NCAA Division I Women’s Champs: Outside Smoke: Arizona Breaks American Record in 400 Free Relay From Lane Eight; Arizona Wins First NCAA Team Title

COLUMBUS, Ohio, March 22. WHILE the Arizona Wildcats almost paid for saving the big guns for this evening's swim with an eighth-place prelim finish, the Arizona foursome blasted the American record in the 400 free relay to close the NCAA Division I Women's Championships. The victory also closed out Arizona's team title run with a triumphant "U of A" from the crowd.

The Wildcat quartet of Lacey Nymeyer (47.60), Anna Turner (48.03), Lara Jackson (47.96) and Taylor Baughman (47.76) dropped a ridiculously fast time of 3:11.34.

The performance eclipsed the previous American record of 3:12.13 set by California's Emily Silver, Erin Reilly, Jessica Hardy and Dana Vollmer during last year's NCAA championships.

The victory gave Arizona a sweep of the relay titles to match Georgia's effort in 2005 as the only other time the feat has been accomplished.

Meanwhile, California's foursome of Madison Kennedy, Hannah Wilson, Emily Silver and Dana Vollmer finished second in 3:13.03, while Texas A&M finished third as Christine Marshall, Codie Hansen, Julia Wilkinson and Triin Aljand touched in 3:13.08.

Arizona claimed its first NCAA team title with 484 points and returned the crown to the Pacific 10 for the first time in 10 years after Auburn and Georgia traded the award the last decade. Stanford, ironically coached by current Auburn coach Richard Quick, won the last Pac 10 title back in 1998. That was part of a run of seven team titles in 10 years for the Cardinal.

Auburn's two-year reign came to an end with 348 points for second, while Stanford finished third with 343 points. Texas A&M (315) and California (291) rounded out the top five.

Keep an eye out for a more in-depth analysis of the overall meet later this evening.

Event Results

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