The 2023 NCAA Division I Women’s Championships continued from Knoxville, Tennessee, on Thursday with the Day 2 finals session with the 500 freestyle.
Texas sophomore Erica Sullivan was the favorite all season. She took the top seed in the prelims.
But it was Alabama’s Kensey McMahon who made a late move and took the lead as Sullivan tried to keep pace.
She was in the 27s and 26s in the final four splits of her race to move ahead and then edge the closing field.
Georgia’s Rachel Stege and Wisconsin’s Abby Carlson also made late moves as all four turned together in the final.
McMahon got to the wall in 4:36.62, dropping more than a second from prelims. Carlson was second in 4:36.96, followed by Texas’ Olivia Bray (4:37.02), who closed in the final 25 to hold off her teammate Sullivan, who finished fourth (4:37.28).
“I definitely wanted to be super warmed up. I get better as the race goes, so I wanted to build the first 200, attack those middle ones and finish strong,” McMahon said. “I definitely felt a lot of energy. It is unreal. My coach and I have been working for this for the past several years. It is really exciting that we were able to do this together.”
This was a reason she came back for a fifth year.
“It definitely feels super special. I had a lot of momentum in 2020, and I was devastated when it got canceled,” McMahon said. “I struggled the year after. I felt super broken down. These past two years have been really nice.”
Sullivan was nearly a second slower than in prelims, while six swimmers in the event dropped time.
Stege finished fifth in 4:37.32, followed by Florida’s Emma Weyant (4:38.46), Indiana’s Ching Hwee Gan (4:38.91) and Georgia’s Dune Coetzee (4:40.58).
Sullivan took the top NCAA seed in 4:36.51 to hold off Carlson (4:37.56) during prelims.
Tennessee’s Julia Mrozinksi won the consolation final 4:37.34.
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
Pool: P 4:33.09 11/19/2020Paige Madden, Virginia
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
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=== Championship Final ===
1 McMahon, Kensey 5Y Alabama 4:37.81 4:36.62 20
r:+0.75 25.94 53.89 (27.95)
1:21.74 (27.85) 1:49.68 (27.94)
2:17.71 (28.03) 2:45.76 (28.05)
3:13.72 (27.96) 3:41.81 (28.09)
4:09.73 (27.92) 4:36.62 (26.89)
2 Carlson, Abby SO Wisconsin 4:37.56 4:36.96 17
r:+0.68 25.79 53.50 (27.71)
1:21.60 (28.10) 1:49.81 (28.21)
2:18.04 (28.23) 2:46.38 (28.34)
3:14.76 (28.38) 3:42.68 (27.92)
4:10.18 (27.50) 4:36.96 (26.78)
3 Bray, Olivia JR Texas 4:38.48 4:37.02 16
r:+0.71 24.57 52.00 (27.43)
1:19.92 (27.92) 1:48.38 (28.46)
2:17.03 (28.65) 2:45.54 (28.51)
3:14.23 (28.69) 3:42.94 (28.71)
4:10.98 (28.04) 4:37.02 (26.04)
4 Sullivan, Erica SO Texas 4:36.51 4:37.28 15
r:+0.68 25.69 53.33 (27.64)
1:21.25 (27.92) 1:49.13 (27.88)
2:17.20 (28.07) 2:45.58 (28.38)
3:13.73 (28.15) 3:41.98 (28.25)
4:09.91 (27.93) 4:37.28 (27.37)
5 Stege, Rachel SO Georgia 4:37.72 4:37.32 14
r:+0.71 25.51 52.95 (27.44)
1:20.76 (27.81) 1:48.51 (27.75)
2:16.58 (28.07) 2:45.06 (28.48)
3:13.81 (28.75) 3:42.29 (28.48)
4:10.49 (28.20) 4:37.32 (26.83)
6 Weyant, Emma SO Florida 4:39.51 4:38.46 13
r:+0.78 25.71 53.26 (27.55)
1:21.41 (28.15) 1:49.70 (28.29)
2:17.92 (28.22) 2:46.20 (28.28)
3:14.57 (28.37) 3:42.87 (28.30)
4:10.91 (28.04) 4:38.46 (27.55)
7 Gan, Ching Hwee SO Indiana 4:39.21 4:38.91 12
r:+0.65 25.49 53.11 (27.62)
1:20.96 (27.85) 1:49.09 (28.13)
2:17.34 (28.25) 2:45.69 (28.35)
3:14.14 (28.45) 3:42.76 (28.62)
4:11.30 (28.54) 4:38.91 (27.61)
8 Coetzee, Dune SO Georgia 4:38.54 4:40.58 11
r:+0.72 25.52 53.33 (27.81)
1:21.29 (27.96) 1:49.60 (28.31)
2:18.30 (28.70) 2:46.68 (28.38)
3:15.34 (28.66) 3:44.07 (28.73)
4:12.45 (28.38) 4:40.58 (28.13)
=== Consolation Final ===
9 Mrozinski, Julia SO Tennessee 4:40.53 4:37.34 9
r:+0.64 25.13 53.02 (27.89)
1:21.30 (28.28) 1:49.68 (28.38)
2:17.94 (28.26) 2:46.22 (28.28)
3:14.39 (28.17) 3:42.54 (28.15)
4:10.54 (28.00) 4:37.34 (26.80)
10 Donohoe, Madelyn SR Virginia 4:39.58 4:39.46 7
r:+0.66 25.76 53.61 (27.85)
1:22.36 (28.75) 1:50.78 (28.42)
2:19.74 (28.96) 2:48.13 (28.39)
3:16.11 (27.98) 3:44.35 (28.24)
4:12.29 (27.94) 4:39.46 (27.17)
11 Zavaros, Mabel JR Florida 4:40.54 4:40.40 6
r:+0.68 26.07 54.06 (27.99)
1:22.24 (28.18) 1:50.60 (28.36)
2:18.89 (28.29) 2:47.22 (28.33)
3:15.76 (28.54) 3:44.38 (28.62)
4:12.88 (28.50) 4:40.40 (27.52)
12 McCarville, Kate SO Tennessee 4:40.43 4:40.54 5
r:+0.67 25.95 53.92 (27.97)
1:22.12 (28.20) 1:50.59 (28.47)
2:19.24 (28.65) 2:47.87 (28.63)
3:16.41 (28.54) 3:44.75 (28.34)
4:12.97 (28.22) 4:40.54 (27.57)
13 Looney, Lindsay SR ASU 4:40.81 4:40.72 4
r:+0.69 25.82 53.84 (28.02)
1:22.40 (28.56) 1:51.06 (28.66)
2:19.78 (28.72) 2:48.38 (28.60)
3:16.92 (28.54) 3:45.38 (28.46)
4:13.66 (28.28) 4:40.72 (27.06)
14 Motekaitis, Mia SR California 4:40.80 4:40.90 3
r:+0.75 25.24 52.83 (27.59)
1:20.90 (28.07) 1:49.28 (28.38)
2:17.79 (28.51) 2:46.45 (28.66)
3:15.30 (28.85) 3:44.20 (28.90)
4:13.06 (28.86) 4:40.90 (27.84)
15 Mathieu, Tylor SR Florida 4:40.62 4:41.18 2
r:+0.77 26.53 54.64 (28.11)
1:22.97 (28.33) 1:51.69 (28.72)
2:20.25 (28.56) 2:48.90 (28.65)
3:17.61 (28.71) 3:46.22 (28.61)
4:14.09 (27.87) 4:41.18 (27.09)
16 Mannion, Natalie FR Stanford 4:40.54 4:41.31 1
r:+0.72 25.74 53.94 (28.20)
1:22.42 (28.48) 1:50.90 (28.48)
2:19.57 (28.67) 2:48.20 (28.63)
3:16.91 (28.71) 3:45.48 (28.57)
4:13.82 (28.34) 4:41.31 (27.49)
Women - Team Rankings - Through Event 3
1. Texas 95 2. Virginia 87
3. California 59 4. Georgia 55
5. Tennessee 54 6. Stanford 53
7. Florida 47 8. Indiana 46
9. NC State 44 9. Alabama 44
11. Louisville 40 12. Ohio St 38
13. Wisconsin 35 14. UNC 22
15. Kentucky 14 15. Southern California 14
17. Michigan 6 17. Virginia Tech 6
19. UCLA 4 19. Arkansas 4
19. Arizona St 4 22. Auburn 2
22. Duke 2
