78)
1:23.82 (29.52) 1:55.04 (31.22)
13 Jernstedt, Edith SO FSU 1:54.64 1:55.15 4
r:+0.72 25.66 54.92 (29.26)
1:24.51 (29.59) 1:55.15 (30.64)
14 Arens, Abby JR NC State 1:54.45 1:55.80 3
r:+0.57 25.20 54.20 (29.00)
1:24.41 (30.21) 1:55.80 (31.39)
15 Guevara, Miriam 5Y Northwestern 1:55.18 1:56.14 2
r:+0.51 25.11 54.24 (29.13)
1:24.54 (30.30) 1:56.14 (31.60)
16 Dickinson, Callie 5Y Georgia 1:54.83 1:56.25 1
r:+0.63 25.40 54.46 (29.06)
1:25.18 (30.72) 1:56.25 (31.07)
Women - Team Rankings - Through Event 19
1. Virginia 501.5 2. Texas 371.5
3. Stanford 299 4. Louisville 245
5. NC State 233 6. Tennessee 200
7. Ohio St 195 8. Indiana 178
9. Florida 157 10. UNC 137
11. California 127 12. Alabama 111
13. Wisconsin 100 14. Southern California 99
15. Lsu 95 16. Georgia 90.5
17. Kentucky 49 18. Duke 42
19. Minnesota 37 20. Miami (Fl) 36
21. Arizona 32 22. Michigan 29
23. Virginia Tech 28 24. Texas A&M 26
25. South Carolina 25 26. Arizona St 19
27. Northwestern 15 28. Auburn 14
29. Arkansas 12 30. Hawaii 11.5
31. Florida St 11 32. Miami (Ohio) 9
33. Purdue 7 33. Penn 7
35. UCLA 6 36. Akron 5
37. Georgia Tech 2 37. Utah 2
39. Florida Int'l 1
Look where she’s come from time wise in this event since HS – kudo’s to her, staff and teammates who’ve pushed her. Don’t let female swimmers think they can’t get better when they head off to college. It’s a partnership with coach, teammates to find ways to get better. Not always easy but it can be done. Nice job Emma !!