Swimmer of the Meet: Missy Franklin, California
California sophomore Missy Franklin closed out her collegiate career with 3 individual victories (200 IM, 200 free, and 200 back) and a new American record in the 200 freestyle. She earned All-American honors in all seven events and became the first woman in history to break 1:40 in the 200 freestyle.
Honorable Mention:
- Simone Manuel, Stanford – Stanford freshman Simone Manuel won the 5o freestyle, the 100 freestyle and added a second place finish in the 200 freestyle. She also broke the American record in the 100 freestyle and was an instrumental part of Stanford’s relays. She had the fastest split in history at 45.45 to run down Virginia’s 400 medley relay, winning by .01.
- Kelsi Worrell, Louisville – Louisville junior Kelsi Worrell swept both butterfly events and added a third place finish in the 50 freestyle, becoming the first NCAA Champion for Louisville’s woman’s program. She broke the American record in the 100 butterfly twice, becoming the first woman to break 50 seconds in the 100 butterfly. She earned All American Honors in six events and Honorable Mention All American honors in another.
- Leah Smith, Virginia – Virginia sophomore Leah Smith won both distance freestyle events and added a seventh place finish in the 200 freestyle. During her prelim swim of the 500 freestyle, she broke the NCAA record, becoming the second fastest performer in history. She earned All American honors in all three of her individual events and also earned Honorable Mention All American Honors as a member of Virginia’s 800 freestyle relay.
Diver of the Meet: Yu Zhou, Minnesota
Minnesota sophomore Yu Zhou won the 3 meter diving event and added top 8 finishes on both other boards. She was the only diver that won an event and earned All-American honors in all three diving events.
Honorable Mention:
- Jessica Parratto, Indiana – Platform Champion
- Samantha Pickens, Arizona – 1 Meter Champion
Freshman of the Meet: Simone Manuel, Stanford
Stanford freshman Simone Manuel was the only freshman swimmer to win an individual event over the weekend. She won the 5o freestyle, the 100 freestyle and added a second place finish in the 200 freestyle. She also broke the American record in the 100 freestyle and was an instrumental part of Stanford’s relays. She had the fastest split in history at 45.45 to run down Virginia’s 400 medley relay, winning by .01. Simone earned All-American honors in all seven races.
Honorable Mention:
- Jessica Parratto, Indiana – Indiana freshman Jessica Parratto was the only other freshman to win an individual event over the weekend, posting the highest score to win platform diving. She also added Honorable mention All American honors in 1 meter diving.
Coach of the Year: Arthur Albiero, Louisville
Coach Albiero lead the Cardinals to their highest finish in program history. Over the last four years, Louisville has improved from 24th in 2011 to 22nd in 2012, 15th in 2013, and now 6th this year with 197 points. He also coached Louisville’s star butterflier, Kelsi Worrell, to an American record in the 100 butterfly and NCAA titles in both the 100 and 200 butterfly. Kelsi is the first NCAA Champion for the Louisville woman’s program. His relays earned All American honors in four events with his highest finish coming in the 200 medley relay in second place.
Honorable Mention:
- Teri McKeever, California – Coach McKeever lead the Golden Bears to their third team NCAA title in five years. California had 16 individual swimmers and five relays qualify for the meet. California swimmers won 7 of the 21 events, including 3 individual wins and an American Record from her star swimmer, Missy Franklin. Rachel Bootsma also claimed an individual victory in the 100 backstroke, barely missing the American record.
- Neal Studd, Florida Gulf Coast – Coach Studd brought the biggest team in program history to the NCAA Championships. This was also the first year FGCU had a relay qualify for the meet. Four relays and three individual swimmers were invited to the meet. They had 2 A final swims and one B final swim, finishing 26th as a team. They had the highest finish of any mid-major program.
Hopefully I can watch one day the 100 free, the 200 free and the 100 fly finals in video.
Please, I can’t believe no one has filmed these races in the pool.
Please, post them on youtube.
Or to swimswam readers, please, if someone could record these races from the ESPN replays and then post them on youtube or directly here, it would be so nice.
Because it would be too bad that I can’t watch 3 amazing American and NCAA records in 2015.
Swim fans from outside of USA want to watch these historic swims!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NFIGa-upqg
No love for Greg Meehan of Stanford? “Won” 4 out of 5 relays, brought together 3 freshmen on most of these relays, and coached the fastest sprint freestylers in the country. A lot of successes coming from Stanford in the next few years with these freshman (plus signing Katie Ledecky)
*3 out of 5 relays
**2 out of 5 relays…
Not sure how singing Ledecky would factor into this… and let’s be honest… Stanford, while having some individuals kill it, somewhat underperformed compared to expectations. Not saying it was bad… but kind of like California last year… I thought they’d challenge to win.
Yeah, some of the Stanford swimmers had great meets, but if you’re looking at what a coach can do when they show up at a swim meet to directly impact his team’s performance….Meehan made one of the “unmakeable” mistakes. He way undershot his prelims 200 medley relay and they made the B-Final. Those are the kind of mistakes you can’t make if you want to win NCAA titles.
Simone earned 7 All American honors as she was not on the 200 Medley Relay that won’t the B Final but rather on the 200 Free Relay that placed 2nd, the 400 Medley Relay that Won, the 800 Free Relay that placed 2nd, and the 400 Free Relay that won.
David: Thanks for catching that. It should be updated now, sorry for the confusion.