200 IM NCAA final reported by Braden Keith:
Stanford’s Maya DiRado, a senior and one of the youngest seniors in the class, had a huge summer and earned a spot on the American World Championship team. This season in the NCAA, she’s followed suit by breaking through her “outside looking in” position with a 1:52.50 to win the women’s 200 IM: her first career NCAA title. That is the 6th-fastest 200 yard IM by anyone at any level, and ranks her as the 4th-fastest swimmer in history in the event.
This was another come-from-behind win, as she trailed Georgia’s Melanie Margalis by half-a-second coming out of the breaststroke leg, where Margalis is so good (she split 32.2 – fastest split in the field), even faster than Emma Reaney.
Margalis would end up taking 2nd in 1:52.64, with Cal’s Celina Li, who led after the backstroke leg, taking 3rd in 1:53.85.
Cal’s Liz Pelton took 4th in 1:54.80, as she really fell off of the pace on her breaststroke leg.
USC’s Stina Gardell moved way up from 8th in prelims to 5th in finals in 1:55.11. Stanford’s Felicia Lee took 7th in 1:56.15, and Michigan’s Marni Oldershaw took 8th in 1:56.88.
USC’s Jasmine Tosky won the B final in 1:56.37, and Virginia freshman Kaitlyn Jones took 10th in 1:56.49.
Congrats Maya for your well-deserved first NCAA individual title.
You are on fire since last summer!
Now the clash with Miss Beisel in the 400 IM! 😎
Melanie Margalis will be under 4 minutes too!
Yes. You’re right.