Produced by Coleman Hodges.
Reported by Jared Anderson.
400 IM – FINALS
- NCAA Record – 3:56.54, Katinka Hosszu, 2012, USC
- American Record – 3:57.89, Caitlin Leverenz
- U.S. Open Record – 3:56.54, Katinka Hosszu, 2012, USC
- Championship Record – 3:56.54, Katinka Hosszu, 2012, USC
Pool Record – 4:00.62, Dagny Knutson, 2008- Defending Champion – 4:02.47, Sarah Henry, Texas A&M (graduated)
Top 3:
- Ella Eastin, Stanford – 3:58.40
- Lindsey Clary, Ohio State – 4:03.61
- Emily Cameron, Georgia – 4:03.66
Make it two for two for Ella Eastin. The Stanford freshman stayed perfect for her individual NCAA career, winning the 400 IM title in a huge swim of 3:58.40. Eastin is one of seven women in history to break four minutes in the event, and still sits 6th all-time, though she moved much closer to Elizabeth Beisel’s 3:58.35 for the #5 position.
Eastin crushed this race from the get-go, jumping out to a lead of more than a full second over the butterfly leg alone. She expanded that to about four seconds by the end of the backstroke, effectively ending the race by the halfway point.
Second would go to Lindsey Clary of Ohio State, who went 4:03.61. That caps off a nice junior season for Clary, who was 14th last year in just 4:08.
Emily Cameron of Georgia was pushing hard down the stretch, nearly running down Clary, but the junior ran out of pool, settling for third in 4:03.66.
A pair of Texas A&M teammates nabbed the next two spots, with freshman Sydney Pickrem (a national record-holder for Canada in the long course version of this event) and sophomore Bethany Galat going 4:04.26 and 4:05.17.
As grueling an event as the 400 IM is, the entire top 6 managed to better their prelims swims at night. Included in that group was Minnesota sophomore Brooke Zeiger at 4:05.38, just under her prelims swim.
Texas A&M’s third A finalist, Lisa Bratton, was seventh in 4:07.93 and Kansas senior Chelsie Miller rounded out the heat in 4:08.69.
The top returning swimmer in the field from last year, Texas’s Madisyn Cox rebounded from a tough morning swim that saw her miss the A final. Cox hit a 4:05.78 at night, still off of last year’s 4:03, but plenty fast enough to take 9th overall.
