2014 Women’s NCAA Swimming & Diving Champsions – 500 Free – as reported by Jared Anderson
An intense battle for the first individual title of the 2014 NCAA championships saw two swimmers blast the old NCAA record. Though Cal’s Missy Franklin powered out to a lead through the middle of the race, Georgia’s Brittany MacLean made a late charge to steal the title and the NCAA record from her cross-country rival.
MacLean went 4:32.53, closing in an amazing 25.81 to bull her way past the record. The Bulldog sophomore was out in 1:48.54 at the 200 and actually accelerated from there – her final 100 was 52.98. That broke the record held by MacLean’s former Georgia teammate Allison Schmitt, set back in 2011.
Franklin also got under that mark, going 4:32.66 and nearly holding off MacLean. Franklin was out a bit faster early, but couldn’t handle MacLean’s closing speed.
