2022 Women’s NCAAs: Day 3 Relay Analysis

Yanyan Li
by Yanyan Li 13

March 18th, 2022 College, News

2022 NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

WOMEN 400 YARD MEDLEY RELAY – TIMED FINALS

Podium:

  1. Virginia – 3:22.34
  2. NC State – 3:23.29
  3. Stanford – 3:25.63
  4. Texas – 3:26.36
  5. Michigan – 3:27.20
  6. Alabama – 3:27.30
  7. USC – 3:27.86
  8. Ohio State – 3:28.49

In the women’s 400 medley relay, Virginia tied their own NCAA, US Open, and American Record in a time of 3:22.34 to take the NCAA title. They used the same quarter of swimmers that they used at ACCs when they set the record, which included Gretchen Walsh, Alexis Wenger, Alex Walsh, and Kate Douglass.

NC State’s Katharine Berkoff had the fastest backstroke split with a time of 49.25. Her leadoff was a bit slower than her 48.74 NCAA record set a few hours ago, but good enough to give the Wolfpack the lead. Three swimmers were under 50 seconds, and they included Berkoff, Virginia’s Gretchen Walsh (49.44), and Stanford’s Regan Smith (49.81).

On breaststroke, Sophie Hansson extended NC State’s lead with a 56.67 breastsroke split, the fastest in the field and the only time under 57. Her split is the ninth-fastest 100 breast relay split of all time, and only Lily King and Anna Elendt have been faster on this relay. Kaitlyn Dobler, the newly crowned indivdual 100 breast champion, split 57.04 for USC in the B-final. Her split was the second-fastest behind Hansson, and helped her team finish seventh.

Alex Walsh was able to make Virginia even with NC State with her 49.45 fly split, which surpassed the rest of the field by over half a second. Her split was 0.56 faster than the second-fastest swimmer on fly, which was the widest margin for a top split across all the strokes. She was the only woman under the 50-second barrier. Stanford’s Torri Huske, who flat started a 49.17 in the individual 100 fly, went signifcantly slower on this relay with a 50.01.

Finally, to close things off, Kate Douglass sealed the win and widened the gap between Virginia and NC State with a field-leading 46.18 freestyle anchor. This split was slightly faster than the 46.25 that she swam to anchor at ACCs this February.

Take a look at all the ranked splits here:

Backstroke

Team Swimmer Back Split
NC State Katharine Berkoff 49.25
Virginia Gretchen Walsh 49.44
Stanford Regan Smith 49.81
Alabama Rhyan White 50.89
Wisconsin Phoebe Bacon 51.10
Texas Olivia Bray 51.17
Michigan Maggie MacNeil 51.17
Arizona Aria Bernal 51.27
Kentucky Caitlin Brooks 51.46
Louisville Abby Hay 51.48
Auburn Meghan Lee 51.66
Ohio State Nyah Funderburke 51.72
UNC Sophie Lindner 51.79
Missouri Sarah Thompson 51.84
California Isabelle Stadden 51.85
Texas A&M Kaitlyn Owens 52.02
USC Calypso Sheridan 52.05
Northwestern Emma Lepisova 52.46
Florida Talia Bates 52.56
Georgia Millie Sansome 52.65
Tennessee Josephine Fuller 52.73
Indiana Kacey McKenna 52.86
Florida State Tania Quaglieri 53.16
Minnesota Jordan McGinty 53.59

Breaststroke

Team Swimmer Breast Split
NC State Sophie Hansson 56.67
USC Kaitlyn Dobler 57.04
Tennessee Mona McSharry 57.08
Virginia Alexis Wenger 57.27
Texas Anna Elendt 57.42
Northwestern Sophie Angus 57.76
Alabama Avery Wiseman 58.15
Ohio State Hannah Bach 58.27
Michigan Letitia Sim 58.37
Georgia Zoie Hartman 58.7
Florida State Nina Kucheran 58.78
Kentucky Bailey Bonnett 58.83
Indiana Noelle Peplowski 59.14
Stanford Allie Raab 59.15
Louisville Kaylee Wheeler 59.35
UNC Lilly Higgs 59.39
Arizona Jade Neser 59.49
Texas A&M Bobbi Kennett 59.56
Auburn Anastasia Markova 59.69
Minnesota Emma Lezer 59.77
Wisconsin Jenna Silvestri 59.88
California Leah Polonsky 59.91
Florida Tylor Mathieu 1:00.14
Missouri Alex Woderski 1:01.94

 

Butterfly

Team Swimmer Fly Split
Virginia Alex Walsh 49.45
Stanford Torri Huske 50.01
NC State Kylee Alons 50.28
Michigan Olivia Carter 50.52
Louisville Gabi Albiero 50.53
Northwestern Miriam Guevara 50.86
Alabama Morgan Scott 50.97
Texas Emma Sticklen 51.00
California Mia Kragh 51.04
Tennessee Ellen Walshe 51.20
Texas A&M Olivia Theall 51.22
Georgia Dakota Luther 51.28
USC Anicka Delgado 51.39
Kentucky Riley Gaines 51.39
Florida State Edith Jernstedt 51.52
Ohio State Katherine Zenick 51.69
Auburn Avery Bageron 51.69
Arizona Julia Heimstead 51.76
UNC Eillie Vannote 51.83
Wisconsin Mallory Jump 51.92
Missouri Taylor Williams 52.09
Minnesota Megan Van Berkom 52.40
Florida Olivia Peoples 52.58
Indiana Elizbeth Broshears 53.03

Freestyle

Team Swimmer Free Split
Virginia Kate Douglass 46.18
California Izzy Ivey 46.41
Stanford Taylor Ruck 46.66
Texas Kelly Pash 46.77
Ohio State Amy Fulmer 46.81
NC State Abby Arens 47.09
Michigan Lindsay Flynn 47.14
Alabama Cora Dupre 47.29
UNC Grace Countie 47.3
USC Laticiegh Transom 47.38
Louisville Arina Openysheva 47.45
Wisconsin Sophie Fiske 47.46
Northwestern Maddie Smith 47.47
Tennessee Julia Mrzozinski 47.74
Florida Ekaterina Nikonova 47.75
Kentucky Sophie Sorenson 47.76
Georgia Maxine Parker 47.76
Texas A&M Chole Stepanek 47.78
Indiana Aanna Peplowski 48.19
Auburn Rebekah Hamilton 48.38
Florida State Rebecca Moynihan 48.50
Missouri Amy Feddersen 48.56
Minnesota Maggie Summit 48.70
Arizona Alyssa Schwengel 48.90

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ALEXANDER POP-OFF
2 years ago

I note that Huske’s medley relay splits here and at the Olympics were a bit slower than her individual. In my opinion, she will break the WR before Paris but the US crucially needs her to hit a fast (faster than individual) relay split.

Meathead
2 years ago

Torrie picking up a full second in the 4 medley will be what’s looked at at the pivotal moment in this meet should Stanford not win. Hansson dropping over 1 second is impressive. Difference in someone who delivers their best for team vs individual

Panic Breaststroke
2 years ago

Good relay swings are 1/2 second per fifty, how are people only going their flat start times? That’s bad coaching, right?

Last edited 2 years ago by Panic Breaststroke
Anonymoose
Reply to  Panic Breaststroke
2 years ago

fatigue maybe? lots of young people also had omicron in the last few months and long covid isnt very uncommon. i have lots of peers in their 20’s who say they can feel lung capacity effects from covid months later still

Erik
Reply to  Panic Breaststroke
2 years ago

1/2 per fifty is a bit much.. maybe 1/2 for a relay Vs flat start.. Depending on number of swims in a session, at least being your best flat start time is expected.

Admin
Reply to  Panic Breaststroke
2 years ago

1/2 second per 50? I’m not sure I buy that the benefit of a good relay exchange extends that much into the 2nd or 3rd or 4th 50.

What do you Finke this is, some sort of joke?
Reply to  Braden Keith
2 years ago

Imagine Bobby Finke starting his mile with a relay start – sub 14 minutes baby!!

Meathead
Reply to  Braden Keith
2 years ago

Sounds like you have never ridden the hype train

Panic Breaststroke
Reply to  Braden Keith
2 years ago

Exactly. If you’re a 1:33 200 freestyler the expectation should be 1:31 on a relay when you factor in the swing, the hype, and the hype machine (which, like Santa Claus, is real).

I’ve had conversations with power 5 coaches who sheepishly agree they ask backstrokers if their PRs are on relays or not. I’ve also had those coaches quietly admit they don’t spend enough time on exchanges.

Admin
Reply to  Panic Breaststroke
2 years ago

So if Dean had a rolling start in the 200 free at 2019 NCAAs, he’s would’ve been 1:27?

Yeah, that checks out.

Panic Breaststroke
Reply to  Braden Keith
2 years ago

Yes. For two important reasons…

1) He’s Dean Farris

B) see number 1

There's no doubt that he's tightening up
Reply to  Panic Breaststroke
2 years ago

By this logic a relay start is worth 2 seconds for a 200 lol

Yup
2 years ago

UVA (386.5 pts) has doubled up the Wuffies (193 pts) at the end of Day 3….

About Yanyan Li

Yanyan Li

Although Yanyan wasn't the greatest competitive swimmer, she learned more about the sport of swimming by being her high school swim team's manager for four years. She eventually ventured into the realm of writing and joined SwimSwam in January 2022, where she hopes to contribute to and learn more about …

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