2025 Women’s NCAA Champs: UVA and Stanford Put Seven Swimmers Into Finals (Day 2 Ups/Downs)

2025 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships

• March 19-22, 2025
• Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatics Center — Federal Way, Washington
• Short Course Yards (25 yards)
• Start Times: Prelims: 10 AM ׀ Finals: 6 PM (Pacific Daylight Time)
• Meet Central
• Official Psych Sheets
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Live Results
• Live Stream
• Live Recaps:
  • Prelims: Day 2
  • Finals: Day 1

For those unfamiliar with swimming terminology, the concept of “Ups” and “Downs” is a good way to track which teams performed best during prelims. In prelims at the NCAA Championships swimmers qualify for one of three finals: the top eight finishers make the ‘A’ final (Ups) and places nine through 16 make the ‘B’ final (Downs). In finals, swimmers are locked into their respective final, meaning a swimmer in the ‘B’ final can only place as high as 9th or as low as 16th, even if they swim the fastest or slowest time of the event in any final.

With that in mind, we track “Ups” and “Downs” after each prelims session as a way to follow the team race. 

Ups and Downs

Stanford and Virginia are tied for the lead after the first night of competition and both teams put seven swimmers into finals on Day Two. Virginia will pick up more points though, as six of their swimmers are in ‘A’ finals, highlighted by three in the 50 freestyle.

Without a doubt, Stanford’s strongest event was the 200 IM. Five of the Cardinal’s seven finalists are in that one event, with three up in the championship final and two in the consolation final. Stanford was +12 against the psych sheet on Day One and they did even better this morning by going +24 points.

Texas and Tennessee each went 2/2 this morning.

Pitt’s Sophie Yendell qualified for the 50 freestyle ‘A’ final this morning. She’s Pitt’s first ‘A’ finalist in the pool since 1986.

Also of note is the fact that Florida missed all three ‘A’ finals this morning. The Gators have just two finalists tonight, both in a ‘B’ final.

Projected Scoring

Event-By-Event

Based on prelims, here are projected points that each team would pick up in today’s individual swimming events. Stanford’s five finalists in the 200 IM project to give the Cardinal the most points in a single event tonight. Virginia’s three ‘A’ finalists in the 50 freestyle rank second as the Cavaliers are projected to pick up 46.5 points in that one event.

ASU continues to outscore the pre-meet projections as they picked up a 50 freestyle ‘B’ finalists.

Day 2 Total

Day 2 Projected + Actual

As expected, Virginia should move into the lead after today’s finals session, even without factoring in the 200 freestyle relay. The other event not factored into these projections is diving, which will also have an effect and will separate the fourth through ninth place teams, which are projected to be separated by 14.5 points based on the individual swimming finals.