Produced by Coleman Hodges.
Reported by Jared Anderson.
200 FLY – FINALS
- NCAA Record: Elaine Breeden, Stanford, 1:49.92
- American Record: Elaine Breeden, Stanford, 1:49.92
- U.S. Open Record: Elaine Breeden, Stanford, 1:49.92
- Championship Record: Elaine Breeden, Stanford, 1:50.98
- Pool Record: Kelsi Worrell, Louisville, 1:50.61
- 2015 Champion: Kelsi Worrell, Louisville, 1:51.11
Top 3:
- Kelsi Worrell, Louisville – 1:50.96
- Ella Eastin, Stanford – 1:51.04
- Megan Kingsley, Georgia – 1:53.10
In a big showdown of multi-time NCAA champions, Louisville’s Kelsi Worrell hung on for a gritty 200 fly title over Stanford freshman Ella Eastin.
Worrell, the defending NCAA champ in this event, is mostly known as a sprinter, and used her elite speed to build a lead of a full second at the halfway mark. But the versatile Eastin, who won the 200 and 400 IMs earlier this week, started reeling Worrell in big-time over the final 50. Worrell dropped from a 28.3 to a 30.3 in her final split, while Eastin was 29.0, but it was Worrell who won the Cardinal vs. Cardinal matchup 1:50.96 to 1:51.04.
That’s three tenths off Worrell’s prelims swim, but still ranks in as the third-fastest swim of all-time. Eastin, meanwhile, moves to #4 all-time with the 7th-fastest swim in history.
With her win, Worrell finishes a two-year sweep of the butterfly races at the NCAA level.
Eastin’s runner-up swim was big for Stanford, but Georgia fired back with places 3 and 4. Megan Kingsley was 1:53.10 and Hali Flickinger 1:53.32 as the Bulldogs continue to roll towards another NCAA title, which would be their third in the past four years.
California also had two in the final. Kelly Naze tied Texas A&M’s Sarah Gibson for fifth at 1:53.55, while Noemie Thomas was 1:54.84 for 8th. In between, Virginia Tech’s Klaudia Nazieblo went 1:53.77 for 7th.
Stanford made a charge through the B final, getting the heat win from Lindsey Engel in 1:54.13.
