2018 WOMEN’S NCAA SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, March 14- Saturday, March 17
- McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion – Columbus, Ohio
- Defending champion: Stanford (1x) (results)
- Psych Sheet
- Championship Central
200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY
- NCAA record: Ella Eastin (Stanford), 2016, 1:51.65
- American record: Ella Eastin (Stanford), 2016, 1:51.65
- U.S. Open record: Ella Eastin (Stanford), 2016, 1:51.65
- 2016 NCAA Champion: Kathleen Baker (Cal), 1:51.69
Kathleen Baker (photo: Mike Lewis)
Last season, Cal’s Kathleen Baker pulled off a mild upset in the 200 IM, dethroning Stanford’s American Record holder Ella Eastin and narrowly missing Eastin’s American Record. That was one of 3 event wins for Baker as she’d go on to take CSCAA Swimmer of the Year honors. After missing that record by just 4 hundredths, Baker is back to give it another go, but Eastin will be there for a rematch. Both swimmers looked good at the Pac-12 Championships last month. Eastin opted out of the 200 IM at conference, but had a strong showing with a lifetime best in the 400 IM, so we know she’s in good form. She also turned heads when she dropped 10 seconds in the 500 free and took down the American and NCAA Records in the 200 fly.
Though swimming fans speculated about whether or not Baker would be on top of her game after seeing some of her in-season times, Baker proved she’s ready to go with her swims at Pac-12s. She earned the Pac-12 title in the 200 IM, going slightly faster than she did at the conference meet last season. She’s also looking strong after putting up the 3rd-fastest 200 back in history.
The biggest competition to Eastin and Baker right now looks to be Texas A&M’s Sydney Pickrem. At the SEC Championships last month, Pickrem won the conference title in a lifetime best, breaking 1:53 for the first time. She and teammate Bethany Galat are both returners from last season’s NCAA final. Other returning finalists include USC’s Louise Hansson and Kentucky’s Asia Seidt, who both made the final as freshmen last season. Though Hansson is seeded just 16th, she dropped nearly 2 seconds in this event from Pac-12s to NCAAs last time around, and should land in the final if she does that again.
Ally Howe (photo: Tim Binning)
Seidt went a best time at SECs, finishing just a hundredth ahead of Tennessee’s Meghan Small. Also a sophomore, Small finished 9th at NCAAs last season and was the 2017 SEC Champion. Both are just hundredths away from dipping into the 1:52-range. Stanford’s Ally Howe and Michigan’s Siobhan Haughey finished behind Small in that consol final last season, but they’re back to challenge for a top-8 spot. Haughey is looking especially dangerous since she started out this season on fire. She knocked a full second off her best time at mid-season. Despite being out with an undisclosed injury for a short time, she was in good form at Big Tens and just a tenth shy off her best.
Speaking of swimmers who have been on fire, Wisconsin’s Beata Nelson is having a great season. Nelson took down the Big Ten Records in both backstrokes last month, scaring the American Record in the 100 back. Throughout the season, she’s dropped nearly 4 seconds from her best time in this event and is now the 7th seed heading into NCAAs.
TOP 8 PREDICTIONS:
| Place | Swimmer | Season Best | Lifetime Best |
| 1 | Ella Eastin (Stanford) | 1:53.24 | 1:51.65 |
| 2 | Kathleen Baker (Cal) | 1:52.70 | 1:51.69 |
| 3 | Sydney Pickrem (Texas A&M) | 1:52.69 | 1:52.69 |
| 4 | Asia Seidt (Kentucky) | 1:53.04 | 1:53.04 |
| 5 | Siobhan Haughey (Michigan) | 1:53.48 | 1:53.48 |
| 6 | Meghan Small (Tennessee) | 1:53.05 | 1:53.05 |
| 7 | Beata Nelson (Wisconsin) | 1:53.85 | 1:53.85 |
| 8 | Bethany Galat (Texas A&M) | 1:55.16 | 1:54.16 |
Just hope we see an AR out of someone!
who would you consider the dark horse in this event? maybe one of the freshmen?
Tough because it could be so much more difficult to make the top 8 this season. It took a 1:55.59 to get 8th in prelims last year, but this year I think it’ll take at least 1:54-mid (faster if everyone swims up to their seed times or better). If I had to pick a darkhorse to go 1:54-mid who hasn’t done that yet, I’d say maybe Riley Scott or Meaghan Raab off the top of my head.
Agree USC’s Riley Scott’s a good candidate to sneak into the A final.
Another dark horse could turn out to be Sarah Darcel, the Cal freshman. Dropped 2 seconds between the Georgia Invite and Pac-12s. If she was already tapered at conference though, or if her nerves get the better of her at her 1st ever NCAAs, then she may find it hard to improve upon her 1:54.50…
Don’t sleep on Stanford freshman Brooke Forde’s 1:54.98 either. Don’t think Forde was tapered at Pac-12s. She’s even better in the longer IM, but could be dangerous in this one as well!
Definitely agree on Darcel. I would agree on Forde too but she’ll be swimming the 500 free instead.
Since Louise Hansson has a best time of under 1:53, that means there are eight swimmers under 1:54 and it could theoretically take a 1:53 to make A final although that is extremely unlikely to happen. Has this event ever been that fast before?
Is anybody getting surprised by the fact that just three years ago this event was won by Missy Franklin with the time 1:52.11?
1:52.11 isn’t too far off of the 1:51.7 it took to win last year. And seeing that there have only been a 2-3 women under that mark ever I feel like it was a pretty impressive swim by Missy in an “off event”. Enough Missy hatin’, gosh!
I think I agree, Baker has looked good this season, but Eastin has looked really good.
Baker will win.
Will these be on TV or at least streaming?