2026 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships
- Wednesday, March 18 – Saturday, March 21, 2026
- McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta, GA
- Defending Champions: Virginia (5x)
- Championship Central
- Preview Index
- Psych Sheet
- Live Stream
- Live Results
- Live Recaps
- Prelims: Day 1
The women’s NCAA Championships kicked off this morning with the early heats of the 1650 freestyle and the 200 medley relay and 800 free relays.
After the results came in for the prelims of the women’s 200 medley relay, the live results started showing the relay lineups for tonight, and there were some big decisions.
The biggest shock came from the 4th seeded Stanford 200 medley relay, where it seems The Cardinal have chosen to put senior Torri Huske on the backstroke leg while fellow senior Gigi Johnson swims fly and freshman Annam Olasewere swims freestyle.
Huske’s fastest 50 backstroke is 23.82, which she swam leading off Stanford’s medley relay in November of 2022 at the NC State Invite. That split would have been in the middle of the backstroke splits we saw in the prelims session with five of the 15 relays seeing faster backstroke legs.
Johnson swam the fly leg on this relay in 2024 and in 2025, and her fastest split sits at 22.63 from the 2024 NCAA Championships. Only one swimmer this morning had a faster fly split than that.
Lucy Thomas will swim the breaststroke leg, and she was 25.71 at the 2025 NCAA Championships. Annam Olasewere will be on freestyle in her NCAA Championships debut after splitting 20.91 at the ACC Championships.
Virginia is the top seed, and their lineup features a few of their top swimmers, but none of the ones that raced the 800 freestyle relay at ACCs. Sara Curtis is on backstroke. Emma Weber is on breaststroke. Claire Curzan will swim fly, and Bryn Greenwaldt will swim freestyle.
Other notable entries include Bella Sims on the backstroke leg of Michigan’s relay and Mia West on freestyle for Cal.
Full Relay Lineups
Lane 1 (NC State)
Lane 2 (Michigan)
Lane 3 (Tennessee)
Lane 4 (Virginia)
Lane 5 (Louisville)
Lane 6 (Stanford)
Lane 7 (California)
Lane 8 (Alabama)
I am confused by NC State. Pelaez beat Shackley in the 100 back at ACCs and Shackley has a better 100 fly. Why not switch them and drop a couple more tenths?
Coach must know something we don’t
Shackley has a great start, and they’re at best a wash in underwaters… and maybe Pelaez has a better flyover? But we’re talking about two basic clones as far as times in the 100s of both fly and back.
E. Weber needs to be within half a second of A. Gorbenko on the breaststroke leg or all bets are off.
Omg I called it!
https://swimswam.com/2026-acc-championships-day-7-prelims-live-recap/#comment-1670832
I have too much time home alone on maternity leave
ditto 😛 https://swimswam.com/stanford-medley-relay-leadoff-levenia-sim-injures-shoulder-at-sea-games/#comment-1659742
altho im kinda bummed bc im assuming this means torri is out of the 800 free one
I wish we could have seen a tapered Huske swim 2 fr and 4 IM before she graduated
This is gonna be scaryyyyyyy I honestly have no idea what podium is gonna look like…
Mich and Tenn are looking real good too
Louisville vs Virginia just like the ACC Tournament unless S. Curtis goes nuclear on the backstroke leg and channels the inner G. Walsh from the stands.
Lowkey brilliant move by Stanford since a couple tenths of a second could mean a big jump in placement.
Johnson went 49.9 in the 100 fly at ACCs and Huske went a 51.6 PB in the 100 back at an October duel meet. I agree this makes the relay quicker than ACCs (they went 1:32.9)
Im not sure which team wins but I do not think it will be Virginia
I am happy to say I was wrong!
going with Emma Weber is a choice. I know it’s a double but a 50 breast/200 free isn’t too insane of a double…
Yep, A Walsh did that double 4 years in a row and really only her 5th year did it seem to negatively affect her in the 800
Jk she didnt do it in 2024 they had Nocentini then
When you have G. Walsh on the backstroke leg (22.10) and J. Nocentini on the breaststroke leg (25.72), Todd DeSorbo could have put a fire hydrant on the butterfly leg. A split of 22.10 on the backstroke leg is freakin’ ridiculous.
A. Walsh was slower in the breaststroke leg of the W 4 x 50 M-R at the 2023 NCAA DI Women’s Championships than A. Wenger at the 2022 NCAA DI Women’s Championships (26.30.vs 26.08).
Revisionist history at its finest.
University of Virginia
NCAA DI Women’s Championships
W 4 x 50 M-R
Breaststroke Leg
2021 – A. Wenger (26.41)
2022 – A. Wenger (26.08)
2024 – J. Nocentini (25.72)
So the University of Virginia wins the NCAA DI Women’s title by 141.5 points instead of 147.5 points. Stanford, Michigan, Texas will all be hard-pressed to reach 400 points.
The goat