Cal Wins 200 Free Relay w/ New NCAA Record, Farida Osman Splits Sub-21

2017 WOMEN’S NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Cal Bears smashed the NCAA and U.S. Open records tonight in the 200 free relay, winning the event in 1:25.59.

Their performance was boosted by a huge sub-21 split from senior Egyptian Olympian Farida Osman, who went 20.91 to anchor the team. Teaming up with her were 50 free American record-holder Abbey Weitzeil (flat-start 21.59), Maddie Murphy (21.83), and Amy Bilquist (21.26).

The NCAA record that California took down was a very fresh mark set this morning. In prelims, Simone Manuel, Lia Neal, Janet Hu, and Ally Howe put together a 1:26.15 to outswim the previous record by .05 to add another big swim to their 800 free relay mark last night. This morning’s swim was also a championship, and U.S. Open Record.

But tonight, Cal downed that mark by half a second.

Stanford 3/16/17 Prelims  Cal 3/16/17 Finals
Simone Manuel: 21.44   Abbey Weitzeil: 21.59
Lia Neal: 21.30  Maddie Murphy: 21.83
Janet Hu: 21.78  Amy Bilquist: 21.26
Ally Howe: 21.63 (1:26.15)  Farida Osman: 20.91 (1:25.59)

“It was really cool,” said Osman after the race. “I mean, I believe in each one of these girls and we exceeded my expectations.”

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Coach Mike 1952
7 years ago

Quite a race! Anyone have knowledge if there have been other sub-21’s & by whom & what was their time? Thanks in advance.

Irviner
Reply to  Coach Mike 1952
7 years ago

Simone Manuel – 20.78
Ariana Vanderpool-Wallace – 20.80
Kelsi Worrell – 20.84
Abbey Weitzeil – 20.92
Ivy Martin – 20.96
Margo Geer – 20.98
Megan Romano – 20.99

About Hannah Hecht

Hannah Hecht

Hannah Hecht grew up in Kansas and spent most of her childhood trying to convince coaches to let her swim backstroke in freestyle sets. She took her passion to Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa and swam at NAIA Nationals all four years. After graduating in 2015, she moved to …

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