West Coast Teams Shine And Other Night 1 Overreactions

2025 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships

• March 19-22, 2025
• Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatics Center — Federal Way, Washington
• Short Course Yards (25 yards)
• Start Times: Prelims: 10 AM ׀ Finals: 6 PM (Pacific Daylight Time)
• Meet Central
• Official Psych Sheets
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Live Results
• Live Stream

Now that night 1 is done in Federal Way, it is time for some overreactions after two races. What teams are doing well, who might be of concern?

West Coast Success In Memory Of The Pac-12

Cal, USC, Arizona State, and Stanford all performed very well on night 1. Cal kicked the night off with a school record in the 200 medley relay before following that up with a season best time in the 800 free relay.

Stanford dropped almost five seconds off of their seed time in the 800 free relay to capture the national title while the 200 medley relay finished 2nd. The medley relay featured a 20.39 free split from Torri Huske while Lucy Thomas was just outside of the top 10 splits all-time with a 25.72. It takes a 25.68 to make the top 10.

USC also had a solid 800 free relay, dropping over half a second off of their season best time to finish 7th overall.

Arizona State had a historic 8th place finish in the 200 medley relay. The team broke a Big 12 record that was formerly held by Texas before Texas moved to join the SEC. Arizona State’s 8th place finish marked the first time for a top 8 finish in the 200 medley relay since 1989.

While Stanford typically performs better than their psych sheet points at NCAAs, Cal, Arizona State, and USC typically do not. Could the tide be changing? Could the lack of time change be a bonus especially after NCAAs being on Eastern Time the last three years?

Torri Huske Continues Momentum

Huske deserves another mention. A 20.39 50 free split makes her the 5th fastest performer all-time in a flying start 50 free. She made her presence known tonight. We knew she was back at NCAAs but she is B-A-C-K after her redshirt year. She is not even doing the 50 free tomorrow as she instead opted for the 200 IM.

The Olympic gold medalist has not won an individual NCAA title yet but it seems like tomorrow could be her time.

Louisville Nailing Taper…Again

The Cardinals got off to a hot start with a 3rd place relay in the 200 medley relay. Let’s talk about that anchor split from Julia Dennis. A 20.49!!!!! Timed perfectly too, how much better relay exchange can you get than 0.01, spoiler alert, not much.

Dennis has been on fire already this season and looks primed for a solid 50 freestyle tomorrow where she is the #2 seed only behind Gretchen Walsh.

In addition to the 200 medley relay, the 800 free relay also swam a season best en route to a 12th place finish.