Produced by Coleman Hodges.
Reported by Jared Anderson.
WOMEN’S 100 FLY – FINALS
- Sarah Gibson, A&M – 51.17
- Beryl Gastaldello, A&M – 51.46
- Maddie Banic, TENN – 51.79
The Aggies kept on rolling through the second women’s event, nabbing a second-straight sweep of at least the top two spots. Sarah Gibson followed up her nation-leading prelims swim of 50.99 with a 51.17 that tops every swim in the NCAA this year besides her own.
Meanwhile Beryl Gastaldello, who won this event last year with Gibson swimming the 200 free, went 51.46 for second place, beating out Tennessee’s Maddie Banic. Banic, the freshman who led the NCAA heading into this meet, was 51.79. That’s only about six tenths off her mid-season swim, continuing an outstanding rookie year.
Georgia’s Kylie Stewart went 51.85, eking out fourth over Natalie Hinds from Florida (51.87).
Interestingly enough, even though A&M went 1-2 in the race, Tennessee had four scoring swimmers (two of them in the A final with Banic and 8th-place Harper Bruens at 52.99) and actually gained ground on the Aggies. Texas A&M leads by just a single point after the fly, but they and Tennessee have put more than 70 points between them and defending team champs Georgia.
What a cool kid! Congrats to her.