NCAA Division I Women’s Championships: Virginia’s Leah Smith Vaults to 5th All Time With Dominant 1650 Free

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Virginia’s Leah Smith added the 1650-yard freestyle title to her win in the 500-yard free at the NCAA Division I Women’s Championships.

Smith uncorked a dominant time of 15:34.46 for the victory.  That’s Virginia’s third title in the mile with Cara Lane going back to back in 2000 and 2001. Before Smith’s 500-yard free title, those had been the only NCAA titles for the female Cavaliers.

Leah Smith, Virginia

On winning two titles
“I owe it all to my coaches and teammates. They push me every day, and I think last year left me a little bit hungry. I was out for redemption because I didn’t have the best meet. So, this year, my teammates and I have all been really positive, and we’re trying to make history.”

Smith vaulted to fifth all time in the event’s history. She had been 11th all time with a 15:42.04 last year.

All Time 1650 Free

Rank Name Time
1 Katie Ledecky 15:13.30
2 Katie Hoff 15:24.35
3 Brittany MacLean 15:27.84
4 Kate Ziegler 15:29.15
5 Leah Smith 15:34.46

Smith won the title by exactly 12 seconds as California’s Cierra Runge finished second in 15:46.66.  Florida’s Jessica Thielmann managed to take third in 15:46.68 in what proved to be a close battle for second.

Smith’s 12-second victory is pretty impressive, but doesn’t come close to Janet Evans’ NCAA record for the largest margin of victory.

In 1990, Evans of Stanford threw down a 15:39.14, still ranking her eighth all time, to beat Texas’ Andrea Hayes (16:04.08) by 24.94 seconds.

Surprisingly, defending NCAA champion and NCAA record holder Brittany MacLean wound up taking ninth overall in 15:59.12.

California held the team lead 400.5-335.5 over Georgia following the 1650.

  1 Smith, Leah      SO Virginia-VA      15:42.75   15:34.46 D1-A    20  
      r:+0.81  25.61        53.20 (27.59)
        1:21.34 (28.14)     1:49.58 (28.24)
        2:17.89 (28.31)     2:46.31 (28.42)
        3:14.55 (28.24)     3:43.10 (28.55)
        4:11.45 (28.35)     4:39.99 (28.54)
        5:08.33 (28.34)     5:36.73 (28.40)
        6:05.19 (28.46)     6:33.85 (28.66)
        7:02.59 (28.74)     7:31.37 (28.78)
        8:00.08 (28.71)     8:28.53 (28.45)
        8:57.33 (28.80)     9:26.06 (28.73)
        9:54.87 (28.81)    10:23.68 (28.81)
       10:52.41 (28.73)    11:21.18 (28.77)
       11:49.82 (28.64)    12:18.51 (28.69)
       12:46.97 (28.46)    13:15.33 (28.36)
       13:43.71 (28.38)    14:12.16 (28.45)
       14:40.43 (28.27)    15:08.32 (27.89)    15:34.46 (26.14)
  2 Runge, Cierra    FR California-PC    15:40.17   15:46.46 D1-A    17  
    r:+0.82  25.96        54.17 (28.21)
        1:22.64 (28.47)     1:51.12 (28.48)
        2:19.59 (28.47)     2:48.14 (28.55)
        3:16.67 (28.53)     3:45.33 (28.66)
        4:14.00 (28.67)     4:42.71 (28.71)
        5:11.30 (28.59)     5:39.85 (28.55)
        6:08.43 (28.58)     6:37.18 (28.75)
        7:05.85 (28.67)     7:34.55 (28.70)
        8:03.44 (28.89)     8:32.40 (28.96)
        9:01.12 (28.72)     9:30.18 (29.06)
        9:59.26 (29.08)    10:28.32 (29.06)
       10:57.20 (28.88)    11:26.25 (29.05)
       11:55.18 (28.93)    12:24.20 (29.02)
       12:53.31 (29.11)    13:22.63 (29.32)
       13:51.97 (29.34)    14:21.18 (29.21)
       14:50.23 (29.05)    15:19.09 (28.86)    15:46.46 (27.37)
  3 Thielmann, Jess  JR Florida-FL       15:47.95   15:46.68 D1-A    16  
    r:+0.77  26.75        55.10 (28.35)
        1:23.76 (28.66)     1:52.40 (28.64)
        2:21.20 (28.80)     2:50.11 (28.91)
        3:19.01 (28.90)     3:47.93 (28.92)
        4:16.62 (28.69)     4:45.37 (28.75)
        5:14.24 (28.87)     5:43.02 (28.78)
        6:11.80 (28.78)     6:40.57 (28.77)
        7:09.50 (28.93)     7:38.26 (28.76)
        8:06.99 (28.73)     8:35.99 (29.00)
        9:04.78 (28.79)     9:33.60 (28.82)
       10:02.28 (28.68)    10:30.89 (28.61)
       10:59.79 (28.90)    11:28.40 (28.61)
       11:57.38 (28.98)    12:26.03 (28.65)
       12:54.71 (28.68)    13:23.59 (28.88)
       13:52.62 (29.03)    14:21.66 (29.04)
       14:50.71 (29.05)    15:19.66 (28.95)    15:46.68 (27.02)
  4 Henry, Sarah     SR Texas A&M-GU     15:53.43   15:46.83 D1-A    15  
    r:+0.83  26.85        55.30 (28.45)
        1:23.97 (28.67)     1:52.84 (28.87)
        2:21.66 (28.82)     2:50.67 (29.01)
        3:19.55 (28.88)     3:48.45 (28.90)
        4:17.41 (28.96)     4:46.29 (28.88)
        5:15.06 (28.77)     5:44.01 (28.95)
        6:12.71 (28.70)     6:41.36 (28.65)
        7:10.28 (28.92)     7:39.41 (29.13)
        8:08.29 (28.88)     8:37.31 (29.02)
        9:06.29 (28.98)     9:35.39 (29.10)
       10:04.40 (29.01)    10:33.44 (29.04)
       11:02.56 (29.12)    11:31.41 (28.85)
       12:00.31 (28.90)    12:29.31 (29.00)
       12:58.03 (28.72)    13:26.67 (28.64)
       13:55.28 (28.61)    14:24.12 (28.84)
       14:52.81 (28.69)    15:20.29 (27.48)    15:46.83 (26.54)
  5 McDermott, Ambe  SR Georgia-GA       15:49.79   15:53.19 D1-A    14  
    r:+0.92  25.69        53.97 (28.28)
        1:22.39 (28.42)     1:51.19 (28.80)
        2:19.80 (28.61)     2:48.58 (28.78)
        3:17.32 (28.74)     3:46.03 (28.71)
        4:14.75 (28.72)     4:43.57 (28.82)
        5:12.46 (28.89)     5:41.31 (28.85)
        6:10.13 (28.82)     6:39.21 (29.08)
        7:08.19 (28.98)     7:37.09 (28.90)
        8:06.30 (29.21)     8:35.62 (29.32)
        9:04.73 (29.11)     9:33.90 (29.17)
       10:03.07 (29.17)    10:32.22 (29.15)
       11:01.48 (29.26)    11:30.68 (29.20)
       11:59.87 (29.19)    12:29.16 (29.29)
       12:58.48 (29.32)    13:27.80 (29.32)
       13:57.15 (29.35)    14:26.41 (29.26)
       14:55.55 (29.14)    15:24.83 (29.28)    15:53.19 (28.36)
  6 Zilinskas, Rach  SO Georgia-GA       16:08.58   15:55.22 D1-A    13  
    r:+0.81  27.20        56.22 (29.02)
        1:25.19 (28.97)     1:54.23 (29.04)
        2:23.30 (29.07)     2:52.39 (29.09)
        3:21.49 (29.10)     3:50.42 (28.93)
        4:19.44 (29.02)     4:48.26 (28.82)
        5:17.26 (29.00)     5:46.31 (29.05)
        6:15.35 (29.04)     6:44.34 (28.99)
        7:13.36 (29.02)     7:42.21 (28.85)
        8:11.22 (29.01)     8:40.17 (28.95)
        9:09.10 (28.93)     9:37.84 (28.74)
       10:06.68 (28.84)    10:35.30 (28.62)
       11:03.96 (28.66)    11:32.76 (28.80)
       12:01.51 (28.75)    12:30.65 (29.14)
       12:59.73 (29.08)    13:28.99 (29.26)
       13:58.22 (29.23)    14:27.58 (29.36)
       14:57.03 (29.45)    15:26.47 (29.44)    15:55.22 (28.75)
  7 Harrison, Sammy  JR Oregon State-OR  15:54.61   15:56.01 D1-A    12  
    r:+0.76  26.33        54.90 (28.57)
        1:23.86 (28.96)     1:53.01 (29.15)
        2:21.92 (28.91)     2:50.87 (28.95)
        3:19.93 (29.06)     3:49.10 (29.17)
        4:18.14 (29.04)     4:47.26 (29.12)
        5:16.31 (29.05)     5:45.48 (29.17)
        6:14.74 (29.26)     6:43.81 (29.07)
        7:12.94 (29.13)     7:41.93 (28.99)
        8:11.14 (29.21)     8:40.48 (29.34)
        9:09.49 (29.01)     9:38.80 (29.31)
       10:07.79 (28.99)    10:36.60 (28.81)
       11:05.59 (28.99)    11:34.44 (28.85)
       12:03.58 (29.14)    12:32.41 (28.83)
       13:01.54 (29.13)    13:30.90 (29.36)
       14:00.32 (29.42)    14:29.75 (29.43)
       14:59.13 (29.38)    15:28.09 (28.96)    15:56.01 (27.92)
  8 Brandon, Bonnie  JR Arizona-AZ       15:48.35   15:56.60 D1-B    11  
    r:+0.79  25.76        54.21 (28.45)
        1:22.97 (28.76)     1:51.70 (28.73)
        2:20.67 (28.97)     2:49.64 (28.97)
        3:18.73 (29.09)     3:47.62 (28.89)
        4:16.70 (29.08)     4:45.75 (29.05)
        5:14.80 (29.05)     5:43.82 (29.02)
        6:12.92 (29.10)     6:42.25 (29.33)
        7:11.57 (29.32)     7:40.96 (29.39)
        8:10.27 (29.31)     8:39.76 (29.49)
        9:08.93 (29.17)     9:38.18 (29.25)
       10:07.26 (29.08)    10:36.24 (28.98)
       11:05.35 (29.11)    11:34.41 (29.06)
       12:03.63 (29.22)    12:32.71 (29.08)
       13:01.82 (29.11)    13:31.23 (29.41)
       14:00.63 (29.40)    14:29.66 (29.03)
       14:58.95 (29.29)    15:28.17 (29.22)    15:56.60 (28.43)
  1. California                      400.5   2. Georgia                         335.5
  3. Stanford                          264   4. Virginia                          188
  5. Texas A&M                       168.5   6. Louisville                        151
  7. Southern California               128   8. Texas                             120
  9. Tennessee                         110  10. Arizona                            93
 11. Missouri                           90  12. Indiana                            82
 12. Florida                            82  14. Minnesota                          66
 15. Wisconsin                          62  16. NC State                           51
 17. Penn State                         50  18. UNC                              45.5
 19. Kentucky                           44  20. Notre Dame                         40
 21. Florida Gulf Coast               37.5  22. Auburn                             34
 23. Florida State                      30  24. University of Miami (Florida)      26
 24. UCLA                               26  26. So. Methodist                    25.5
 27. Purdue                             24  27. Miami University (Ohio)            24
 29. Michigan                           20  30. Denver                             17
 30. Alabama                            17  32. Nevada                             16
 33. Virginia Tech                      13  34. Oregon State                       12
 34. Illinois State University          12  36. Iowa                               10
 37. Lsu                                 8  38. Ohio State                          5
 39. San Diego State                     4  39. Kansas                              4
 39. Hawaii (W)                          4  42. Arkansas                            2
 42. Pittsburgh                          2  44. Cincinnati                          1

2015 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming & Diving, Live Results – Results

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