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WATCH: Torri Huske Swim 1:49.67 to Win the 200 IM and Other Race Videos from Night Two

2025 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships

Yesterday’s meet was full of exciting races.

Jillian Cox won the 500 freestyle at her first ever NCAA Championships by more than two seconds. The women’s 200 IM went to Torri Huske, who became only the 3rd woman ever to break 1:50, and Gretchen Walsh won the 50 free to further cement her legacy in the event.

UVA also won the 200 freestyle relay by about half-a-second over Louisville, thanks to a 20.37 split from Walsh on the leadoff, and Torri Huske became the 4th woman to break 21 seconds on the same leg.

Women’s 500 Freestyle — Finals

  • NCAA Record: 4:24.06 — Katie Ledecky, Stanford (2017)
  • Championship Record: 4:24.06 — Katie Ledecky, Stanford (2017)
  • American Record: 4:24.06 — Katie Ledecky, Stanford (2017)
  • U.S. Open Record: 4:24.06 — Katie Ledecky, Stanford (2017)
  • 2024 Champion: Bella Sims, Florida — 4:32.47

Top 8 Finishers:

  1. Jillian Cox (Texas)- 4:31.58
  2. Aurora Roghair (Stanford)- 4:33.90
  3. Anna Peplowski (Indiana)- 4:34.12
  4. Katie Grimes (Virginia)- 4:34.25
  5. Cavan Gormsen (Virginia)- 4:34.51
  6. Mila Nikanorov (OSU)- 4:36.38
  7. Ching Gan (Indiana)- 4:36.69
  8. Rachel Stege (Georgia)- 4:37.10

Texas sophomore Jillian Cox won the women’s 500 freestyle in decisive fashion, coming in more than two seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Her final time of 4:31.58 was just off her lifetime best of 4:30.68 from November, but she is your NCAA Champion.

She swam a very consistent race, not splitting a single 50 over the 27.84 she wentat the 250 mark, and getting gradually faster from there. Anna Peplowski from Indiana got out fast, flipping in first at the 100, a second-and-a-half ahead of the rest of the field. After that point, however, Cox began out-splitting her on every single 50 until at the 350 mark where she ultimately passed her.

After the 350 it became a race for 2nd with Cox continuously growing her lead for the duration of the race. Aurora Roghair from Stanford was all the way back in 6th at the 250 mark, but she also began chipping away, ultimately just barely negative split her race swimming 2:16.96/2:16.94 on her 250s, to chase down Peplowski as well.

Peplowski finished 3rd in 4:34.12, holding off a surge from Virginia’s Katie Grimes at the end, who came in at 4:34.25 for 4th.

Tennessee’s Ella Jansen won the ‘B’ final in 4:34.62, which would have been 6th had she been in the ‘A’ Final

Women’s 200 IM — Finals

  • NCAA Record: 1:48.37 — Kate Douglass, Virginia (2023)
  • Championship Record: 1:48.37 — Kate Douglass, Virginia (2023)
  • American Record: 1:48.37 — Kate Douglass, Virginia (2023)
  • U.S. Open Record: 1:48.37 — Kate Douglass, Virginia (2023)
  • 2024 Champion: Alex Walsh, Virginia — 1:49.20

Top 8 Finishers

  1. Torri Huske (Stanford)- 1:49.67
  2. Alex Walsh (Virginia )- 1:50.14
  3. Lea Polonsky (California)- 1:51.51
  4. Phoebe Bacon (Wisconsin)- 1:51.98
  5. Caroline Bricker (Stanford)- 1:52.01
  6. Lucy Bell (Stanford)- 1:52.47
  7. Emma Sticklen (Texas)- 1:52.54
  8. Josephine Fuller (Tennessee)- 1:55.77

Torri Huske was out in first, and that is exactly where she finished, earning her first individual NCAA title in the women’s 200 IM. The Stanford Junior had the fastest fly leg at 23.22, and the fastest freestyle leg, splitting 26.54. She was briefly in 2nd after the backstroke with her 27.66 split, but took the lead again on the breaststroke leg falling right in the middle of the field at 32.25. Her final time of 1:49.67 is the 3rd fastest time in history, and she becomes only the 3rd woman ever to break 1:50 in the event.

Alex Walsh finished 2nd, swimming a very different race than Huske, sitting in the middle of the field on every single split, besides the breaststroke, where she tied with Stanford’s Lucy Bell at 31.50 for 1st. This split was enough to pull Walsh into 2nd overall, which is where she stayed to finish in 1:50.14. This is her 3rd time in this range at the 5 NCAA finals she has swam in this event. In 2022, she swam 1:50.08, she was 1:50.07 in 2023, and she was 1:50.14 tonight.

  • Huske’s Splits: 23.22/27.66/32.25/26.54
  • Walsh’s Splits: 23.98/27.72/31.50/26.94

Lea Polonsky from Cal had the slowest butterfly split, touching 8th at the 50. She did not stay in this position for long, ultimately using her backstroke (27.51) and breaststroke (31.91) to earn her a solid 3rd place finish at 1:51.51 for almost a two second drop from the 1:53.28 she went at ACCs.

7th place finisher Emma Sticklen was in first after the 100, splitting the 2nd fastest fly leg (23.47), and the fastest backstroke (27.33). She struggled on her back 100, though. Her breaststroke and freestyle were both the 2nd slowest in the field at 34.02 and 27.72 respectively. Only Jospehine Fuller‘s 35.00 and 28.26 for 8th place were slower.

Women’s 50 Freestyle — Finals

Top 8 Finishers:

  1. Gretchen Walsh (Virginia)- 20.49
  2. Claire Curzan (Virginia)- 21.11
  3. Julia Dennis (Louisville)- 21.20
  4. Camille Spink (Tennessee)- 21.27
  5. Sophie Yendell (Pitt)- 21.66
  6. Maxine Parker (Virginia)- 21.77
  7. Gabi Albiero (Louisville)- 21.78
  8. Cadence Vincent (Alabama)- 21.83

Gretchen Walsh wins her 2nd straight NCAA title in the women’s 50 freestyle, picking up the 4th fastest time in history to officially lock up the entire top 10 in the event.

Walsh had a deep dive, and was out 10.04, more than a tenth off the 9.93 she went in prelims. She came back slightly faster though, splitting 10.45 on the 2nd 25 compared to her 10.51 in prelims.

Claire Curzan had a huge best time, dropping a tenth and a half from her 21.26 at ACCs to swim 21.11 for 2nd overall splitting 10.22/10.89. She just out touched Louisville’s Julia Dennis at 21.20, which was a little more than a tenths slower than her best of 21.08 also from ACCs.

Camille Spink from Tennessee went 21.27, another slight add from conference where she went 21.23.

Women’s 200 Freestyle Relay- Finals

  • NCAA Record: 1:23.63 — Virginia (Nocentini, G. Walsh, A. Walsh, Parker) (2024)
  • Championship Record: 1:24.05 — Virginia (Nocentini, G. Walsh, A. Walsh, Parker) (2024)
  • American Record: 1:23.87 — Virginia (Douglass, G. Walsh, Cuomo, A. Walsh) (2023)
  • U.S. Open Record: 1:23.63 — Virginia (Nocentini, G. Walsh, A. Walsh, Parker) (2024)
  • 2024 Champion: Virginia (Nocentini, G. Walsh, A. Walsh, Parker) — 1:24.05

Top 8 Teams:

  1. Virginia- 1:24.45
  2. Louisville- 1:25.04
  3. Stanford- 1:25.69
  4. Michigan- 1:26.04
  5. Indiana- 1:26.68
  6. NC State- 1:26.82
  7. California- 1:26.96
  8. Texas- 1:27.00

Virginia picked up their 2nd relay win of the meet in the 200 freestyle relay, swimming 1:24.45 to come in a little over half-a-second ahead of 2nd place Louisville.

Gretchen Walsh led off for UVA, exactly tying her best time, and the NCAA Record, in the 50 freestyle at 20.37. This time, she was out under in 9.88, faster than her prelims and finals swims. She was only about six tenths ahead of the rest of the field, though, thanks to Torri Huske‘s 20.92 for Stanford. Huske officially becomes the 5th fastest performer in history, and the 5th woman to ever break 21 seconds in the event. Louisville led off with Caroline Larsen, who went 21.80.

Claire Curzan swam the 2nd leg of Virginia, splitting 21.18 to hold onto the lead. Louisville’s Julia Dennis had the fastest 2nd 50 leg at 20.63 to help pull Louisville into 2nd overall, where they stayed the rest of the race. Stanford’s 2nd leg was Lucy Thomas, who split 21.60.

The third and fourth legs didn’t see any change in the top three positions. Maxine Parker (21.56) and Anna Moesch (21.34) finished up UVAs relay in 1:24.45. Louisville had Gabi Albiero (21.38) and Ella Welch (21.23) to finish in 2nd overall at 1:25.04, and Stanford finished up with Gigi Johnson (21.31) and Amy Tang (21.86) to hold onto 3rd in 1:25.69.

Other notable rolling splits came from Kristina Paegle anchoring Indiana’s relay in 21.05 and Michigan’s Lindsay Flynn, who went 21.29 on the anchor leg.

Updated Team Scores:

  1. Virginia – 225
  2. Stanford – 178
  3. Texas – 152
  4. Louisville – 106.5
  5. Indiana – 102
  6. Tennessee – 93
  7. Michigan – 92
  8. California – 89.5
  9. Florida – 71
  10. NC State – 54
  11. Wisconsin – 53
  12. Miami (FL) – 42.5
  13. Georgia – 38
  14. Southern California – 35
  15. UNC – 34
  16. Alabama – 33
  17. Arizona State – 31.5
  18. Ohio State – 23
  19. LSU – 15
  20. Arizona – 15
  21. Pittsburgh – 14
  22. Kansas – 12
  23. South Carolina – 9
  24. Duke – 7
  25. Texas A&M – 6
  26. Auburn – 6
  27. Virginia Tech – 6
  28. Purdue – 5
  29. Minnesota – 2

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