2026 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships
- Wednesday, March 18 – Saturday, March 21, 2026
- McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta, GA
- Defending Champions: Virginia (5x)
- Championship Central
- Preview Index
- Psych Sheet
- Live Stream
- Live Results
- Live Recaps
Women’s 200 Medley Relay – Final Heat
- NCAA Record: 1:31.10 – Virginia (Curzan, A. Walsh, G. Walsh, Parker), 2025
- American Record: 1:31.10 – Virginia (Curzan, A. Walsh, G. Walsh, Parker), 2025
- U.S. Open Record: 1:31.10 – Virginia (Curzan, A. Walsh, G. Walsh, Parker), 2025
- Championship Record: 1:31.10 – Virginia (Curzan, A. Walsh, G. Walsh, Parker), 2025
- 2025 Champion: Virginia (Curzan, A. Walsh, G. Walsh, Parker) – 1:31.10
- 2025 8th/16th Place Times: 1:34.54/1:35.38
Top 8 Teams
- Virginia (Curtis, Weber, Curzan, Greenwaldt) — 1:31.67
- Stanford (Huske, Thomas, Johnson, Olasewere)/Louisville (Mishler, Gorbenko, Larsen, Dennis) — 1:32.35
- —
- Tennessee — 1:32.66
- NC State — 1:33.05
- Michigan — 1:33.18
- Texas — 1:33.38
- Alabama — 1:33.81
Cal — Disqualified
The Cal Golden Bears got off to a hot start tonight at the Women’s NCAA Championships, seeing freshman Claire Weinstein rip a huge new career best by 15 seconds to finish 2nd in the 1650 free. Weinstein clocked a 15:36.52, taking 2nd and earning Cal 17 critical points for the team standings. She was seeded 8th, which means her performance netted the Golden Bears +6 points versus their seed in the event.
Cal’s momentum was, however, halted in the next event. After finishing 5th in the 200 medley relay, Cal was disqualified for an early take-off on swimmer #4. The call was confirmed, as the results showed that anchor Mia West had a -0.05 reaction time, which is outside the permitted range.
The DQ cost Cal 28 points, which could become a key factor in the overall standings at the end of the meet. Instead of being in a tie for 3rd with Louisville after the medley relay, Cal is now sitting in 12th. Of course, they’ll climb in the standings before the night is over, but that DQ could cost them a place, or even a few by the end.
Points versus seed becomes very important as teams jockey for positioning at a meet like this, and Cal is now in a hole after a very good first event. Here is a the breakdown of points scored versus seeded points through the first pair of events:
| Seeded Points | Actual Points | |
| 1650 Free | 11 | 17 |
| 200 Medley Relay | 26 | 0 |
| Total | 37 | 17 |
As the table shows, Cal is now -20 on their actual score versus seeded score. We’ll see if they can earn some of that back in the 800 free relay to conclude today’s session, but one thing is clear: Cal is going to have to swim very well, particularly in prelims, to make up for that DQ tonight.
Here is a reminder of what the top 10 teams on the scored psych sheet were, to give an idea of how close this battle to finish in the top 3 or 5 could be:
| Rank | Team | Total | Individual | Relay | Scoring Individuals |
Scoring Relays
|
| 1 | Virginia | 569.5 | 369.5 | 200 | 32 | 5 |
| 2 | Michigan | 334.5 | 178.5 | 156 | 16 | 5 |
| 3 | Stanford | 326.5 | 176.5 | 150 | 15 | 5 |
| 4 | Texas | 295.5 | 188.5 | 107 | 19 | 5 |
| 5 | California | 286 | 150 | 136 | 18 | 5 |
| 6 | Tennessee | 279 | 151 | 128 | 12 | 5 |
| 7 | Louisville | 255.5 | 120.5 | 135 | 11 | 5 |
| 8 | Indiana | 228.5 | 114.5 | 114 | 9 | 5 |
| 9 | NC State | 220 | 116 | 104 | 10 | 5 |
| 10 | Alabama | 89 | 21 | 68 | 5 | 4 |
Kiss top four goodbye especially without diving prospects.
Oh, thanks for coming back an hour later after your first comment, saying mostly the same thing, but just adding something about diving.
A value-add for sure.
(Though a numerical “4” in the first one and it was spelled out here??? What’s the style guide say about that.)
That’s such a tough circumstance, but given how most of the Cal women swam tonight, I think the prospects for the meet are still looking really good!
It’s a bold strategy, Cotton. Let’s see if it pays off for them.
Kiss top 4 goodbye!
*Affect
Also, Cal would have been third at this point in the meet without the DQ. But ‘would have’ plus $3.50 will get you a small cup of coffee at Starbucks, as they say.
Shouldah! Couldah! Wouldah!