Score Vs. Seed: Day 1 at the 2022 NCAA D1 Women’s Championships

OVERREACTIONS: Day 1 at the 2022 NCAA Women’s D1 Championships

2022 NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• March 16-19, 2022
• McAuley Aquatic Center, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, Georgia (Eastern Daylight Time)
• Prelims 10AM /Finals 6PM
• Short Course Yards (25 yards)
• Live Results
• Championship Central
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Day 1 Live Recap

The Virginia Cavaliers added a little bit of time, but held firmly onto their seeds, on day 1 of the 2022 Women’s NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships.

In spite of being a little slower than they were at the ACC Championships in both the 200 medley and 800 free relays, the Virginia Cavaliers didn’t lose any points from where they were seeded. Conversely, their main competitors from Stanford, NC State, and Tennessee all did, which leaves the Cavaliers well-clear on their way to a second straight title.

Tennessee, as they are wont to do at NCAAs, dropped a pretty significant number of points on day 1. But it wasn’t all doom-and-gloom for the Volunteers: their emergent Irish freshman star Ellen Walshe had two very good legs. On the 200 medley, she split 23.03 on the fly, which was just-off her 22.93 from SECs, and on the e800 free relay she split 1:43.48, which was half-a-second better than her 1:44.06 from SECs.

Remember that at SECs, she pulled off that nasty 400 IM/100 fly double, which she’s trying again at NCAAs. While not expected to win either race, that 200 free split especially indicates that she’s in better form here than most of her team and could still have a pretty special day on Friday.

The biggest risers on the day were Louisville and Georgia. Louisville typically picks up big points from seed to score at NCAAs, but 36 points on day 1 is huge even by their standards: they were +2 last year en route to a +54.5 meatlong jump. If they continue this trend, they’ll easily be back in the top 10 this week.

Cal, as expected, moved up a good chunk from seed. The USC women did too, as interim head coach Lea Maurer continues to make a strong case to keep her job on a permanent basis.

Out of the SEC, Alabama picked up points on what was not expected to be their best day of the meet, as first year head coach Margo Geer showed that she’s more-than-capable of pulling off a double taper, even with very limited coaching experience. Florida, thanks in large part to their 2nd-semester addition Ekaterina Nikonova rounding into form, also moved way up the rankings in the 800 free relay, dropping almost 5 seconds from their seed time.

Day 1 Seed vs. Score By Event

Day 1 Seed vs. Score Daily Total (By Actual Score)

Day 1 Seed vs. Score Daily Total (By Difference)