2025 W. NCAA Previews: A Big Ten Rematch – Peplowski Seeking First NCAA Title in 200 Freestyle

2025 Women’s NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships

• March 19-22, 2025
• Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatics Center – Federal Way, Washington
• SCY (25 yards)
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheets
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Live Results
• Live Stream

Women’s 200 Free – By The Numbers

• U.S. Open Record: 1:39.10 – Missy Franklin, Cal (2015)
• American Record: 1:39.10 – Missy Franklin, Cal (2015)
• NCAA Record: 1:39.10 – Missy Franklin, Cal (2015)
• Championship Record: 1:39.10 – Missy Franklin, Cal (2015)
• 2024 NCAA Champion: Bella Sims, Florida – 1:40.90

Last year’s 200 free champion, Florida’s Bella Sims, has opted not to swim the event at this year’s meet, instead going for the 100 back on day 3. Also of note, the fastest 200 freestyler in the NCAA this season has been Virginia’s Gretchen Walsh this season. Walsh went 1:39.34 leading off the Cavalier 800 free relay at the ACC Championships last month, which put her within a quarter-second of the legendary NCAA record held by Missy Franklin. Walsh will not be swimming the 200 free individually at this meet, however, which means neither the defending champion or the fastest 200 freestyler in the country this season will be racing the event.

Big Ten Rematch

Loris Ipsum

Though Sims and Walsh have foregone the 200 free individually this week, we should still be up for an awesome race. A fun dynamic the 200 free has going for it this year is that the top three seeds are the top three finishers from the Big Ten Championships last month.

Anna Peplowski / Credit: Indiana Athletics

Leading the way is Indiana senior Anna Peplowski, who is the top seed with her season best of 1:40.69. Peplowski clocked that time leading off the IU 800 free relay on the opening night of the meet. She ended up finishing 3rd in the individual event with a 1:41.45. Though Peplowski was 3rd at Big Tens, she should still be viewed as the favorite in this event for a couple reasons. Of course, she’s the top seed, so that counts for something. Additionally, she’s the fastest returning swimmer from last year, as she was last year’s runner-up with a 1:40.97, finishing just 0.07 seconds behind Sims. Moreover, Peplowski has a history of swimming her fastest at NCAAs. For example, She came into last year’s meet with a season-best of 1:42.04, then went 1:41.85 in prelims, qualifying for finals with the top time, and then dropped down to 1:40.97 in finals. This year she’s coming in with a 1:40.69, so it would seem she’s positioned even better than last year, when she came in 2nd.

Behind Peplowski on the psych sheet is the Big Ten champion in the event: Michigan’s Stephanie Balduccini. The sophomore pulled the upset at Big Tens last month, clocking her career best of 1:41.16 to earn her first

Stephanie Balduccini (photo: Jack Spitser)

individual Big Ten title. That performance makes Balduccini the 3rd-fastest swimmer in the event overall in the NCAA this season, and she’ll be the #2 seed for this meet. She’s a seasoned veteran who has competed internationally for Brazil on numerous occasions. At last year’s meet, Balduccini swam quite well in her first NCAAs. She came in with a season-best of 1:43.30, then clocked a 1:43.00 in prelims, which put her firmly in the ‘B’ final. In finals, Balduccini came in 11th with a 1:43.10, which was a hair slower than her prelims time, but was still faster than her time coming into the meet.

Rounding out this top 3 is USC’s Minna Abraham. Like Balduccini, Abraham is a sophomore. She comes in as the 3rd seed with her season best of 1:41.29, which she swam to finish 2nd at the Big Ten Championships. Abraham was exceptional last season as a freshman, taking 3rd in this event at NCAAs with a 1:41.96. She’s slightly different from Peplowski and Balduccini in that she did not swim her fastest at NCAAs last year, however. Abraham came into the meet last year with a time of 1:41.38, then clocked a 1:42.79 in prelims, and finally a 1:41.96 in finals.

It’s far from a given that this will be the top 3 in the event just because they’re the top 3 seeds, but it’s worth pointing out that this Big Ten trio are the only swimmers in the field who have been under 1:42 this season.

Other Returning ‘A’ Finalists

(photo: Jack Spitser)

Peplowski and Abraham represent 2 of the 6 returning ‘A’ finalists from last year. The 4th place finisher at last year’s meet, who is coincidentally the 4th seed this year, is Virginia sophomore Aimee Canny. Canny clocked a 1:42.33 for 4th last year, and comes into this year’s meet boasting a season best of 1:42.00. The upside looking at Canny is twofold. Virginia as a team typically swims quite well at NCAAs and Canny was excellent last year as a freshman, which gives us a lot of reason to believe in her. Canny came into the meet last year with a season best of 1:42.93, then went 1:42.89 in prelims, before dropping to 1:42.33 in finals. If that type of improvement holds this season too, Canny would be right there in the l0w 1:41’s.

Tennessee sophomore Camille Spink represents an interesting threat in this event. Spink qualified for the ‘A’ final at last year’s NCAAs as a freshman, but was DQed in finals for a false start. Spink comes into this meet faster than this point last season, entering as the 5th seed with a 1:42.06 season best.

Next up is Texas A&M grad student Chloe Stepanek, who came in 5th at last year’s NCAA with a 1:42.92. She came into last year’s meet with a season-best of 1:42.41, then clocked a 1:42.96 in prelims, which was good for 8th, squeezing her into the ‘A’ final by just 0.03 seconds. She made the most of the opportunity, moving up a few places to 5th in the final. This year, Stepanek hasn’t been quite as fast, but has still been solid, coming in as the 14th seed with her season best of 1:43.82.

Stanford junior Kayla Wilson is the last returning ‘A’ finalist on the list. Last year, Wilson put up a 1:43.23 for 6th in the event. That swim came after entering the meet with a season-best of 1:42.91 and clocking a 1:42.88 in prelims. This year, she comes in seeded slightly slower, entering with a season-best of 1:43.33. While that may be cause for pause for some, it’s worth noting that Stanford made it clear they were focusing on and prioritizing NCAAs over the ACC Championships this season.

Take A Chance On Them

Erin Gemmell (photo: Jack Spitser)

Yet another sophomore in this field, which if you’re keeping track brings the number up to five, is Texas’ Erin Gemmell. This sophomore comes in as the 6th seed with her season best of 1:42.32, which also stands as her career best in the event. Last year, Gemmell was highly successful as a freshman taking 10th in the event with a 1:43.05. She was a model of consistency last year, coming into the meet with a season-best of 1:43.09, then swimming a 1:43.13 in prelims, followed by her 1:43.05 in finals. She comes in even faster this time around, and based on how she swam last year, we can feel pretty good about her prospects of making the ‘A’ final.

Then, there’s the defending ‘B’ final champion from last year, Tennessee senior Brooklyn Douthwright. She was fantastic in the ‘B’ final last year, clocking a 1:42.75, which would have been fast enough for 5th in the ‘A’ final. She came into that meet with a best of 1:42.61, then went 1:42.99 in prelims, missing out on the ‘A’ final by just 0.03 seconds to Stepanek. She comes in with almost the exact same seed this year, a 1:42.62. Like Gemmell, she was consistently around her seed last year, so if we go off that, we can expect Douthwright to be very much in the mix again this time around.

An interesting addition to the field this year is Cal senior Lea Polonsky. She comes in as the 8th seed with a 1:42.71 season best. What makes Polonsky interesting is that this marks an event switch for her. At last year’s meet Polonsky raced the 400 IM instead, where she was a ‘B’ finalist. It’s also interesting to point out that her season best of 1:42.71 came leading off the 800 free relay at ACCs. She ended up going 1:43.28 in prelims and 1:42.98 in finals of the individual event last month.

Stanford senior Aurora Roghair is in a similar position to her teammate Wilson. Roghair is the 10th seed coming into the meet with her season best of 1:43.13. She holds a career-best of 1:42.44 from last February. As was mentioned with Wilson, Stanford projected that they’re focused on NCAAs over all else, so we have reason to think the best may yet still be to come for Roghair. That being said, Roghair came into last year’s NCAAs with a season-best of 1:42.44, then went 1:43.35 in prelims, and ended up coming in 12th overall with a 1:43.21 in finals.

We would also be remiss if we didn’t mention the trio of freshmen who are seeded in the top 16. Virginia freshman Anna Moesch comes in as the 9th seed with a 1:43.12, while Texas freshman Lillie Nesty is 11th with a 1:43.21, and Georgia freshman Marie Landreneau is the 12th seed with a 1:42.32. Interestingly, all 3 of those times mark the swimmers’ personal bests, yet none of them are from the conference championship meets. Moesch and Landreneau’s times are from the fall invites, while Nesty’s is from January.

SwimSwam’s Picks

Dark Horse Pick: Abby Carlson, Wisconsin – Wisconsin senior Abby Carlson is one of the more interesting swimmers in the field who isn’t seed to score. Carlson was just a hair off peak form at Big Tens last month, with the 200 free being the only event where she went her season-best time, a 1:44.14. Carlson didn’t qualify for finals in the 200 free at last year’s NCAAs, but she has a history of swimming well at this meet. In fact, her career bests in her 3 primary events, the 100, 200, and 500 free, were all swum at NCAAs. Her 200 free PB of 1:43.43 was clocked at last year’s NCAAs, leading off the 800 free relay. Had she managed to replicate that swim in prelims of the individual race, she would have landed firmly in the ‘B’ final.