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Disclaimer: Swim of the Week is not meant to be a conclusive selection of the best overall swim of the week, but rather one Featured Swim to be explored in deeper detail. The Swim of the Week is an opportunity to take a closer look at the context of one of the many fast swims this week, perhaps a swim that slipped through the cracks as others grabbed the headlines, or a race we didn’t get to examine as closely in the flood of weekly meets.
Indiana senior Brearna Crawford saved the best swim for her collegiate career for last.
Crawford, a 22-year-old Kiwi native, came into the final day of her fourth and final NCAA Championships having never scored individually at the meet despite being a qualifier in all four of her years with the Hoosiers.
She had placed 36th in the 100 breast and contributed two quick legs on Indiana’s medley relays, including helping them place 4th in the 400 medley relay, but entering Saturday, she was still hunting down that elusive top-16 finish.
In her best event, the 200 breaststroke, Crawford came through when it mattered most, producing a time of 2:07.16 in the prelims, her fastest swim in three years, to advance 5th into the final.
In the final, Crawford stepped up her game again, firing off a time of 2:05.66 to land 3rd place and knock well over a second off her previous best of 2:06.86, set at the 2022 Big Ten Championships.
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From prelims to finals, Crawford had the exact same split at the 100-yard mark, but closed a second and a half faster, back in 1:05.21 compared to 1:06.71 in the morning.
Compared to her swim in the 2022 Big Ten final, she was slightly faster on the first two 50s, and then four-tenths faster on each of the last two 50s.
Split Comparison
| 2022 Big Tens | 2025 NCAA Prelims |
2025 NCAA Final
|
| 28.47 | 28.31 | 28.34 |
| 1:00.82 (32.35) | 1:00.45 (32.14) | 1:00.45 (32.11) |
| 1:33.68 (32.86) | 1:33.38 (32.93) | 1:32.88 (32.43) |
| 2:06.86 (33.18) | 2:07.16 (33.78) | 2:05.66 (32.78) |
Prior to her breakthrough 3rd-place finish, Crawford’s highest showing in her NCAA career was a 17th-place finish in the 200 breast in 2024.
Crawford’s NCAA Finishes
| NCAAs | 100 BR | 200 BR |
| 2022 | 35th (1:00.29) | 42nd (2:10.97) |
| 2023 | 41st (1:00.47) | 36th (2:11.12) |
| 2024 | 32nd (59.90) | 17th (2:08.60) |
| 2025 | 36th (59.87) | 3rd (2:05.66) |
In her freshman, sophomore and junior years, Crawford was faster at Big Tens than she was at NCAAs, including producing times at the conference meet in the 200 breast in 2022 and 2024 that would have made the ‘A’ final.
That changed in her senior season, following up a Big Ten title last month (2:07.22) with her 3rd-place finish at nationals.
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Crawford finishes her career in Bloomington as the 3rd-fastest Hoosiers of all-time in the 200 breast, only trailing former NCAA Record holder Lilly King (2:02.60) and Noelle Peplowski (2:05.52).
Indiana placed 4th at Women’s NCAAs, doing so for the third straight year as they matched their program-best finish. In addition to 2023, 2024 and 2025, the Hoosiers also took 4th in 2016.
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