arena Swim of the Week: Stella Chapman Shatters Best Time With 4:05.45 400 IM At Last Chance Meet

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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.

Just over two weeks ago, Stella Chapman had never broken 4:10 in the 400 IM. Now, the University of Wisconsin sophomore is heading into the Women’s NCAA Championships as a scoring threat after unleashing back-to-back best times just 10 days apart.

First, Chapman dropped more than two seconds in the prelims of the Women’s Big Ten Championships on Feb. 19, clocking 4:08.20 to lower her previous PB of 4:10.41 and advance 7th into the ‘A’ final. That swim was likely to earn her an NCAA Championship berth, but nothing was guaranteed—she also set a big best time of 1:56.90 in the 200 IM later in the meet, which all but assured her NCAA spot.

She went on to place 7th in the Big Ten final of the 400 IM in 4:09.84, the best individual showing of her career. During her freshman year, she was notably 22nd in the 400 IM (4:14.07) after setting a best time of 4:13.90 in the prelims.

Just over a week later, at the Wisconsin Last Chance Meet last Sunday, March 1, Chapman reached a new level in the 400 IM, unleashing a time of 4:05.45 to knock nearly three seconds off her newly minted best time and move her up to 20th in the national rankings.

 

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The swim also ranks her #2 all-time in Wisconsin school history, trailing program record holder Callahan Dunn, who went 4:04.20 en route to placing 7th last year at NCAAs.

After entering the season with a best time of 4:13.73, Chapman has now improved her PB by more than eight seconds. She brought the mark down to 4:10.41 at the Texas Hall of Fame Invite in November before re-lowering it twice in the last two weeks.

The biggest improvement Chapman made from Big Tens to the Last Chance Meet came on the breaststroke leg, splitting 1.73 seconds faster in Wisconsin (1:09.16) than she did in Minneapolis (1:10.89). She was also more than a second quicker on the freestyle leg.

Split Comparison

Chapman enters her first NCAA Championship meet as the 18th seed in the 400 IM. Her time is nearly two seconds faster than what it took to score at the 2025 NCAA Championships (4:07.29).

Women’s NCAA Psych Sheets – 400 IM (Top 18)

1. Bella Sims (Michigan), 3:58.02
2. Lucy Bell (Stanford), 3:59.11
3. Caroline Bricker (Stanford), 3:59.70
4. Katie Grimes (Virginia), 3:59.80
5. Ella Jansen (Tennessee), 4:01.97
6. Aimee Canny (Virginia), 4:02.35
7. Hannah Bellard (Michigan), 4:03.32
8. Angie Coe (Texas), 4:03.94
9. Leah Hayes (Virginia), 4:04.01
10. Emily Brown (Tennessee), 4:04.07
11. Rosie Murphy (UCLA), 4:04.08
12. Sophia Umstead (Virginia), 4:04.34
13. Teagan O’Dell (California), 4:04.39
14. Emily Thompson (Stanford), 4:04.39
15. Campbell Stoll (Texas), 4:04.49
16. Justina Kozan (USC), 4:04.77
17. Kimberly Shannon (Pittsburgh), 4:04.82
18. Stella Chapman (Wisconsin), 4:05.45

Chapman is also seeded 26th in the 200 IM and 45th in the 200 breast at NCAAs.

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