Emma Sticklen Lowers Own 200 Fly NCAA Championship Meet Record to 1:49.90 in Prelims

2025 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships

• March 19-22, 2025
• Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatics Center — Federal Way, Washington
• Short Course Yards (25 yards)
• Start Times: Prelims: 10 AM ׀ Finals: 6 PM (Pacific Daylight Time)
• Meet Central
• Official Psych Sheets
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Live Results
• Live Stream
• Live Recaps:
  • Prelims: Day 2 | Day 3
  • Finals: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3

Women’s 200 Butterfly – Prelims

• NCAA Record: 1:49.16 – Alex Walsh, Virginia (2024)
• Championship Record: 1:49.95 – Emma Sticklen, Texas (2023)
• American Record: 1:48.33 – Regan Smith (2023)
• U.S. Open Record: 1:48.33 – Regan Smith (2023)
• 2024 Champion: Emma Sticklen, Texas – 1:50.99

Top 16 Qualifiers:

1. Emma Sticklen (Texas) – 1:49.90 (Meet Record)
2. Tess Howley (Virginia) – 1:51.92
3. Caroline Bricker (Stanford) – 1:52.13
4. Alex Walsh (Virginia) – 1:52.18
5. Lillie Nordmann (Stanford) – 1:52.29
6. Campbell Stoll (Texas) – 1:52.61
7. Hannah Bellard (Michigan) – 1:52.86
8. Greta Pelzek (South Carolina) – 1:52.91
9. Olivia Bray (Texas) – 1:53.16
10. Lea Polonsky (California) -1:53.33
11. Lilou Ressencourt (California) – 1:53.54
12. Sara Stotler (Tennessee) – 1:53.86
13. Tristen Ulett (Louisville) – 1:53.89
14. Emily Brown (Tennessee) / Addison Reese (Florida) – 1:53.86
15. –
16. Edith Jernstedt (Florida State) – 1:54.16

Texas fifth-year Emma Sticklen made sure she would be in lane 4 in tonight’s 200 fly final with a huge morning swim. The double defending champion broke her own championship meet record, set in 2023, with a 1:49.90 that beat the rest of her heat by 2 seconds and was a full second under her winning time from last year’s NCAAs.

Sticklen went out in 51.07 and was home in 58.84. A year ago in prelims, she went 51.95 / 59.59 for 1:51.54 and a second-place qualification for the final behind teammate Olivia Bray. At night, she ripped a 1:50.99 (53.18 / 57.81) for the win. In 2023, Sticklen was again easy in the morning with 1:51.71 (52.45 / 59.26) before letting loose in the final (28.35 / 57.42). She edged Virginia’s Alex Walsh in that final, 1:49.95 to 1:50.23. Walsh went on to break the NCAA record in the event at 2024 ACC Championships.

Sticklen now owns eight sub-1:50 performances, six of them in this season alone – the most of any woman in U.S. history. American Record-holder Regan Smith is the only other swimmer ever to have gone under 1:50 multiple times in her career; she’s done it twice.