2017 W. NCAA 400 Medley Relay Preview: Pac-12 Battle Brewing

2017 WOMEN’S NCAA SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, March 15- Saturday, March 18
• IUPUI Natatorium- Indianapolis, IN
• Defending Champions: Georgia (results)
• Psych Sheet
• Event Schedule
• Championship Central

400 MEDLEY RELAY

• NCAA record: Stanford (Ally Howe, Sarah Haase, Janet Hu, Lia Neal) 2016 – 3:26.14
• American record: Team USA (Ali DeLoof, Andee Cottrell, Kelsi Worrell, Amanda Weir) 2016 – 3:25.60
• U.S. Open record: Team USA (Ali DeLoof, Andee Cottrell, Kelsi Worrell, Amanda Weir) 2016 – 3:25.60
• 2016 NCAA Champion: Stanford (Ally Howe, Sarah Haase, Janet Hu, Lia Neal) – 3:26.14

Stanford won by almost 1.5 seconds last year, and while they lost star breaststroker Sarah Haase to graduation, they’ve still managed to break 3:27 this season for the top seed going into NCAAs. Part of that is due to getting Simone Manuel back on the anchor leg. The team of her, Ally Howe on back, Janet Hu on fly, and Kim Williams on breast has been 3:26.74 this year. Of course, Howe recently broke Natalie Coughlin’s legendary American record in this event with an amazing 49.69 at Pac-12s, and Hu has been on fire in the butterfly (the fastest 100 flyer this season, to be exact). The sophomore Williams was able to put down a 59.79 on the breaststroke leg (she was a 1:01.3 in high school but focused on IM), and with Manuel on the end, this relay might not be stopped at NCAAs.

Two of the biggest competitors for the Cardinal will be Pac-12 rivals Cal and USC. Cal has essentially the same front three legs as Stanford, with Kathleen Baker and Noemie Thomas about even with Howe and Hu on back and fly, respectively, and Marina Garcia about even with Williams. At Pac-12s, Farida Osman anchored in 47.39, but a healthy Abbey Weitzeil on the end of that (assuming she’s taken off the 800 free relay) would probably make this a dead heat, or even slightly in Cal’s favor. USC, meanwhile, doesn’t have nearly the same backstroke strength but has a breaststroke advantage with Riley Scott, while Louise Hansson erupted for a 49.76 fly split at Pac-12s and Anika Apostalon is a reliable, sub-47 anchor.

NC State and Indiana are next, both having been 3:28’s this year. NC State, as a team, has surged over the last few years to elite national relevance, and their improvement in non-free sprinting is certainly paying off. Indiana, of course, boasts what could be a sub-56 split from Lilly King, and Gia Dalesandro has been well under 51 seconds in the fly this year. The Hoosiers will lose ground on back and free, but a fast enough push in the middle could propel them up to 4th.

Texas, Texas A&M, and UVA are the last three teams to have broken 3:30 this season. Texas and UVA come in with season bests from mid-season invites, rather than a conference meet, which could mean that they have more to drop come NCAAs (or it could not mean that, taper is a freaking mystery). Georgia sits right behind them at 9th, but considering they have a 50-point backstroker (Olivia Smoliga) and butterflier (Chelsea Britt) along with Olympian Chantal van Landeghem anchoring, they should be able to pick up a lot more steam this weekend.

TOP 8 PREDICTIONS: