2017 WOMEN’S NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, March 15 – Saturday, March 18
- IUPUI Natatorium – Indianapolis, IN
- Prelims 10AM/Finals 6PM (Eastern Time)
- Defending Champion: Georgia (results)
- Championship Central
- Psych Sheet
- Live stream: Wednesday/Thursday Prelims & Finals, Friday/Saturday Prelims / Friday/Saturday finals on ESPN3
- Live Results
As expected, Stanford took the early lead with a record-breaking 800 free relay performance at the 2017 Women’s NCAA Championships. Simone Manuel (1:41.41), Lia Neal (1:42.15), Ella Eastin (1:41.89), and Katie Ledecky (1:40.46) did not dissapoint, earning 40 points for the Cardinal with their 6:45.91.
The top few teams performed as expected for the most part, as Cal and Michigan took 2nd and 3rd. There were some relay teams that moved up significantly from their seeds, however, giving their teams an early boost in the points standings, and a couple that fell out of the top 8.
While the Georgia Bulldogs haven’t finished outside of the top 3 in this race since they tied for 4th at the 2008 NCAA Meet, this relay hasn’t been one of their biggest assets this season. While they didn’t finish in the top 3 this time around, they did show big imporvement from the SEC meet. The Bulldogs came into the meet seeded 11th, but reached All-American Status with their 7th place finish in the final.
Louisville and Indiana made the biggest gains from their projected score on day 1. The Cardinals’ relay, highlighted by a blistering 1:40.21 split by Mallory Comerford on the 2nd leg, were seeded 13th, but wound up with a 8th place finish. Indiana, on the other hand, moved from 18th to 12th as Kennedy Goss got the ball rolling with a lifetime best 1:43.37 leadoff split.
Though they were seeded 9th, the NC State Wolfpack wound up in 19th place tonight. Interestingly, they made the decision to use Elise Haan (1:48.57) on the anchor leg rather than Hannah Moore, who split a 1:45 as the anchor at the ACC Meet.
While USC was projected to finish 4th, the Trojans wound up with an 11th place finish. The Texas A&M Aggies also moved down to 9th, but that was only one place shy of their 8th seed.
TEAM SCORES THROUGH DAY 1:
1. Stanford 40 2. California 34 3. Michigan 32 4. Texas 30 5. Virginia 28 6. Kentucky 26 7. Georgia 24 8. Louisville 22 9. Texas A&M 18 10. Wisconsin 14 11. Southern Cali 12 12. Indiana 10 13. Arizona 8 14. Minnesota 6 15. Missouri 4 16. Virginia Tech 2
