The middle day of the 2013 Women’s NCAA Championships is probably the best day of the meet for the Cal Golden Bears, the defending champions, and the weakest day for the Georgia Bulldogs, the leaders so far in this meet. But including Tennessee, who has two divers in the A-Final, this could be a single-digit meet at the end of the day, so watch for every opportunity for an athlete to move up or down even a spot or two, as they’re all crucial.
- 200 Medley Relay
- 400 IM
- 100 Fly
- 200 Free
- 100 Breast
- 100 Back
- 3-Meter Diving
- 800 Free Relay (no preliminary heats)
Women’s 200 Medley Relay – Final
Three up, and three down. Tennessee has continued their unbelievable run at this NCAA Championship meet by winning their third relay. To reiterate what we shared yesterday, the Volunteers hadn’t won a single relay coming into this meet in program history. Now they’ve won the first three relays of the meet, including the 200 medley in 1:34.95. Molly Hannis continued her up-and-down swims this championship season and split 26.1 as the Volunteers rolled to a win in 1:34.95.
(Aside: Winning the meet’s first three relays isn’t as rare as it might seem. Cal did it in 2011; Arizona won all five in 2008.)
Cal was 2nd in 1:35.53, going from near-even but giving up half-a-second on the freestyle anchor leg. Rachel Bootsma continued to be the star of their team at this meet with a 23.40.
Arizona took 3rd, including a 21.20 from Margo Geer, meaning no sub-21 freestyle splits at this meet (even though both Geer and Romano have done it in their careers).
Florida was 4th in 1:36.06, getting a blistering anchor of their own from Natalie Hinds. The Florida back-half was really killer, with Ellese Zalewski splitting 22.85 on the butterfly leg: a good omen for her upcoming 100 fly.
Texas A&M was run-down by Florida on the anchor leg and finished 5th in 1:36.08.
Wisconsin won the B-Final in 1:37.26. Georgia stuck to their guns in this relay and finished 14th in 1:38.31. That let Tennessee pull into the lead, though that would only last until the 200 free.
Women’s 400 IM – Finals
Florida’s Elizabeth Beisel and Texas A&M’s Cammile Adams both went out hard on the butterfly, but Beisel had the backstroe to back it up. She took the race out in 1:54.82, and even held off Caitlin Leverenz on the breaststroke leg. Beisel led this race for the last 300 yards, and took the win in 4:00.49.
After a few years of Julia Smits and Katinka Hosszus pushing the pace, we became accustomed to seeing sub-four-minute 400 IM’s (four did it last year). Don’t forget that a 4:00 is still a very good time, and not-too-long ago would’ve been among the best times ever.
Stanford’s Maya DiRado , splitting under a minute on her backstroke leg, was 2nd in 4:01.02.
Cal’s Caitlin Leverenz was 3rd in 4:02.98. She was a 1:06.85 on her breaststroke leg, as compared to a 1:04.8 on that leg last season where she was 2nd overall.
Cammile Adams was 4th in 4:03.74 after leading past the butterfly; USC’s Stina Gardell was 5th in 4:04.66. A&M’s Sarah Henry, like Adams, pushed the butterfly leg, and was just solid across this swim. She took off on the freestyle, as she’s wont to do, to jump Georgia’s Melanie Margalis (7th – 4:05.36).
Meghan Hawthorne won the B-Final in 4:06.03, followed by Louisville’s Tanja Kylliainen in 4:07.30.
Women’s 100 Fly – Finals
Auburn’s Olivia Scott was the fastest returning swimmer in the women’s 100 fly, and she followed that suit to win this year’s race in 51.64 – dipping pretty far under her prelims swim for the win.
Cal’s Rachel Bootsma, on the front-half of a big double, took 2nd in 51.68. She and Scott split this race nearly identically, as did Florida’s Ellese Zalewski, who was 3rd in 52.69. The race came down to fingertips at any one wall, and Scott, the relative veteran as the only of the top four finishers who swam at this meet last year, took the win.
Louisville freshman Kelsi Worrell was 4th in 51.80 after turning better than 24 seconds (the only swimmer in the field to do so). She’s got amazing 50 yard speed in this butterfly; she’s a very good 200 freestyler already, so with another year of good hard training and closing up that last 50 yards, she could be a force. The top four in that are all underclassmen, so this race is going to be killer again next year, especially when you consider the two freshmen who were at the top of the B-Final: Kendyl Stewart and Natalie Hinds in 51.89 each.
Arizona’s Megan Lafferty was 6th in 52.09, followed by Ting Quah (52.09) and Virginia Tech’s Heather Savage (52.14).
Women’s 200 Free – Finals
Nobody touched Megan Romano’s NCAA Record from last year in this race, but Georgia’s Allison Schmitt took her 6th career individual title with a 1:41.85.
That top-end time may not have been as good as last season, but overall this was a very fast and deep 200 free final. Liz Pelton from Cal came on with a big last 50 split (25.88) to take 2nd in 1:42.13; Megan Romano was 3rd in 1:42.64, and Shannon Vreeland was 4th in 1:42.97. That’s four swimmers better than a 1:43 in this final.
(Side note: Schmitt and Pelton are both NBAC alums, making this a 1-2 for Bob Bowman alums).Tennessee’s Lindsay Gendron improved half-a-second from prelims to place 5th in 1:43.77 and score more crucial points for Tennessee as they fight through the individual events to stay in this race. A&M’s Lili Ibanez was 6th in 1:44.66, followed by Cal’s Caroline Piehl (1:45.14) and Stanford’s Andie Murez (1:45.25).
Cal’s Rachael Acker, who has an important role as a sprinter for Cal but whose best event this year has been this 200, won the B-Final in 1:44.33. She held off Virginia’s Lauren Perdue and her 1:44.41.
Overall, this final was neutral for Cal and Georgia in the team battle as compared to prelims – which is a good thing for Georgia. Pelton at least prevented a 1-2-3 Bulldog sweep.
Women’s 100 Breast – Finals
This hasn’t been a meet with a ton of records going down, but Texas A&M’s Breeja Larson at least was able to get her own NCAA Championship Meet record in the 100 breaststroke with a 57.63 for her second-straight title in this event. The swim was faster than she was in winning last year, but not as good as her in-season American Record.
USC’s Kasey Carlson, who’s having the best NCAA Championship meet of her career, was tied with Larson at the 50, but the back half of this race is where Breeja is so good. Carlson ended up 2nd in 58.36, which is a lifetime best for her. As a junior, that’s the first time she’s hit a season-best at an NCAA Championship meet. That’s especially impressive this year, where best times have been so hard to come by.
Columbia’s Katie Meili finished 3rd in 59.14; she, like most of this final, added from prelims. Arkansas’ Nikki Daniels was 4th in 59.18, just besting Notre Dame’s Emma Reaney in 59.19. The two sophomores were the youngest swimmers in this final: a rare one with no freshmen.
Texas’ Laura Sogar took 6th in 59.25, Arizona’s Ellyn Baumgardner was 7th in 59.37, and Arizona’s Chelsey Salli was 8th in 59.79.
Meanwhile, Tennessee’s Molly Hannis won the B-Final in the 100 breaststroke in 58.84: a time that would have been 3rd had she been a little faster in the morning.
Women’s 100 Backstroke – Final
This year’s freshman backstroking class is surely living up to the hype early in their careers. The top three finishers in the A-Final were all rookies, with Cal’s Rachel Bootsma swimming a 50.13 for the victory. She was followed by two Canadians: Florida’s Sinead Russell (51.46) and Indiana’s Brooklyn Snodgrass (51.52) on the medal podium.
Add to that Virginia’s Courtney Bartholomew as the B0Final champion, and youth has been most definitely served. What’s scary is we’ve got another killer class of backstrokers coming into college next year, including swimmers like Missy Franklin (Cal) and Olivia Smoliga (Georgia). Georgia will really bea ble to use those points to fight back Cal, as the Bulldogs didn’t score in this 100 backstroke.
Bootsma’s swim was a historic one, though. It was the fastest 100 backstroke we’ve ever seen by a freshman, and the second-fastest in history behind only a 49.97 by Natalie Coughlin set at the 2002 NCAA Championships. The five fastest 100 backstrokes, between Pelton, Tran, and Coughlin, now all belong to Cal Golden Bears.
Stanford’s Felicia Lee was 4th in 51.58, and the two-time defending champ from Cal Cindy Tran was 5th in 51.92.
Texas A&M’s Paige Miller was 6th in 51.93, followed by MIssouri’s Dominique Bouchard and A&M’s Tess Simpson.
The Top 6 in the A-Final and the top 5 in the B-Final were all underclassmen.
Women’s 3 Meter – Final
After a year of hibernation for Olympic preparations, Purdue is back on top of the diving world. Casey Matthews, hitting two dives north of 70 points, won the women’s three-meter on Friday night witha score of 386.55.
As good as the men’s program has been with athletes like David Boudia, this is actually the first ever NCAA title for the Purdue women’s diving program. In fact, it’s their first ever NCAA title for the women’s swimmers or divers: a historic moment for the Boilermakers.
Hailey Casper was 2nd in 377.70, with Eastern Michigan’s Kelly Hendricks taking 3rd in 356.05.
In terms of the team battle, Tennessee again had two in this A-Final, with a 5th place finish from Jodie McGroarty and a 7th-place finish from Tori Lamp to stay in the hunt in the team battle.
Laura Ryan kept the Bulldogs in the lead, but just barely, by finishing 13th. That’s four valuable points for the Bulldogs.
Women’s 800 Free Relay
Georgia left their 800 free relay stacked, and though they were well off of the time they swam at SEC’s (likely the difference between it being a day-1-of-5 event at SEC’s and a day-2-of-3 event at NCAA’s) they still won easily in 6:54.43. Megan Romano and Allison Schmitt were both 1:43.0’s on rolling starts for the Bulldogs.
The question stil remains if they shouldn’t have used Romano on the 200 medley earlier in the meet. Looking back, nearly a three second victory still would’ve left them lots of cushion to put one of their other 6 finalists in her place. Hindsight, as they say, is 20/20, and with Georgia having a lead going into the meet’s final day (and seeded to be the high scorers), they are in a good position.
Arizona took 2nd in 6:57.26. Margo Geer was also a 1;43.01, and Monica Drake anchored for the Wildcats in 1:44.06. Drake has been a big relay contributor throughout this meet.
Arizona was in an earlier heat, meaning that Cal didn’t have anything to look at in the final (except Georgia, a few body lengths ahead). Cal ended up 3rd in 6:57.44. Liz Pelton had the best split of the field in 1:42.16. That swim epitomized what we’ve seen from this talented Cal freshman class: the ability to bounce back with many good swims in the same.
Stanford was 4th in 6:59.16. A&M took 5th in 7:02.03; that’s slower than seed, but after not even swimming this relay at NCAA’s last year, that’s a big step up.
USC was 6th in 7:02.49; that was a tight finish ahead of Florida (7:02.54) and Minnesota (7:02.77).
Team Standings After Day 2
More analysis on the team scoring later….(you know we will).
1. Georgia 300
2. California 285
3. Tennessee 263.5
4. Arizona 246
5. Texas A&M 216
6. Southern Cal 194
7. Stanford 189.5
8. Florida 189
9. Texas 115
10. Minnesota 99
There’s no doubt that the pool is fast; however, it is no entirely the “swimmer’s” fault. Maybe if the water and ait temperature hadn’t been near freezing temperatures, we would have seen much faster swimming. Athletes built like Breeja Larson, with little to no body fat found it extremely hard to warm up in the cold water then to stay warm pre-race with the cold air. Especially teams coming from the South with warmer climates, the cold does wreak havoc on some performances.
200 medley relay. Again, congrats to Tennessee girls. They can thank Molly Hannis with her breaststroke leg. This girl has much much much speed.
400 IM. Happy for Miss Beisel. She’s the best American 400 IM swimmer of the moment. Sad for Maya DiRado who is again close to an individual win.
100 fly. Olivia Scott wins. Congrats to her. But ladies, wake up! The average level is weak.
200 free. Allison Schmitt reminds us she’s the olympic champion. Not a spectacular time but a very decent time for her. She looks much better in the shortest distances than in the longest in this post olympic season. Miss Pelton continues to impress me. We knew her backstroke… Read more »
Fast pool or slow pool, the swimmers swim. Last year was an olympic year, this year not. Last year Miss Romano was in 1.41.21, this year in 1.42.64. Many swimmers are slower than at their conference meet like Kendyl Stewart, Annie Zhu, Sarah Henry or Breeja Larson. A few others have ups and downs like Molly Hannis who is amazing in relays and a little less on individual or Allison Schmitt who was bad in the 500 free but much better in the 200 free. It also looks like a few girls are sick like Caitlin Leverenz and Cindy Tran or come back after an illness like Jasmine Tosky. And there are a few others who are faster and swim… Read more »
What happens with Cindy Tran? Caitlin Leverenz : “I don’t think anyone else on the team is sick.” So I understand Cindy Tran isn’t sick. I know swimmers can’t beat their PB every time but it’s different for her. She underperforms very much in this meet. 52.38 at the start of the medley relay or 51.92 in the individual event. It’s very far from her standards.
One of the coaches was quoted as saying Tran had “a touch of the flu”.
There has gotta be some points for anyone who can go Full Orange.
Despite the slower times, I think that Bootsma’s 23.40 and Hannis’s 26.14 are the fastest splits of all time.
Hannis for sure with the 26.14….fastest 50 breast split of all time. What was Coughlin leading off a relay?
23.41
Agreed – Bootsma is something special- underrated too and will probably remain this way since Missy and Pelton will justifiably receive a lot of the upcoming spotlight.
Wonder if there is any kind of Trials/Olympics like effects in proximity of conference meet (as it relates to time improvements) or excitement (not saying anyone conference meet is more exciting than NCs, but there is a lot to be said for a very deep/very fast conference meet like SECs)?
Could it be just one of those years where people just aren’t swimming well that normally do? We are talking about kids who can make mistakes, bad turns, over-swimming, etc. can have an impact?
With the exception of Boostma and Pelton, the CAL girls misfired.
But as I predicted, Georgia is running away with this one.
Leverenz and Tran both sick; but by the end I’m not sure they could have made up the difference even if well.
I don’t doubt that UGA can win, but 15 points isn’t exactly running away…
Agreed- if a team has a 40+ point lead going into the last event, in which they could risk a DQ in a relay, then i believe that would be considered running away with a meet….JMHO. I’m not saying that Georgia won’t be there after their milers are doing scoring. I see them getting big point- 2 top 8 finishes, but for now and until the 100 freestylers have scored, it’s still close, far from being completely over.
agree-pool isn’t that fast- there are others that are better…even long course.
Ever swim in it?
That’s a silly statement. The IUPUI is known as one of the fastest pools on earth. It has wide 9′ lanes, is 9 to 10 feet deep all the way and state of the art gutters and filtration system. A lot of research led by Doc Councilman went into building that pool and it became the benchmark for all the great facilities built since then.
There are a lot of state of the art competition pools in the US like Texas, Minnesota, Ohio State and many others that are very fast, but none are faster than Indy.
A pool can only be so fast. The women’s NCAA records are insane compared to 30 years ago. Humans maybe beginning to get… Read more »
I agree. And Olympic years are often faster, hence some records last year, and post-Olympic years often slowestr. Also some of the records are still from the 08-09 techsuit era.