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:
Gretchen Walsh just swam to a 46.97 in the women’s 100 butterfly, resetting her own NCAA, American, Meet, and US Open records. Walsh is the only swimmer to ever break 48-seconds. That swim becomes the top SCY swim of my lifetime (post 2002 NCAAs).
Gretchen Walsh 100 Fly- 46.97
It was only four years ago that the 49-second mark was broken for the first time. Before COVID-19, no woman had ever been under 49 seconds. COVID, that’s it, COVID just happened right? Well, it was five years ago but the event has seen its record drop by almost a full two seconds in four years.
Caeleb Dressel 50 free- 17.63
One of his three records still standing, Caeleb Dressel’s 17.63 was mind boggling for the time. Although 17s have become more popular lately, at the time, the swim was historic. When Dressel swam that time, he held the top 10 performances all-time.
Katie Ledecky 500 free- 4:24.06
Ledecky’s 500 free record of a 4:24.06 from 2017 has not even been at risk. Only one other swimmer at the collegiate level has been under 4:30 as Leah Smith swam a 4:28.90 representing Virginia in 2017. No one went 4:30 this season and swimflation has come a long way in many other events.
Missy Franklin 200 free- 1:39.10
Franklin’s record still stands and it’s a decade old. Although it might not be Walsh’s primary event, even Gretchen Walsh has swam the event and did not get the record (I give her credit as due, she was so close to it). Franklin’s 1:39.10 broke her own American and NCAA records that stood at a 1:40.31. A decade later, only four women have been under 1:40.
Leon Marchand 400 IM- 3:28.82
Marchand’s 400 IM was jaw dropping back at 2023 NCAAs. With his time, he became the fastest 400 IMer by almost four seconds. The 4:30(2) barrier was broken and he swam a 3:28.82.
Dean Farris 200 Free- 1:29.15
Guys, it’s Dean Farris. Farris swam a 1:29.15 200 free in 2019 and that record went untouched until Leon Marchand and Luke Hobson both went under 1:29 at the 2024 NCAA Championships.
Simon Burnett 200 free- 1:31.20
Burnett’s record from 2006 stood untouched for ten years until Townley Haas swam to a 1:30.46. The 200 free has been deeper in recent years now with 25 men swimming under Burnett’s old mark of a 1:31.20.
17.63 is better 😍
We’ve certainly been spoiled with amazing performances at NCAAs. I think King Cong going out in record breaking fashion in the 200 fly at 2017 NCAAs is at least worthy of an honorable mention.
Am I the only one who thinks the 1:36 was more impressive than 3:28 from Marchand. Esp considering the way he swam it (22.9 backstroke split)
Might even argue that 4:02 was even more impressive than 1:36 since it was one of the ballsiest ways to swim a 500
Valid. I do think the historic 500 free times are extremely diluted since the best US / NCAA guys have been 4:06-4:08 and are putting up 3:45s to 3:43.9 at best… some of the 3:40/3:41 guys that the world has produced might have been closer to that 4:02 long ago (looking at Agnel’s 3:32.. or Thorpe almost 3 decades ago). I think while insane how LM swam that, there have been guys whose actual free swimming would have made up ground on the back half to what Marchand’s underwaters did for his front half. And we’re seeing that now with a swim like Rex’s
On the other hand, we had the best IMers in history to this day who were… Read more »
Dressel’s 50 free is literally statistically faster.
Gretch is 3.08% faster than KD
Caeleb was 4.55% faster than Cielo.
What part of facts do people not understand? the recency bias is unreal
It’s flawed statistical analysis unless you consider KD and Cielo’s swims to be equal. Like I would consider Ryan Lochte’s 1:54.00 one of the greatest records for the time but there was the factor of Phelps 1:54.1 which would make that swim seem pedestrian according to your methodology
They are equal as the second fastest ever. The statistic literally compares Gretchen and Caeleb to the fastest of the rest of the NCAA.
The difference is, KD wasn’t even a 100 flyer, and Cielo is one of the greatest sprinters ever and still holds the LC WR. If anything, that makes Dressel even more impressive.
But if the second fastest ever is also an out of the world outlier swim it would diminish the greatness according to your statistic. Not arguing that Gretchen’s was more impressive than Dressel’s but a more reliable metric would prob be comparing to a larger sample size of an average A final swim not just the runner up
But KD’s wasn’t an outlier. She won that race by .05, I’d hardly consider that an “out of the world outlier”
What if we shift the goal posts and compare Dressel to Crooks? Someone on a pretty comparable level in short course.
Also funny that you leave out KD came in ahead of 2 Olympic champs in the 100 fly herself, both of whom Gretchen gaps considerably.
I think they are very close swims, but you very clearly just have a bias.
because Crooks didn’t swim in 2018. Might as well compare Nathain Adrian to Rowdy Gaines
deleted
KD wasn’t a 100 flyer? She literally swam it every year at NCAAs and broke the American record twice & NCAA record once. You can’t even really make the argument that’s there’s some mystery non-American who would’ve beat her if they swam yards considering that she was racing against the reigning WR holder and short course world champion in that same race.
Cielo’s time is also way older so there is that aspect to consider. I think we all know that short course swimming has grown a lot since like the 2000s
You kind of have a point, but you cherry-picked an anomaly as an example. It’s obviously unfair to use this 200 IM because Phelps was also well clear of the world. Cielo and KD, however, were not. They were the record holders but not by a crazy amount. Phelps on the other hand would have had that record by a significant margin if it weren’t for Lochte. This type of scenario is pretty rare, the only other instance I can think of off the top of my head would be something like Regan and Kaylee in the 100 back, where it would seem more fair to compare Regan to third all time because Kaylee is essentially equal.
I see your… Read more »
Not arguing whether Cielo or KD had the more impressive second fastest swim. Just saying that it is a bit unfair just using the second fastest swim of all time as your data point when it can be an outlier and it would be better to compare to an A final average
I think there could certainly be instances where my metric is flawed, but this isn’t on of them. Neither KD or Cielo was way ahead of the world. KD in fact only won by .05 when she set it
The biggest flaw in your metric is that Dressel has a huge technical advantage over Cielo. He had a wedge on the starting block that allowed him to generate much more horizontal velocity in the start. In the shortest sprints, it does not take much of a time difference to affect the percentages you are using to make your case. That same kind of technical advantage does not exist for Walsh.
Tom Dolan 4:08.6 in the 500 in 1995
Edit: Oh wait nevermind, not within Anya’s lifetime. But still
Tracy Caulkins 4:04 400 IM in 1981. 4:36 500 in 1979. Biondi some ridiculous 100 free pre 1988. Coughlin 2002. Etc.
Wasn’t Neil Walker like a 44.9 100 back in the 90s for no reason, waaay ahead of his time? I remember seeing that swim thinking it was a big outlier.
There’s definitely some recency bias here. I feel like Coughlin has gotta be on the list! I agree with the top 2, though, for sure.
Coughlin’s swim was not in the author’s lifetime
Ha, fair!
Ryan Murphy’s 43.4 when everyone else was going 45 at NCAAs deserves a spot
Ledecky 8:59 1000 free.
Everyone forgets this one, but going 2 500’s sub 4:30 when so few have gone under in the flat out 500 is unreal.