2025 W. NCAA Previews: Fifth-Years and Freshmen Collide In Women’s 100 Breaststroke 

2025 Women’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships

• March 19-22, 2025
• Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatics Center, Federal Way, Washington
• Short Course Yards (25 yards)
• Meet Central
• Pre-Scratch Psych Sheets
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Live Stream

Women’s 100 Breaststroke — By The Numbers 

• NCAA Record: 55.73 — Lilly King, Indiana (2019)
• American Record: 55.73 — Lilly King, Indiana (2019)
• U.S. Open Record: 55.73 — Lilly King, Indiana (2019)
• Championship Record: 55.73 — Lilly King, Indiana (2019)

There are many events at the 2025 Women’s NCAA Championships that feel like a one-woman show—or maybe a two-swimmer race. But that’s not the case in the women’s 100 breaststroke. That’s not to say there aren’t favorites, just that it’s an event where there are more swimmers you can make a reasonable pitch for multiple swimmers winning the race, which isn’t true in an event like the 50 freestyle, for example. 

Interestingly, the top six swimmers are three fifth-years and three first-years, one half representing the veteran presence and the other the up and comers–a miniature version of Survivor: Millenials vs Gen X, if you will. 

Graduation Goggles 

Let’s give deference to the elder statesmen of the NCAA and talk about the fifth-years first who will be ready to go all in at their last NCAA Championships. And though this group should encapsulate what the past few years have looked like in this race, it’s Alex Walsh who sits atop the psych sheet, who we haven’t seen race this event individually at an NCAA Championships. 

The Newcomer

Historically, Walsh has taken on the 400 IM on day three of the NCAA Championships. She’s had incredible success in the event but has switched her focus for her final collegiate meet to the 100 breaststroke. She’s the lone swimmer under 57 seconds already this season and has done so twice. First, she swam a lifetime best 56.98 at the Eddie Reese Invite, then dropped again to 56.85 in a showdown for the ages against her sister Gretchen Walsh. 

One of the things that makes Walsh a compelling pick for the title here is the amount of 400 IM/200s of stroke training she’s done. She’s not going to tire here, and during her race against her younger sister, she was able to claw back into the race after Gretchen’s opening speed. A. Walsh split 27.77/29.08 during her lifetime best effort and that closing speed could be the difference maker in this field. 

The Olympic Medalist 

Mona McSharry was one of the surprises of the Olympic Games last summer as she got her hands on the wall just ahead of Lilly King and Bendetta Pilato to win bronze in the women’s long-course 100 breaststroke—Ireland’s first Olympic swimming medal since 1996. 

McSharry took a semester-long break after her Olympic success and returned to the Volunteers in January. She didn’t make immediate waves during Tennessee’s last regular season meets but showed up big during the breaststroke events at SECs. She won her fourth-straight 100 breaststroke title, edging out freshman teammate McKenzie Siroky by a hundredth with a season-best 57.27. 

McSharry has finished second in the 100 breaststroke at NCAAs for the past two seasons. She’s back for a last round with the Volunteers and a last shot at this crown. She owns a 56.64 lifetime best, the fastest in the field, and has been on an upward trajectory since returning to the team presumably with a focus on peaking for this moment. The question is if four months of training will be enough to get her under the 57-second barrier, as that’s what it’s going to take to win this race.

The Former NCAA Champion

Last but certainly not least in our fifth-year section, we’ve got Kaitlyn Dobler, the only swimmer entered who knows what it’s like to win this event at the NCAA Championships. Dobler won this event in 2022 and knows what it takes to beat an experienced field. 

She’s improved since then, swimming 56.67 for third at last year’s championships. She turned second at the 50-yard mark last season behind winner Jasmine Nocentini, splitting 26.24. It would be a surprise to see someone drop a 56.0 in this final, so it could be Dobler who leads the race around at the 50-yard mark and tries to hold them off on the back half. 

Dobler’s done what she needed to do so far this season. She carries a season-best of 57.41 into the meet and won the Big Ten title at her final conference meet. 

The Freshmen 

Three freshmen have asserted themselves as swimmers to watch in this event for the coming years. But they aren’t just focused on the future, after making an impact all season long, these freshmen will aim to win now. 

The three faced off at the SEC Championships in the same field as McSharry. In Georgia, it was the Tennessee Volunteers that rose to the top, as McSharry and Siroky finished 1-2. Siroky’s 57.27 mark was a lifetime best for her—and her second of the day after clocking 57.41 in prelims. 

Siroky was the only one of these three freshmen to swim a lifetime best in that final. We’ve seen it take Tennessee swimmers a couple of years to figure out the transition from SECs to NCAAs. But if Siroky can continue on the upward march she’s been on this entire season, she has a real shot at upsetting one of the more established names in this field. 

Anita Bottazzo was the freshman who pushed the boat out at midseason, hitting a lifetime best 57.49 at the UGA Fall Invitational, her first yards meet of the season, which made her the second-fastest freshman in history at the time of the swim. The Gator hasn’t matched that time since, though she got close with a 57.65 in the SEC final. 

Then, there’s Texas’ Piper Enge, who’s looking to continue a Longhorn tradition of breaststroke excellence and fill the shoes of Lydia Jacoby and Anna Elendt. She’s done a remarkable job of that unenviable task so far this season. She’s swum multiple lifetime bests this season, including cracking the 58-second barrier for the first time at the Eddie Reese Showdown (57.69). 

Like Bottazzo, she was slightly off her best at the SEC Championships with a 57.86. Both still placed highly in the conference though; Bottazzo was third and Enge was fourth and were over a half-second ahead of the back half of the championship final. An ‘A’ final berth at their debut NCAA Championships seems like it’s on the cards for both swimmers, though they’ll likely need a big lifetime best to get involved in the fight for gold. 

The Opportunists 

Of course, the rising stars of the women’s 100 breaststroke aren’t just freshmen. Two returning swimmers who could impact this race are ACC swimmers Kaelyn Gridley and Skyler Smith. Gridley is the ACC champion in this race, though she was faster at a January dual meet, where she clocked a best of 58.14. Smith was third at ACCs, also off a lifetime best from earlier in the season (58.26 at the Gamecock Invitational). 

Then, there’s Olympian Emma Weber. Like Gridley and Smith, she swam a lifetime best (58.18)  during the regular season and was off it at her conference championships. All three of these swimmers have had breakouts in the last year and it will be interesting to see how they rise to the occasion at this year’s NCAAs. While it would be surprising to see them get involved in the race for gold, only three of last year’s ‘A’ finalists return, meaning there’s plenty of opportunity to move up into the ‘A’ final and score more points for the team. 

Gridley did not final in this race last year as she was 17th in the morning, but Weber and Smith both raced in the ‘B’ final. And while few ‘A’ finalists return to the championships this year, there are plenty of returning ‘A’ finalists looking to move up. Along with the Cavalier and Tar Heel, Avery Wiseman (58.51), Joleigh Crye (58.09), Henrietta Fangli (58.12), and Maddy Huggins (59.04) are all back in the mix. 

The Big 12’s Crye and Fangli are seeded to make the championship final as they arrive in Federal Way as the seventh and eighth seeds. The Big 12 women’s 100 breaststroke final was one of the most wide-open races at that meet and it was Crye who came out on top, clocking a lifetime best 58.09. Fangli was just three-hundredths behind with a lifetime best of her own (58.12) and it will be interesting to see how these swimmers translate success at a smaller conference championship to the big stage now that they’ve done it once before. 

SwimSwam Picks

Dark Horse: Mia Cheatwood, Louisville — There are several solid dark horse candidates, including Michigan’s Letitia Sim, who returned to the Wolverines this season after a redshirt year. But we’ve decided to go with Cheatwood, who transferred from West Virginia to Louisville this season. That move paid off quickly as she swam lifetime bests in both disciplines during the first semester. She cooled off in the second term, but her lifetime best 58.77 from a dual meet against Notre Dame still ranks 16th on the psych sheet. It took a 59.23 to make the final last year (Cheatwood was 28th) so it seems like she’ll likely make it back. But after a quiet second term, does she have a big drop in store that will push her into the ‘A’ final?