2024 NCAA Women’s Champs: Day 4 Relay Analysis – G Walsh’s 45.17 Rolling Split #1 All-time

2024 Women’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships

• March 20-23, 2024
• Gabrielsen Natatorium, Athens, Georgia
• Short Course Yards (25 yards)
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheets
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Live Results
• Live Stream
• SwimSwam Pick ’em Contest
• Day 1 Finals Live Recap
• Day 2 Finals Live Recap
• Day 3 Finals Live Recap

SATURDAY EVENING HEAT SHEET

Women’s 400 Yard Freestyle Relay – Timed Finals

• NCAA Record: 3:05.84 – Virginia (K Douglass, A Walsh, M Parker, G Walsh, 2023)
• Meet Record: 3:05.84 – Virginia (K Douglass, A Walsh, M Parker, G Walsh, 2023)
• American Record: 3:05.84 – Virginia (K Douglass, A Walsh, M Parker, G Walsh, 2023)
• US Open Record: 3:05.84 – Virginia (K Douglass, A Walsh, M Parker, G Walsh, 2023)
• Pool Record: 3:10.28 Alabama (Antoniou, Scott, Molnar, Dupre, 2021)
• 2023 Champion: 3:05.84 – Virginia (K Douglass, A Walsh, M Parker, G Walsh, 2023)

Top 8:

1. Virginia – 3:05.89
2. Florida – 3:08.60
3. Louisville – 3:09.08
4. Michigan – 3:09.47
5. Tennessee – 3:09.70
6. USC – 1:10.55
7. Stanford – 3:10.57
8. Indiana – 3:10.68

Virginia (Jasmine Nocentini, Alex Walsh, Gretchen Walsh, and Maxine Parker) ended the meet with a victory in the 400 free relay, winning the event for the third year in a row and going 3:05.89 to break the pool record. They came with .05 of their NCAA, meet, American and U.S. Open record, set at 2023 NCAAs (3:05.84).

Swimming in the 4th and final heat, Nocentini led off in 47.06, but was touched out by Florida’s Bella Sims, who beat her to the wall with 47.01. That was a PB for Sims by .15. Nocentini’s 47.06 was just off her best time, the 46.90 she went in prelims of the 100 free this morning.

The fastest leadoff leg wasn’t even in their heat; it came from NC State’s Katharine Berkoff, who went 46.64 in heat 3 to get the Wolfpack off to a strong start. Berkoff swam her 3 fastest-ever 100 free times on Saturday: in prelims of the individual event, she notched a PB of 46.65; later, she went 46.23 to finish in second place behind Gretchen Walsh (44.83); and in the relay, she put up her 2nd-best time, 46.64.

Indiana’s Anna Peplowski was second to Berkoff with 47.18; she improved her PB from 100 free prelims by .09.

Leadoff Leg

Gretchen Walsh split 45.17 on Virginia’s third leg, which was not only the fastest rolling split of the night, but the fastest recorded rolling split in history. She made up a .33 deficit to Florida and put the Cavaliers out front by 2.95 seconds. Walsh had been 44.83 from a flat start in the individual 100 free final earlier in the session.

Tennessee’s Camille Spink’s 46.15 anchor was the next-fastest rolling split and it allowed the Vols to pull clear of USC and finish 5th in the heat, as well as in the overall standings.

Isabel Ivey went 46.26 on the second leg of Florida’s relay, taking the baton from Sims and keeping Florida out front of Virginia at the halfway point. Alex Walsh went head-to-head with Ivey, splitting 46.54 for the 4th-fastest rolling split of the night.

Six more swimmers broke the 47-second barrier: Indiana’s Kristina Paegle (46.75), Ohio State’s Amy Fulmer (46.82), Florida’s Micayla Cronk (46.88), USC’s Minna Abraham (46.97), Stanford’s Amy Tang (46.97), and Michigan’s Lindsay Flynn (46.98).

Rolling Splits