2013 Women’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championship, 200 Free Relay (as reported by Braden Keith)
Video captured Garrett McCaffrey
Tennessee and Georgia, the only teams with two swimmers in the A-Final of the 200 free relay, went 1-2 in this 200 free relay. Fast forward to the final leg. Arizona had the lead, but they front-stacked their relay with Margo Geer leading them off in 21.71. Tennessee was 2nd, and Georgia was 3rd.
First Arizona went by the wayside. That left it to the Vols and the Bulldogs to battle for the victory. A pair of superstars on the anchors: Kelsey Floyd against Megan Romano. Floyd split a 21.48 to hold off Romano and give the Volunteers the win in 1:27.14. Romano, meanwhile, was a 21.08 (unable to recreate her 20.9 from SEC’s) and the Bulldogs were 2nd in 1:27.38.
Believe-it-or-not, with all of the great swimmers and Olympians that have come through their program, that is the first relay victory in the history of the Tennessee women’s swimming program.
Arizona settled for 3rd in 1:27.51, with Stanford 4th in 1:27.90. Maddy Schaefer led them off in 22.01, with sub-22 splits coming from Andi Murez and Felicia Lee. Cal was 5th in 1:28.31, and a 21.72 anchor from Cal. They probably knew this wasn’t a winnable relay for them, but I think they’ll leave feeling like they could have been a little faster.
Texas A&M woke up in this finals session a little bit and won the B-Final in 1:28.89 – bettering their season-best time. The Aggies had a challenging first session, but early in these finals they look like they’ve refocused and are ready to turn things around. They subbed in Breeja Larson as the anchor of that relay, and she anchored in a crucial 21.96. With that swim, Larson established herself as the leader on this team for this meet; she seems determined to drag them to their full potential.
6 races for Miss Romano on the first day! I believe she has well slept.