2025 W. NCAA Previews: Grimes Headlines Freshman Takeover As UVA Aims To Keep 400 IM Title

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
• Official Psych Sheets
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Live Stream

Women’s 400 IM — By The Numbers

• NCAA Record: 3:54.60 – Ella Eastin, Stanford (2018)
• American Record: 3:54.60 – Ella Eastin, Stanford (2018)
• U.S. Open Record: 3:54.60 – Ella Eastin, Stanford (2018)
• Championship Record: 3:54.60 – Ella Eastin, Stanford (2018)

Virginia’s Alex Walsh has dominated the 400 IM at the Women’s NCAA Championships since 2022, winning three straight titles for the Cavaliers and getting progressively faster each season.

Now a graduate senior, Walsh has opted not to defend her national title in 2025, opening the door for a new champion to be crowned. The question then becomes, will the title stay in Charlottesville for a fourth straight year, or will Emma Weyant complete her ascendance to the top after steadily rising up one spot the last three seasons?

GRIMES IS THE ONE TO BEAT

Although she only has a handful of college meets under her belt, Virginia freshman Katie Grimes has a plethora of high-level international experience and should thrive in her first NCAA Championship meet after an impressive ACC debut for the Cavaliers.

Katie Grimes. Photo: Jamie Holt/Virginia Athletics

Grimes, 19, owns the fastest best time among swimmers in the field by nearly two seconds, having been as fast as 3:57.02 in December of 2022, a swim that ranks her #6 all-time in the event.

She nearly matched that time this past December, clocking 3:57.07 at the CA-NV Sectionals meet, a performance that came less than a week after she won silver and set a new American Record in the SCM event at the Short Course World Championships in Budapest (4:15.48).

Since joining UVA for the second semester, Grimes has been sub-4:00 twice, first clocking 3:59.02 at the Eddie Reese Showdown in January and then winning the ACC title in 3:59.69 in February.

Since breaking out and making the U.S. Olympic team in 2021, the 400 IM has been the one event where Grimes has been consistent on the international stage, winning back-to-back silvers at the World Championships in 2022 and 2023 and then finishing in the same position at the Olympics in Paris.

It will take something special for anyone to beat her in Federal Way.

WEYANT’S CLIMB TO THE TOP

A former Virginia Cavalier, Emma Weyant has been slowly but surely making her way up the 400 IM podium at NCAAs throughout her career, and if the trend is to continue, she’ll need to snag a win over Grimes.

Emma Weyant (photo: Jack Spitser)

As a freshman at UVA, Weyant placed 4th at the 2022 NCAAs in a time of 4:03.17, and then after transferring to Florida, took 3rd in 2023 in 4:03.50. Last year as a junior, she set a lifetime best of 3:59.00 to finish as the runner-up in the NCAA final, and could complete her road to the title if she were to upset Grimes.

It’s a tall order given Grimes’ track record, but Weyant’s in-season performances this year have been the best of her career. She broke 4:00 for just the second time last month at SECs, clocking 3:59.24 to win the conference title in a time that’s just under two seconds faster than she was at the meet last season (4:01.20).

At the UGA Invite in November, Weyant went 4:01.01, which is also a big improvement relative to where she was at the midseason mark of her junior year (4:03.65).

It seems as though Weyant is due for a time drop at NCAAs, the only question is if she’s got two seconds in her to get into Grimes’ range.

FIRST-YEARS CRASH THE PARTY

In addition to Grimes, three other first-year swimmers are seeded inside the top eight at NCAAs, and four more are ranked in the top 17.

Virginia’s Leah Hayes and Tennessee’s Ella Jansen are seeded 4th and 5th in the event coming into their debut NCAA Championships, having both posted 4:01s this season.

Leah Hayes. Photo: Marcus Chen Photography

Entering college with a best time of 4:03.05 from February 2023, Hayes got down to 4:01.34 at the Tennessee Invitational in November for a new PB, and followed up with a solid 4:02.23 clocking at ACCs, taking 4th in a close final.

Jansen entered her first year with the Lady Vols just over one month after representing Canada at the 2024 Olympic Games, where she placed 11th in the 400 IM.

Jansen only raced the 400 IM in a yards pool for the first time in November, and has quickly adjusted to the format these past few months. She was 4:06.29 at the Tennessee Invite, dropped to 4:06.06 in a January dual with Alabama, and then put up a big best time in last month’s SEC final, clocking 4:01.61 to place 2nd to Weyant.

The breaststroke leg was the difference-maker for Weyant over Jansen in the SEC final, and compared to the other top 400 IMers in the nation, that’s clearly Jansen’s Achilles heel. Still, she’ll be a threat here with noted opening speed on fly and strong closing freestyle abilities.

The other first-year top-eight seed is Ohio State’s Sienna Angove, another Canadian who came from behind to win the Big Ten title last month in a time of 4:03.92, using a blistering freestyle split (27.39/26.40) to come back from turning fourth at the 300-yard mark.

Angove only had two SCY 400 IMs under her belt prior to Big Tens, with her PB sitting at 4:09.68 coming into the meet. She clocked 4:05.99 in the prelims before getting down to 4:03 in the final, showing rapid progression.

A third Canadian freshman, Florida’s Julie Brousseau, also had a seismic drop in time at her conference meet, setting a best time of 4:07.66 in the prelims at SECs before taking 5th in the final in 4:04.21. Compared to her competitors, Brousseau is steady across the board but maybe doesn’t have one standout stroke.

Finishing one spot behind Brousseau at SECs was Tennessee freshman Emily Brown, who dropped eight seconds at SECs to finish 6th in a time of 4:05.17.

The other first-years sub-4:07 this season are Stanford’s Emily Thompson (4:06.28) and Texas’ Campbell Chase (4:06.57), while Florida’s Sofia Plaza was just off that mark in 4:07.23.

If the stars align perfectly, we could see up to nine first-year swimmers earn second swims in the 400 IM at NCAAs. However, with the majority of these swimmers setting lifetime bests at their conference meet, it begs the question of how many of them can pull off the double taper at NCAAs.

RETURNING ‘A’ FINALISTS

Half of last year’s championship final won’t be in the field this year, with Walsh opting not to defend her title and Megan Van Berkom (5th), Ella Nelson (6th) and Paige MacEachern (8th) graduating.

That leaves two Florida Gators, Weyant and Zoe Dixon, and two Stanford Cardinal, Lucy Bell, Caroline Bricker, as returning ‘A’ finalists.

Caroline Bricker (photo: Jack Spitser)

Joining Grimes and Weyant sub-4:00 this season is Bricker, who placed 4th last season as a freshman (4:02.14) and then dropped a new best time of 3:59.88 at the Texas Hall of Fame Invite in November.

At the ACC Championships, Bricker was the runner-up to Grimes in 4:01.40, holding off her teammate Bell, who clocked 4:01.70 for a season-best time after she set a PB of 4:01.23 last year at NCAAs.

Bricker is a 200 fly/200 breast standout, and she’ll need to make hay on the breaststroke leg if she is to disrput the Grimes/Weyant 1-2 in this event. At ACCs, she trailed Grimes by more than three seconds at the 200, and though she pulled within 1.26 seconds on breast, she was significantly faster on the third discipline at the Texas Hall of Fame Invite (1:07.72 breast split compared to 1:09.41 at ACCs).

Another 1:07 breast split in the NCAA final could put Bricker right with Grimes and Weyant, or slightly ahead of them, heading into the free leg, which would give her a chance.

Bell is an interesting swimmer to watch given that she was only 4:09.78 at Pac-12s last season before going 4:01.23 at NCAAs. Now that she’s gone 4:01.70 at the conference meet, what does she have in store? Of course, Stanford had one extra week between their conference meet and NCAAs than last season after moving to the ACC, so the taper timing likely played a part in her being so ‘off’ at Pac-12s last year.

2024-25 Women’s NCAA Rankings – 400 IM

1. Katie Grimes (Virginia) – 3:59.02
2. Emma Weyant (Florida) – 3:59.24
3. Caroline Bricker (Stanford) – 3:59.88
4. Bella Sims (Florida) – 4:00.44
5. Leah Hayes (Virginia) – 4:01.34
6. Ella Jansen (Tennessee) – 4:01.61
7. Lucy Bell (Stanford) – 4:01.70
8. Campbell Stoll (Texas) – 4:03.11
9. Sienna Angove (Ohio State) – 4:03.92
10. Mabel Zavaros (Florida) – 4:03.93

Sitting just outside of the top 10 swimmers this season is Florida’s Dixon, who ranks 11th after recording a time of 4:03.99 at the UGA Fall Invitational—just outside of her 4:03.33 lifetime best from the 2024 SECs.

At the 2025 SECs, Dixon was well off career-best form, placing 17th in 4:09.80. It’s notable that Florida had five swimmers finish in the top nine in the 400 IM at SECs, and four of them set personal bests and Weyant was just off hers. So we’ll have to wait and see if Dixon had a different taper schedule or is a bit off form in the second semester.

OTHER CONTENDERS

The two women ranked in the NCAA’s top 10 this season that we have yet to touch on—not including Bella Sims who won’t race the event at NCAAs—is Texas’ Campbell Stoll and Florida’s Mabel Zavaros.

Stoll won the ‘B’ final last season as a freshman, dropping more than three seconds for a personal best time of 4:03.89. Now a sophomore, Stoll is coming off placing 3rd at the SEC Championships in a new PB of 4:03.11, more than four seconds faster than she was last year at Big 12s.

A strong butterfly and breaststroke swimmer, Stoll has seemingly taken a step in her backstroke this year that should help push her into the ‘A’ final this year.

Mabel Zavaroz (photo: Jack Spitser)

Zavaros, who will turn 25 later this month, first competed for the Gators in 2018-19 and has redshirted the Olympic seasons (2021 and 2023-24) but is back as the elder statesman of the field.

After placing 37th in the 400 IM at NCAAs as a freshman in 2019, the Canadian has finished 6th (2022) and 4th (2023) in her last two championship appearances, and she’s coming off setting a PB of 4:03.93 at SECs.

Zavaros is another swimmer who, relative to the most of the top 400 IMers, is weakest on breaststroke, but she did manage a 1:11-low split at NCAAs last year. She was only 1:12.72 on the third leg at SECs, so shoring that up while maintaining her level elsewhere could see her challenging the top names in the 4:02 range.

Other top seeds to watch at the meet include some of the top finishers from Big Tens, which was won by Angove. Her OSU teammate Mia Rankin (4:04.85) was the runner-up, USC’s Ashley McMillan (4:05.20) was 3rd, and another Buckeye, Krista Marlin (4:06.79), was 4th.

All four swimmers set best times in that heat, with McMillan opening up a big lead on the breast leg before being run down by Angove and Rankin on free. Rankin and McMillan both dropped around four seconds in the final, so whether or not they’ll be able to recreate that type of form in the NCAA prelims will be something to watch for.

At the Ivy League Championships, Princeton’s Eleanor Sun claimed the title in 4:06.22 after finishing as the runner-up as a freshman (4:10.27) behind teammate Dakota Tucker.

Sun’s fastest swim in her first year came at the midseason Big Al Invitational (4:06.07), and she went on to add time and finish 25th at NCAAs. With a year of experience under her belt, and showing linear progression from the midseason invite (4:08.37) to the Ivy League Champs (4:06.22) this season, she could be due for a drop and earn the first second swim of her NCAA career.

Other Returning ‘B’ Finalists

• Rosie Murphy, UCLA – Murphy narrowly avoided missing NCAAs this season after qualifying in the 200 IM, three one-hundredths under the cutline. In the 400 IM, she set a PB of 4:05.01 to finish 10th at NCAAs last season but has only been 4:10.56 in 2024-25, ranking her 39th on the psych sheets and below the cutline (4:09.53).
• Giulia Goerigk, Texas A&M – Goerigk finds herself as the 28th seed in the 400 IM after setting a season-best of 4:08.13 at SECs. She’s been as fast as 4:05.75 (November 2022) and went 4:06.12 at NCAAs last season to place 12th.
• Angie Coe, Texas – Coe joined Texas in the fall of 2023 with a personal best time of 4:19, and got all the way down to 4:06.32 last March to place 13th at NCAAs. In her sophomore year, she’s been 4:08.63 at the Eddie Reese Showdown before adding big and missing a second swim at SECs (4:14.87). Coe will need a bounce-back performance to get back into the top 16.
• Callahan Dunn, Wisconsin – Dunn set back-to-back best times last season at NCAAs, clocking 4:07.98 in the prelims to earn a second swim before placing 14th in the final in 4:07.26. After she was 4:08.90 at the 2024 Big Tens, Dunn was 4:07.50 this year, showing marked improvement. If she can continue that trajectory, something in the 4:05-4:06 range should be in the cards.
• Lea Polonsky, Cal – Polonsky is the lone returning consolation finalist who won’t be racing the 400 IM this time around, opting for the 200 free (seeded 8th) after making three straight ‘B’ finals in the 400 IM.

SWIMSWAM’S PICKS

Darkhorse: Charli Brown, Arizona State – Brown has consistently improved in the 400 IM during her four years at Arizona State. After going 4:16.07 as a freshman, she clocked 4:09.78 as a sophomore, got down to 4:08.76 last season at Pac-12s, and so far in her senior year, has hit a new level with a 4:07.58 at the Eddie Reese Showdown. She’s yet to have her fastest performance of the year (in the event) come at NCAAs, and if that changes this year, she’ll be due for a second swim.