Celia Pulido Of SIU Clocks 51.07 100 Backstroke In Prelims At Purdue Invite

2024 Purdue Invite

Celia Pulido of Southern Illinois University swam to a 51.07 in prelims of the 100 backstroke on Friday. Pulido is the fastest mid-major swimmer in the 100 backstroke of all-time after swimming a 50.73 to finish 7th in the event at the 2024 NCAA Championships.

Pulido notably swam a 50.98 in prelims at NCAAs before dropping 0.25 in finals. Today’s swim also improved upon where she was at a year ago as she swam a 51.99 in prelims before swimming a 51.82 in finals at the 2023 Purdue Invite. Her past success to drop from prelims to finals bodes well for tonight.

Top 5 Mid Major Women- 100 Backstroke

RANK SWIMMER SCHOOL TIME SEASON
1 Celia Pulido Southern Illinois 50.73 2023-24
2 Scarlett Ferris Nevada 51.49 2023-24
3 Maddy Gatrall Akron 51.59 2022-23
4 Elise Haan FGCU 51.65 2015-16
5 Kira Toussaint FGCU 51.68 2013-14

In addition to being the top mid-major swimmer ever, Pulido also is the fastest 100 backstroker in the state of Illinois as her best time is faster than the school records at Power 4 institutions such as Illinois and Northwestern.

Pulido is currently in her senior season at SIU and made huge waves last year as she was the highest scoring mid-major swimmer at Women’s NCAAs. In addition to her ‘A’ final appearance in the 100 back, she finaled in the 200 backstroke finishing 13th in a 1:52.31.

She will swim out of lane 4 tonight as the top seed by over two seconds, giving her the potential for clean water once again in finals. Purdue’s Abby Marcukaitis had the 2nd fastest time of the morning with a 53.70.

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Mike Anderson
1 month ago

Any relation to Natalia Pulido of Spain, who swam at Nevada?

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Reply to  Mike Anderson
1 month ago

I don’t think so. It’s a fairly common last name. There are about 50,000 Pulidos in Mexico (where Celia is from) and about 22,000 in Spain.

Neve Stolan
1 month ago

Surprised no one paid her to go to a P4 school after last year. Happened to Ruard van Renen after his impressive freshman year and thought she’d follow suit

About Anya Pelshaw

Anya Pelshaw

Anya has been with SwimSwam since June 2021 as both a writer and social media coordinator. She was in attendance at the 2022, 2023, and 2024 Women's NCAA Championships writing and doing social media for SwimSwam. She also attended 2023 US Summer Nationals as well as the 2024 European Championships …

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