Rewatch: Emma Sticklen’s MONSTER Final Turn Lifts her to NCAA 200 Fly Title

2024 WOMEN’S NCAA SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• March 20-23, 2024
• Gabrielsen Natatorium, Athens, Georgia
• Short Course Yards (25 yards)
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheets
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Live Results
• Live Stream
• SwimSwam Pick ’em Contest
• Day 1 Finals Live Recap
• Day 2 Finals Live Recap
• Day 3 Finals Live Recap
• Day 4 Finals Live Recap

There were so many great swims over the last two weekends at the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships.

But one that has stuck in my head as a swim that didn’t get enough attention is Emma Sticklen‘s 200 fly win. It wasn’t a lifetime best swim for her. It wasn’t even a season-best swim for her. But she did successfully defend her NCAA title in the event.

So often in swimming we focus on times as measures of good swims. But this race stands out for a different reason: the excitement generated by a monster final underwater at the end of one of the sport’s most-grueling races. By staying down for three or four kicks longer she overcame Kelly Pash and Rachel Klinker and showed off the best of short course swimming, where a simmer can emerge like a missile off a huge turn and draw a big “ooooh” from the crowd.

Watch the final turn here.

That swim reminds me of a race that is probably the second-favorite of any swim I have ever seen in person: Tom Shields’ 1:39.65 at the 2013 NCAA Championships, the swim that made him the first collegian under 1:40 and tied Michael Phelps’ record in the event.

That was a bit of a different scenario, as he led most of that race, but he took a battle and, with a giant last underwater, broke it way open.

Sadly, this grainy video is the only one I could find of this race, and doesn’t quite do the underwater justice, even 11 years later, I remember that just being a gigantic “wow” moment for me not long after we launched SwimSwam.

Shields hit the wall perfectly at the 175 and that launched him into a monstrous 8 dolphin kicks.

There’s something elegant about a big underwater at the end of a race like this, where most competitors are trying to grind out the last few pulls to the wall. A slingshot to victory.

It’s not always about times. As the sport pushes forward for ways to get more fans, we have to learn how to appreciate swims like this – swims that aren’t best times, but that are fun to watch because of the battle and the back-and-forth.