Much like the rest of the winners tonight, Michigan’s Olivia Carter threw down an impressive back half to win the NCAA title in the 200 butterfly as her win complements her junior teammate Maggie MacNeil’s win in the 100 butterfly last night.
Carter won with a 1:51.33, completely dominating the field on the back half, out splitting everyone on the third and fourth 50’s to win by a second and a half over Texas freshman Olivia Bray (1:52.87). Carter is now 11th all-time with her time as the Greensboro native won in her home pool.
“It is absolutely amazing to win in my home pool. It is definitely a dream come true. I wish there could be a home crowd for me to celebrate with but it felt like I was right at home,” Olivia Carter said after the race. “The last day has always wanted to be one of my best days. Going off of Maggie’s win, it gave me a lot of energy to push through.”
Bray took it out first at the halfway point at 53.08 as she was leading a 1-2-4 with Longhorn teammates Kelly Pash (53.29) and freshman Emma Sticklen (53.70), with Carter splitting the trio at 53.60. Then Carter threw down a 28.3 split as no one else broke 29 seconds and was clear sailing on the final 50.
Texas was hoping to gather as many points as possible in the pursuit of a top two finish with NC State currently holding that spot at the moment, as Bray was second, Pash was fourth at 1:53.42, and Sticklen was seventh at 1:54.09. Texas is now 23.5 points behind NC State with just the platform diving event and 400 free relay left.
Georgia’s Dakota Luther, who was the top seed heading into the meet in this event, finished in third at 1:53.01 while Texas A&M’s Taylor Pike tied Pash for fourth at 1:53.42.
Virginia’s Abby Harter (1:53.86) and Kentucky’s Izzy Gati (1:54.35) also swam in the championship final.
Olivia Carter’s title is Michigan’s first ever NCAA title in the 200 butterfly and the first for the Big Ten Conference.
Listen to Carter’s interview below with teammate Maggie MacNeil.
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 1:51.11 3/21/2015 Kelsi Worrell, Louisville
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
=========================================================================
=== Championship Final ===
1 Carter, Olivia JR Michigan 1:53.19 1:51.33 20
r:+0.66 25.13 53.60 (28.47)
1:21.95 (28.35) 1:51.33 (29.38)
2 Bray, Olivia FR Texas 1:53.83 1:52.87 17
r:+0.67 24.72 53.08 (28.36)
1:22.69 (29.61) 1:52.87 (30.18)
3 Luther, Dakota JR Georgia 1:53.43 1:53.01 16
r:+0.67 25.40 54.12 (28.72)
1:23.27 (29.15) 1:53.01 (29.74)
4 Pike, Taylor SR TAMU 1:53.32 1:53.42 14.5
r:+0.64 25.75 54.37 (28.62)
1:23.77 (29.40) 1:53.42 (29.65)
4 Pash, Kelly SO Texas 1:53.38 1:53.42 14.5
r:+0.70 24.91 53.29 (28.38)
1:22.55 (29.26) 1:53.42 (30.87)
6 Harter, Abby FR Virginia 1:53.90 1:53.86 13
r:+0.73 25.17 53.90 (28.73)
1:23.69 (29.79) 1:53.86 (30.17)
7 Sticklen, Emma FR Texas 1:53.56 1:54.09 12
r:+0.66 24.99 53.70 (28.71)
1:23.74 (30.04) 1:54.09 (30.35)
8 Gati, Izzy JR Kentucky 1:53.86 1:54.35 11
r:+0.69 25.43 54.36 (28.93)
1:23.81 (29.45) 1:54.35 (30.54)
=== Consolation Final ===
9 Klinker, Rachel SO California 1:54.20 1:53.19 9
r:+0.70 25.42 53.46 (28.04)
1:22.50 (29.04) 1:53.19 (30.69)
10 Kraus, Alena JR Louisville 1:55.21 1:54.14 7
r:+0.68 25.51 54.13 (28.62)
1:24.06 (29.93) 1:54.14 (30.08)
11 Quah, Jing SR TAMU 1:55.29 1:54.41 6
r:+0.61 25.43 54.21 (28.78)
1:23.89 (29.68) 1:54.41 (30.52)
12 Gillilan, Coleen SO Notre Dame 1:53.94 1:54.78 5
r:+0.62 25.22 53.73 (28.51)
1:23.48 (29.75) 1:54.78 (31.30)
13 Hay, Abby SO Louisville 1:55.60 1:55.19 4
r:+0.72 26.63 55.68 (29.05)
1:25.13 (29.45) 1:55.19 (30.06)
14 Ray, Amanda FR Florida 1:55.12 1:55.30 3
r:+0.71 26.19 55.40 (29.21)
1:25.05 (29.65) 1:55.30 (30.25)
15 Albiero, Gabi FR Louisville 1:55.38 1:56.30 2
r:+0.65 25.66 54.66 (29.00)
1:25.03 (30.37) 1:56.30 (31.27)
16 Harrington, Sydney JR U.S. Navy 1:55.36 1:57.04 1
r:+0.67 25.47 54.25 (28.78)
1:24.96 (30.71) 1:57.04 (32.08)
Women - Team Rankings - Through Event 19 1. Virginia 457 2. NC State 324 3. Texas 300.5 4. California 258 5. Alabama 226 6. Michigan 202.5 7. Ohio St 189.5 8. Georgia 157 9. Kentucky 152 10. Stanford 146 11. UNC 127 12. Tennessee 125 13. Texas A&M 107.5 14. Louisville 94 15. Northwestern 88 16. Florida 84.5 17. Missouri 79 18. Indiana 76 19. Wisconsin 59 20. Virginia Tech 43 21. Miami 42 21. Southern California 42 23. Minnesota 40 24. Arkansas 26 25. Nebraska 22 26. Arizona 17.5 27. Georgia Tech 16 28. Purdue 13 29. Notre Dame 12 30. Lsu 9 30. Houston 9 32. Fgcu 6 32. San Diego St 6 34. Duke 4 35. Akron 3 36. Oakland 1 36. U.S. Navy 1
