2018 WOMEN’S NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, March 14th – Saturday, March 17th
- McCorkle Aquatic Pavillion — Columbus, OH
- Prelims 10AM/Finals 6PM (Eastern Time)
- Defending Champion: Stanford (1x) (results)
- Live stream: Wednesday/Thursday Prelims & Finals, Friday/Saturday Prelims / Friday/Saturday finals on ESPNU
- Championship Central
- Event-by-Event Previews
- Psych Sheet
- Live Results
The swimming world turns its focus to Columbus, Ohio tonight as some of the best swimmers in the nation are set to compete in the opening night of the women’s NCAA Championships. We’ll have a quick session tonight, as they’ll only compete in the 800 free relay. After smashing the American Record last season, Stanford looks to defend their title, but there’s a chance they’ll be leaving 200 free top seed Simone Manuel off this relay tonight in order to save her for the sprint free and medley relays. If that’s the case, they’ve still got Katie Ledecky and Ella Eastin headlining their lineup. Pac-12 champion Cal will be in the mix with the likes of Kathleen Baker and Amy Bilquist. Michigan is looking dangerous this year with Siobhan Haughey in good form and Gabby Deloof now sub-1:43 individually. Another swimmer to keep an eye on tonight is Louisville’s reigning 200 free champion Mallory Comerford.
For a full preview of tonight’s race, click here.
WOMEN’S 800 FREE RELAY:
- NCAA Record: Stanford, 2017, 6:45.91
- American Record: Stanford, 2017, 6:45.91
- Championship Record: Stanford, 2017, 6:45.91
- 2017 Champion: Stanford, 6:45.91
- GOLD: Stanford, 6:46.93
- SILVER: Michigan, 6:50.03
- BRONZE: Cal, 6:50.83
Erika Brown is already on fire with a 1:42.39 leadoff split for Tennessee in heat 2. That’s over a second faster than her previous best from the leadoff at SECs. The Vols went on to smash the Pool Record in 6:52.12. Meghan Small was also sub-1:43 in 1:42.45 on the anchor leg.
The Pool Record went down again in the final heat. USC’s Louise Hansson got the Trojans the early lead in 1:42.71, with Stanford’s Katie Drabot narrowly behind in a lifetime best 1:42.99. The Cardinal’s Ella Eastin roared to a 1:41.13 on the 2nd leg, while freshman teammate Brooke Forde put up a 1:42.94 on the 3rd leg. Katie Ledecky dominated the anchor leg for Stanford in 1:39.87, but it was Louisville’s Mallory Comerford who put up the fastest split of the field with a 1:39.14 on the 2nd leg.
- Ledecky’s Splits: 23.26/25.12 (48.38)/25.77/25.72 (1:39.87)
- Comerford’s Splits: 22.95/25.45 (48.40)/25.33/25.41 (1:39.14)
Michigan wound up 2nd with a speedy 1:40.49 from Siobhan Haughey on the 2nd leg and a 1:42.31 anchor from Gabby Deloof. Cal rounded out the top 3 with a 1:41.64 from Katie McLaughlin on the 3rd leg. The Bears also had sub-1:43 splits from Kathleen Baker (2nd leg- 1:42.78) and Amy Bilquist (anchor leg- 1:42.63).
Tennessee’s time from heat 2 landed them 4th overall. Texas was 5th with a 1:41.71 from Claire Adams on the 2nd leg.
TEAM SCORES THROUGH DAY 1:
- Stanford- 40
- Michigan- 34
- Cal- 32
- Tennessee- 30
- Texas- 28
- Louisville- 26
- Virginia- 24
- Minnesota- 22
- Texas A&M- 18
- Georgia- 14
- Kentucky- 12
- Arizona- 10
- USC- 8
- UCLA- 6
- Auburn- 4
- Indiana- 2
Anywhere to see the full event replay, or videos of each event?
Anywhere to see the full event replay? The “recap” vids suck.
Burnt Orange on fire day one. Hook Em Horns.
Adams with monster 1:41 split! Wonder what she will do in individual 100 free? 46 high?
Evie is rocking it! Looking forward to her individual swims.
Quinn is having a great year, carrying it through to NCAA s
Big question: is Joanna Evans ok? She only swam a so so time trial 200 and scratched races at big 12’s. She is usually on the 800 relay…
Wow! It starts in a great fashion. So many great swims. Girls are fresh and angry.
Mallory Comerford, Katie Ledecky, Claire Adams, Katie McLaughlin, Ella Eastin or Erika Brown look amazing.
Erika Brown much faster than at SECs. I didn’t expect that. Let’s see if she can do it on sprint too. If yes, the 100 fly record should fall.
Mallory Comerford, one of my favorite US swimmers, ready to break 1.40 in individual.
Katie McLaughlin with a big last 50.
And Stanford easy winner without Simone. They would have destroyed the record with Simone.
It is interesting if any conclusion can be made about Comerford’s and Ledecky’s form based on the results of 800 relay. It would be nice to have reaction times to be more accurate with analysis but it looks like it’s too much to ask. What a shame. Is America so much behind technological progress?
It isn’t the same to swim the second leg trying to bring your team back into the competition and to swim last lag when after first 100 the job is actually done and the win of the team is secured. So I wouldn’t expect much more from Mallory in individual race and if her reaction time was 0.5 sec faster then her individual race will… Read more »
lol technological progress
We have nukes bro
It’s true, we do have. Thirty years ago I was so impressed with O’Hare airport that I showed it my friends as Chicago Land Mark along with Sears Tower or Bahá’í House of Worship. But if you travel nowadays to China or major European countries you will see what thirty years mean in technological progress. The quality of yesterday’s streaming was like I was watching high school competition recorded on the mobile phone.
That’s just because there is some silly rule that people with real camera equipment can’t live stream. We have HDTV and all kinds of other cool stuff over here.
It’s about coaching and when you should rest your studs and when you shouldn’t. THIS is when it counts.
Yeah because winning ACCs first year in in a new ACC record time and then coming back and dropping another second off of their school record without Leah Smith is obviously some poor coaching. Clown
Is that the size of every award at this meet? Seriously? Standford will be paying extra baggage fees for the return trip.
There were only 3 seniors across the 32 swimmers in the top 8 relays. CRAZY fast times to come