It’s go time. The final day of the 2013 Women’s NCAA Championships will determine who the champions will be, and the battle for first has come down to Georgia and Cal.
If you want to see a full slate of analysis, look here:
SeeSaws on final night of NCAA’s.
2013 Women’s NCAA’s Final Day Up/Downs.
Live stats: http://www.swmeets.com/Realtime/NCAA/2013/
Live Video: ESPN3.com
Women’s 1650 Freeestyle – Timed Final
Haley Anderson is a fast-starter in this mile; she knows that she can be, because she has the endurance to hang on. This year, though, without Stephanie Peacock or Wendy Trott to pace with, Anderson had to be the rabbit and take it out be the one who set the early speed.
She slid into that role perfectly, and for the first half of this race split almost identically as she did in 2012 when she was the runner-up.
Georgia sophomore Amber McDermott was the swimmer who hung on her hip for the first 1000 yards of this race, but as McDermott fell off, Texas A&M’s Sarah Henry, the top seed coming in, and Florida’s Jessica Thielmann came up to challenge.
At the end, Henry was the only one who could stick with Anderson until the wire, and though she had the better closing 100 yards of the two, Anderson had just enough of a lead to win with a 15:45.98. Henry was 2nd in 15:46.41 – just missing her mid-season best time (though she’ll end the year having the best time overall this season).
Indiana’s Lindsay Vrooman never quite challenged for the lead in this race, but she had a relatively strong close to take 3rd in 15:50.73 – rebreaking her own school and Big Ten Records in the race.
McDermott fell back to 5th place, improving one position over her finish at last year’s meet with a 15:52.52. Recovering from a wrist injury earlier this year (though we don’t know exactly how severe it was, it did cost her a few meets), that’s a spectacular finish. Florida’s Alicia Mathieu was actually the highest-placing Gator in 15:52.88, and she outsplit freshman teammate Jess Thielmann by two seconds on the last 50 to move up that spot. Thielmann was 6th, followed by Georgia’s Brittany MacLean in 7th in 15:54.63. MacLean was the fastest swimmer out of the morning heats.
A&M’s Maureen McLaine rounded out the first-team All-Americans with a 15:56.80 for 8th place, and then the times fell to a 16:04 from Arkansas’ Lauren Jordan in 9th.
Women’s 200 Backstroke – Final
After chipping away at the American Record for the better part of two years, it was almost inevitable with how well she’s been swimming the Cal freshman Liz Pelton was going to get the NCAA/U.S. Open Records in this 200 backstroke. Afterall, she was seeded only .05 away from it.
She not only broke the record, she blew it away. Her 1:47.84 made her the fastest 200 backstroker of all-time by half-a-second. Cal continues to reign as the champs of short course swimming, as current Golden Bears or alums hold the U.S. Open Records in 8 out of 19 recognized events.
Missouri’s Dominique Bouchard had a great back-half to her race as she was wont to do, but even she couldn’t touch Pelton. She finished 2nd in 1:50.06. That time moves her to 7th on the all-time list in this event (at any level), and makes her the highest NCAA finisher in Missouri Swimming & Diving history.
Elizabeth Beisel, the defending National Champion in this race, took 3rd in 1:51.17; USC’s Kendyl Stewart was 4th in 1:51.28.
The four freshmen in this final were impressive, though they didn’t quite match what we saw in the 100 backstroke, where they took the top three spots, but getting so many into the A-Final is great for that class.
Maya DiRado from Stanford was 5th in 1:51.34, giving up her top-three position only on the last 50 yards; Florida’s Sinead Russell came in 6th in 1:51.87.
Brooklyn Snodgrass from Indiana was 7th in 1:52.12, and Texas’ Sarah Denninghoff rounded out the A-Final in 1:53.72.
Freshmen did go 1-2 in the B-Final. Arizona’s Bonnie Brandon won in 1:51.41, followed by Virginia’s Courtney Bartholomew in 1:52.72: a time that ranks her 2nd in Virginia history in the event.
Women’s 100 Free – Finals
In this morning’s recap, we related how consistent Margo Geer has been at this meet, hitting the same times swim-after-swim, proclaiming that anybody who wanted this 100 free title would have to come down and get her.
In finals, Geer made that prediction look really good. She came in seeded 47.16, was a 47.17 in prelims, and finished with a 47.19 in finals to complete her 50/100 freestyle sweep at this meet. That puts her on a list of swimmers that includes names like Jenny Thompson, Dara Torres, and Kara Lynn Joyce who have done this double (it actually happens quite frequently).
Georgia’s Megan Romano did come down after Geer a little as compared to finals, but it just wasn’t enough for the win. She added a second sprint silver with a 47.37.
Florida’s Natalie Hinds took 3rd in 47.73. She’s been good all weekend, but Saturday has really been her day at this meet. Her teammate, junior Ellese Zalewski, was 4th in 47.99. The Florida women are one really good sprinter away from being a favorite for the 400 free relay title at NCAA’s next year.
Georgia’s Allison Schmitt was 5th in 48.04, exactly matching her prelims time, and Cal freshman Rachael Acker grabbed 6th in 48.29.
Even with Acker beating Georgia’s Shannon Vreeland (48.41), Bulldog freshman Chantal van Landeghem moved up to win the B-Final in 48.21. That pushed the Georgia lead to 57-points – triple what it was coming into the event.
Women’s 200 Breaststroke – Final
This race probably even surpasses the women’s 500 free for the honor of “shock of the meet” at the 2013 NCAA Championships. Breeja Larson of Texas A&M is the fastest ever in the race. Haley Spencer and Caitlin Leverenz are the last two NCAA Champions in the event.
But it was Texas’ Laura Sogar who would end her collegiate career with the title, winning in 2:05.41. Spencer took 2nd in 2:06.15, and Larson was 3rd in 2:06.24.
The win is Sogar’s first of her career, and she did it against arguably the best 200 breaststroke field ever assembled in a yards race. Of note, she becomes the Longhorns’ 70th all-time event champion, which keeps them just barely ahead of Georgia at meet’s end for third-most on the all-time list.
Spencer had, as one of our readers put it, an “unnatural” back-half to her race. She was 7th after 100, going out in 1:01.51, but came back faster than anyone in the field. Her 2:06.15 for 2nd was actually .02 better than when she won the title two years ago, showing how good this field is.
Larson, meanwhile, was trying to use her great back-half as well. That strategy was working as she led at the 150, but something happened in her last 50 yards and she fell all the way to 3rd. She had the slowest last 50 of the whole field. This continues to be the race that she has the most trouble with at NCAA’s.
Georgia’s Annie Zhu ended her meet with the best swim of the weekend, which was a 4th-place finish in 2:06.69. Notre Dame’s Emma Reaney was 5th in 2:06.77, again lowering her Big East Record in the race, and Cal’s Caitlin Leverenz, the defending champion, was 6th in 2:07.41.
USC’s Andrea Kropp was 7th in 2:07.62, and A&M’s Ashley McGregor rounded out the final in 2:09.67.
Columbia’s Katie Meili ended her illustrious career in this race as one of the most decorated Ivy League female swimmers in league history. She won the B-Final in 2:08.00, breaking yet another Ivy League Record. Her 200 has made her the most progress this season; she’s improved from a 2:10.40 last year to this 2:08.00 this year.
USC’s Stina Gardell (2:08.56) and Georgia’s Melanie Margalis (2:08.60) capped of the top three from that B-Final.
Women’s 200 Fly – Final
Texas A&M’s Cammile Adams, after finishing 2nd to Katinka Hosszu the last two years, took her first career NCAA title in 1:52.61. Adams has a great closing kick, and she needed every bit of it to pull away from USC’s Jasmine Tosky, who had a great first 100 yards. Tosky would ultimately run out of gas on the last 50 yards and finish 5th in 1:55.11, but that first 150 was brave.
Meanwhile, it was a ‘Dawgs day as Georgia continued to put up great swims. Sophomore Lauren Harrington, who was seeded low in the B-Final coming into the meet, swam a lifetime best of 1:54.39 for 2nd place. The butterflies were a desert for Georgia two years ago before Harrington joined the program, but she has made this a bright spot for the Bulldogs this season.
North Carolina moved up once again, with Cari Blalock finishing 3rd in 1:54.65 and Meredith Hoover finishing 4th in 1:54.75.
After Tosky came Rachel Bootsma, who couldn’t get it going in this raced like she did in the 100; she added about half-a-second in finals for a 1:55.57. West Virginia’s Mandie Nugent ended her career on a high note with a 7th-place finish in 1:55.61.
Yale’s Alex Forrester, whose butterflies haven’t looked as good tonight as they did at Ivy’s, finished well in the B-Final to take 9th in 1:54.49 (the third-best time overall). Behind her was another Tar Heel, Kathleen Nolan, dropping another second in 1:55.23.
Women’s Platform Diving
Haley Ishimatsu at USC probably would’ve liked to have scored in a few more of her three events this year, but in her heart, she is truly a platform diver. After missing the top 16 on both springboards, she won the platform final – and it wasn’t even close. Her 396.75 shattered the old Championship record of 362.60 set by Brittany Viola of Miami in 2008. Though there’s always some variability in diving scores, any time you break a record by more than 30 points, you know that it was one of the all-time great performances.
Tennessee’s Tori Lamp was 2nd in 328.60, followed by Indiana’s Amy Cozad in 325.20. As a first exclamation point on the team’s victory, Laura Ryan was 5th for Georgia in 394.65, stretching their lead to 76. Cal’s Kahley Rowell finished in the top 8 for the second-straight year with a 271.25. That’s impressive considering that Cal doesn’t even have a platform of their own to use.
Women’s 400 Free Relay Final
With the pressure off, the Georgia Bulldogs were swimming for placement in the 400 free relay. Placement, and records.
The Bulldogs, featuring a 46.25 anchor from Megan Romano, broke the Ameircan Record in 3:09.40. The old mark was a 3:09.88 belonging to Cal in 2009 in their National Championship season.
The Georgia relay was made up of Shannon Vreeland, Chantal van Landeghem, Allison Schmitt, and Megan Romano.(Read all about their record-breaking swim here).
The freshman second leg van Landeghem is Canadian, so that left the American Record available for breaking; Arizona’s runner-up relay did just that in 3:10.63. That team was Megan Lafferty, Margo Geer, Kaitlyn Flederbach, and Monica Drake in 3:10.63, improving on the Stanford time of 3:10.77 from last year.
Geer split 46.67, which is about right as compared to her flat-start win in the individual 100. Comparatively, Romano was more than a second faster, which shows just how good of a relay swimmer she is. She’s the kind of person who could improve American relays internationally because of how good she is in that atmosphere, but was left off in 2012 because relays are decided based on flat-start swims.
Cal took 3rd in 3:11.58, led by a 47.78 from Liz Pelton and anchored by matching 47.74’s from Rachael Acker and Rachel Bootsma. That’s three freshmen, along with sophomore Kaylin Bing, and the Bears’ sprint group gets even better next year with the addition of Missy Franklin and Kristen Vredeveld.
Tennesssee finished 4th in 3:12.07, and Texas A&M was 8th in 3:15.39; that’s exactly the point-spread the Volunteers needed to secure their 3rd-place overall team finish: the highest in program history.
Stanford took 5th in 3:12.19, with one more big-time split of 47.12 from senior Andie Murez. Florida was 6th in 3:12.96 (they added Beisel in finals, who split a 49.79 on their 3rd leg).
Minnesota, after falling in an intense swim-off earlier in the meet, still had enough left to win the B-Final in 3:16.01.
Final women’s top 10
The women’s top 10 at the end of each of the meet’s three days were exactly the same, though the orders were in constant flux.
1. Georgia 477
2. California 393
3. Tennessee 325.5
4. Texas A&M 323.5
5. Arizona 311
6. Florida 305
7. Southern Cal 291
8. Stanford 246
9. Texas 186
10. Minnesota 141
Great meet, great swims. The best part of it all was Tennessee’s third place finish. No one who knows Matt Kredich is surprised that he can take his Vols to the top.
Kredich was, I believe, the last hire by Joan Cronan before the Men’s and Women’s ADs were combined. Given the lousy write up in the Knox paper, I only hope they start getting some hometown attention. Congrats to all the participants!
Major congrats to the Dawgs. Mad props to the Lady Vols. Not a single Olympian in that group from Knoxville, a ton of heart and a great coach. Cannot wait to watch Matt build something special at UT.
1650 free. Nothing to say. The best has won. Haley Anderson was at her level this week. But ladies, 15-year-old Katie Ledecky, 15.28.33 in December, and 15-year-old Becca Mann, 15.45.33 last week, would have beaten you. And Stephanie Peacock probably too.
200 back. Wow! I’m very happy! For once one of my predictions was good! I predicted Miss Pelton would swim 1.47 in the 200 back. Her 1.47.84 is THE PERFORMANCE OF THE MEET and she is THE SWIMMER OF THE MEET. She has destroyed the race and now has the NCAA record! It was now or never for the NCAA record because next season there will be Missy.
100 free. Congrats to Margo Geer but I’m disappointing with the… Read more »
Man gotta love sogar putting on some mass and winning that 2 breast…gotta wonder where that was in the 2 im and 1 breast…I guess that’s why you always bet on the field!