Teri McKeever on Freshman Impact (Video)

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200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – FINALS

• NCAA Record: Caitlin Leverenz, California, 1:51.77
• American Record: Caitlin Leverenz, California, 1:51.77
• U.S. Open Record: Caitlin Leverenz, California, 1:51.77
• 2015 NCAA Champion: Missy Franklin, California, 1:52.11

Kathleen Baker of California open the first half of the race at 52.00, but that couldn’t stop Ella Eastin from charging down the pool in the breaststroke leg. The freshman from Stanford rocketed home in 32.52/26.94 to break Caitlin Leverenz’s existing records with a new NCAA, American, U.S. Open Record, and Georgia Tech Pool Record of 1:51.65.

Read more about Eastin’s record-breaking swim here.

Baker finished the race with new personal best of 1:52.95 for second and Kirsten Vose of USC snagged third in 1:54.27. The top three finishers in this event are also all freshmen and train in the state of California in the Pac-12 Conference, which sets up for four years of big battles out west.

Top seed Madisyn Cox (1:54.80) finished fourth with Texas A&M’s Lisa Bratton (1:55.89), Cal’s Kelly Naze (1:55.89), Texas A&M’s Sydney Pickrem (1:56.13), and Cal’s Celina Li (1:56.16) closing the final.

Courtney Bartholomew (1:55.44) held a tight grip on the B final, but was eclipsed by Aggie swimmer and outside smoke, Bethany Galat (1:55.26), in the last 50 yards.