The 2023 NCAA Division I Women’s Championships continued with the prelims of the 200 butterfly.
Defending NCAA champion Alex Walsh enters as the favorite, though she wasn’t seeded in the circle heats.
The rest of the field was packed with some interesting possibilities, most from Texas. Emma Sticklen, Kelly Pash and Dakota Luther were the top three seeds going into the meet.
Walsh was in heat four of seven, swimming in lane seven. She was out fast in a 52.78 and continued to pull away from the field and touched in 1:52.05.
Luther was the first Texas swimmer up in the circle heats. She started strong and pulled away with a strong swim in 1:51.91.
Next, it was Pash. She wasn’t quite as fast as Luther, but held off the swimmers in her heat to get to the wall in 1:52.73.
In the final heat, it was Sticklen pulling away from the field to touch in 1:51.71.
That leaves the Longhorns with 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).
The Longhorns have the chance to score some major points and if the trio swims its best, would even have a chance to go 1-2-3, a rare feat in NCAA swimming.
Of course, Walsh and the rest of the field will have something to say about that.
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 Seed Prelims
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=== Preliminaries ===
1 Sticklen, Emma JR Texas 1:51.37 1:51.71
r:+0.66 24.53 52.45 (27.92)
1:21.71 (29.26) 1:51.71 (30.00)
2 Luther, Dakota 5Y Texas 1:51.58 1:51.91
r:+0.70 25.11 53.27 (28.16)
1:22.27 (29.00) 1:51.91 (29.64)
3 Walsh, Alex JR Virginia 1:55.63 1:52.05
r:+0.77 25.15 52.78 (27.63)
1:21.78 (29.00) 1:52.05 (30.27)
4 Pash, Kelly SR Texas 1:51.45 1:52.73
r:+0.68 25.06 53.42 (28.36)
1:22.40 (28.98) 1:52.73 (30.33)
5 Looney, Lindsay SR ASU 1:52.68 1:53.19
r:+0.67 25.20 53.57 (28.37)
1:22.99 (29.42) 1:53.19 (30.20)
6 Hay, Abby SR Louisville 1:53.51 1:53.21
r:+0.72 25.05 53.37 (28.32)
1:22.77 (29.40) 1:53.21 (30.44)
7 Harter, Abby JR Virginia 1:54.31 1:53.28
r:+0.72 25.38 54.13 (28.75)
1:23.08 (28.95) 1:53.28 (30.20)
8 Hook, Charlotte FR Stanford 1:52.48 1:53.86
r:+0.68 26.04 54.87 (28.83)
1:23.92 (29.05) 1:53.86 (29.94)
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9 Klinker, Rachel SR California 1:53.57 1:54.16
r:+0.70 25.75 54.37 (28.62)
1:23.40 (29.03) 1:54.16 (30.76)
10 Nordmann, Lillie SO Stanford 1:53.89 1:54.29
r:+0.67 25.80 54.77 (28.97)
1:23.98 (29.21) 1:54.29 (30.31)
11 Arens, Abby JR NC State 1:52.91 1:54.45
r:+0.65 25.14 54.08 (28.94)
1:24.34 (30.26) 1:54.45 (30.11)
12 Jernstedt, Edith SO FSU 1:55.78 1:54.64
r:+0.74 25.48 54.77 (29.29)
1:24.28 (29.51) 1:54.64 (30.36)
13 Stotler, Sara SO Tennessee 1:54.61 1:54.71
r:+0.64 25.55 54.35 (28.80)
1:24.19 (29.84) 1:54.71 (30.52)
14 Dickinson, Callie 5Y Georgia 1:54.63 1:54.83
r:+0.68 25.28 53.90 (28.62)
1:23.80 (29.90) 1:54.83 (31.03)
15 VanNote, Ellie SR UNC 1:54.07 1:54.84
r:+0.64 25.74 54.70 (28.96)
1:24.44 (29.74) 1:54.84 (30.40)
16 Guevara, Miriam 5Y Northwestern 1:55.82 1:55.18
r:+0.60 24.96 54.04 (29.08)
1:23.89 (29.85) 1:55.18 (31.29)
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17 Gati, Izzy 5Y Kentucky 1:56.19 1:55.23
r:+0.68 25.72 54.54 (28.82)
1:24.49 (29.95) 1:55.23 (30.74)
18 Theall, Olivia JR TAMU 1:54.81 1:55.25
r:+0.75 26.05 55.72 (29.67)
1:25.38 (29.66) 1:55.25 (29.87)
