2022 Swammy Awards: NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving

2022 NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• March 16-19, 2022
• McAuley Aquatic Center, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, Georgia (Eastern Daylight Time)
• Prelims 10AM /Finals 6PM
• Short Course Yards (25 yards)
• Championship Central
• Official Psych Sheets
• Live Results
• Live Video (ESPN3): Swimming / Diving

Starting this season, SwimSwam will move our official collegiate swimming & diving awards to after the NCAA Division I Championship meets, because the timing of the calendar year awards just don’t make sense for college swimming.

A second-straight title for the Virginia Cavaliers at the Women’s NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships wrapped an exciting and whirlwind meet.

In total, NCAA Records were broken in 6 events, with a 7th swim coming from Kate Douglass in prelims of the 50 free before re-breaking the mark in finals.

FINAL SCORES

1. UVA: 551.5
2. Texas: 406
3. Stanford: 399.5
4. Alabama: 288
5. NC State: 279
6. Louisville: 196.5
7. Michigan: 184.5
8. California: 180
9. Ohio State: 165
10. Tennessee: 127
11. Indiana: 116
12. Kentucky: 115.5
13. Florida: 115
14. UNC: 109
15. Georgia: 104.5
16. USC: 102
17. Wisconsin: 100
18. Northwestern: 73
19. Arizona: 52.5
20. Penn: 44.5
21. Minnesota: 43
22. Miami (Florida): 41.5
23. VT: 37
24. Duke: 36
25. Missouri: 34
26. Arizona State: 29
27. Rutgers: 18
28. Arkansas: 15
29. Yale: 14.5
30. Purdue: 14
31. South Carolina: 9
32. LSU: 8
33. ND: 6
34. Wyoming: 4
34. UCLA: 4
36. FIU: 3
37. San Diego St: 2
37. Harvard: 2
39. Texas A&M: 1

Swimmer of the Year: Kate Douglass, Jr., University of Virginia

There were a lot of very fast swimmers who did very fast things at this meet, but Kate Douglass was so unbelievable, that even in a field of records, she was a no-brainer.

She swam the fastest 50 free ever in prelims in 20.87. She was even better in finals in 20.84. She broke an American (but not NCAA) record to win the 100 fly on Friday in 49.04. Then, on Saturday, she won the 200 breaststroke, a completely different event from those other two, in 2:02.19, which broke the previous record of 2:02.60 that belonged to Lilly King.

ISL teams must already planning their strategies to lose this season in order to get first pick for 2023.

That sort of versatility is rare even among the rare and most-elite swimmers in NCAA history. The only swimmers in the modern era of the sport who really feel comparable. Caeleb Dressel, who broke NCAA Records in the 50 free, 100 free, 100 fly, 100 breast, and 200 IM, might compare. Tracy Caulkins in the early 80s won 12 career NCAA titles, including in butterfly, breaststroke, and IM races.

The breaststroke is really the wildcard here, and especially the 200 breaststroke. Not many 200 breaststrokers show any speed in the 50 free, let alone all-time speed.

Douglass has raised this bar in each season of her collegiate career, and this year feels like she has hit her full powers. It will be a thrill to see what she still has in store for next year.

Honorable Mentions:

• Alex Walsh, So., Virginia – Walsh won the 200 IM in the all-time best mark of 1:50.08, won the 400 IM in 3:57.25, and won the 200 fly in 1:50.79, beating a defending champion and Olympic medalist in that event in the process. And yet, she was still only the second-best swimmer on her team. That fact almost brings me to tears.
• Katharine Berkoff, Jr., NC State – Without any other individual double winners, let alone triple winners, we had to break a huge tie among those swimmers who won 1 event. That tie-breaker, for me, goes to Katharine Berkoff for her record-setting win of 48.74 in the 100 back. She became the first woman ever under 49 seconds in the event, and had a quarter-second on Virginia freshman Gretchen Walsh, who is now the second-best swimmer in the history of the event. She also finished 3rd in the 100 free and 7th in the 50 free.

Coach of the Year: Todd DeSorbo, Virginia

The Virginia Cavaliers’ 551.5 points are not historically-high. Many teams have broken 600 points at this meet in the past. But I don’t think that any in recent memory have felt quite so dominant as Virginia has, at least not at the top end.

Of those 7 NCAA Records at the meet, 6 were done by Virginia swimmers.

There were certainly coaches whose teams surprised more than Virginia, who were heavily favored to win anyway, but I just don’t think we can ignore that record streak by the Cavaliers.

Honorable Mentions:

• Carol Capitani, Texas – The Texas women did the unthinkable, and even without a deep pool of sprinters, they managed to pick off Stanford and their four Olympic medalists for 2nd place at the meet. That is the team’s best NCAA Championship finish since 1992 (the year after winning their 7th consecutive title). The first few years of Capitani’s career at Texas were a little rocky, and included some missed NCAA Championship tapers, but the Longhorn patience has been rewarded big-time.
• Arthur Albiero, Louisville – The Louisville women placed 13th at last year’s NCAA Championship meet, but coming into this season, it felt like they might be a sleeper team. That came true, as the Cardinals vaulted up to 6th place with a still-young team and a +69 seed-versus-actual score, as they continue to be one of the best in the country at peaking for NCAAs.

New-Hires Coach of the Year: Margo Geer, Alabama

Many were skeptical about how much success Geer would have in her first season as a head coach (and really, her first season as a full-time coach of any type) at Alabama. That included me. But Geer was validated this week by leading Alabama to a 4th place finish: one spot better than they were last year.

I think the 100 free was a microcosm of Geer’s success in her first season at Alabama. Morgan Scott and Cora Dupre, two swimmers who followed Geer’s predecessor Coley Stickels from Indiana to Alabama. Both finished in the A-final of that event at NCAAs last year, but both swimmers placed higher this year: Scott in 2nd in 46.78 and Dupre in 4th in 47.08. Dupre’s swim came after a not-great SEC meet in February, too.

Their times were 47.48 and 47.72 at last year’s NCAA Championship meet, respectively.

Geer herself was a sprinter, so it makes sense that her first big successes as a coach are in sprint events. She also retained Ozzie Quevedo, who does most of the coaching of Olympian Rhyan White, which was huge for her, because Quevedo is one of the most experienced assistants in the country.

It’s true, Geer has a long road ahead of her to greatness: she has to recruit and train her own athletes from scratch to maintain this success, but in year one, she showed that she’s well on the right track to that.

Honorable Mentions:

• Anthony Nesty, Florida – Nesty is in his fourth season as the head coach of the Florida men, but in his first season overseeing the Florida women. It wasn’t a perfect start to his tenure there, with the team losing some big names to retirement or transfer, including Vanessa Pearl and Cecilia Porter. Some clutch mid-season additions and a great taper helped the Gators climb from 25th in the pre-meet seeding to 12th in the final rankings. I don’t think many saw top 12 for the Florida women this year (they were only 17th last season). Like Geer, Nesty now has to find his way forward in recruiting and rebuilding the Gators’ talent, but this weekend’s meet should help there – a lot.
• Ryan Wochomurka, Auburn – For the 2nd-straight year, Auburn’s women didn’t score any points at NCAAs. But on a wholistic view, it’s clear that Auburn alum Wochomurka has the Tigers back on track even in one season. They broke 3 school records, climbed two spots at the SEC Championships, and had a ton of swimmers go best times. I don’t think that in year 1, Wochomurka really needed to place X and SECs or finish Y at NCAAs. I think in year 1, he needed to prove to the country that he could make swimmers fast at Auburn the way he did at Houston, where the Cougars were regular NCAA qualifiers even with a much smaller draw. In future years, those goals will change and become more specific, but I think that he did a great job of establishing forward momentum this season for Auburn.

Breakout Swimmer of the Year: Anna Elendt, So, Texas

At her first NCAA Championship meet last season, Anna Elendt made a couple of B finals, but missed her best times. This year, she finished 5th in the 100 breast (57.24) and 2nd in the 200 breaststroke (2:04.31). Her season-best times in both events now rank her among the fastest ever, and in total she improved her 100 breast from 58.45 to 56.88, and her 200 breast from 2:06.04 to 2:03.92.

Some time in February, a switch seemed to flip for Elendt, and she was crushing best times meet-after-meet, including a 2:04.6 in the 200 breast in a dual meet against Rice.

Only a sophomore, the German swimmer is the youngest (by class) of the loaded NCAA breaststroke fields.

Honorable Mentions:

• Emma Sticklen, So., Texas – At last year’s NCAA Championship meet, Emma Sticklen, a former US Junior National Team member, scored 18 individual points and swam on no Longhorn relays. This year, she leapt up the rankings in the 100 fly (4th place – 50.29) while repeating her 7th-place finish in the 200 fly (1:52.22). Her 100 fly time broke the Texas school record. For a Texas team without a ton of great sprinters, though, her improvements in the 50 free really helped make a big difference. She had their 2nd-best split in the 50 free as part of the 200 free relay when she swam 21.92, and also anchored the Longhorns’ 5th-place 200 medley relay in 21.69.
• Paige McKenna, Fr., Wisconsin – In spite of being the 4th seed in the 1650 free heading into NCAAs, the Wisconsin Badger was not getting much hype to win, in spite of a wide-open field. She had already dropped 10 seconds off her season best at Big Tens, and 5 seconds off her lifetime best. But with the top seeds slipping, and Erica Sullivan not getting close to her 15:23 lifetime best, McKenna pounced: she dropped another 7 seconds to pick up the win. That makes her, and not her Olympian teammate Phoebe Bacon, the Badger to win an NCAA title this weekend in Atlanta.

Freshman of the Year: Gretchen Walsh, Fr., Virginia

Gretchen Walsh swam 49.00 in the 100 backstroke at the NCAA Championships, and still managed somehow to get 2nd place behind the aforementioned Katharine Berkoff of NC State. But that didn’t do much to dampen how special Walsh’s season was.

After a few missed swims at last summer’s Olympic Trials, Walsh burst into her rookie year at Virginia. She ends the season as the #3 swimmer all-time in the 50 free, #2 swimmer all-time in the 100 back, #4 swimmer all-time in the 100 free, and the fastest freshman ever in all three. That culminated with an NCAA title on Saturday.

Like her older sister Alex, Gretchen had no problem making the transition from the Nashville Aquatic Club to Virginia. The Cavaliers are building a dynasty: this year’s team had the best junior in the country (Kate Douglass), the best sophomore (Alex Walsh), and best freshman (Gretchen Walsh). So long as you keep having the best swimmer in each incoming class, you’re going to be very good for a very long time.

Honorable Mentions:

• Regan Smith, Fr., Stanford – Smith, an Olympic medalist and World Record holder, won her first NCAA title as a freshman, topping the 200 backstroke in 1:47.76. She also finished 3rd in the 100 back (behind two swimmers who broke her US Open Record in the race) and tied for 2nd in the 200 fly (on the back-end of a brutal 200 back/200 fly double). All-in-all, while Smith didn’t go a ton of best times as a freshman, she showed up at NCAAs and picked up three top-3 finishes as a freshman. That’s laudable.
• Ellen Walshe, Fr., Tennessee – After winning SEC titles in both the 400 IM and 100 fly, the double proved tougher for Walshe at the NCAA Championships. She finished 8th in both events, and 16th in the 200 IM. But Tennessee as a group struggled at NCAAs, and I don’t think even those slips in finals can do much to mar just how damn impressed we all were with her back-to-back double at SECs.
• Torri Huske, Fr., Stanford – Huske, a US Olympian and American Record holder in long course, didn’t win any titles in her first go at the NCAA Championships, but she did have a pair of runner-up finishes in the 200 IM and 100 fly (in both cases, behind the best American to ever swim those races). Huske finished the year with best times in the 100 free, 200 free, 500 free, 100 fly, and 200 IM. While a 9th-place finish in the 100 free on the final day of competition took some juice out of her meet, she still had the 4th-best time overall between the two finals. Huske seems to be thriving at Stanford.