Top Races to Watch at Women’s NCAA Championships: Backstroke and Distance

Photo Courtesy: Griffin Scott

By David Rieder

DURHAM − Yeah, there will be a lot of really good races at the women’s NCAA Championships. Look at Simone Manuel and Molly Hannis, odds-on favorites in their respective events, the 50 free and 100 breast, but each with a not-exactly-comfortable cushion of six one-hundredths of a second over the second seed. But when picking out a the top races to watch in Greensboro, I get stuck in deciding between the backstroke and the distance races.

Let’s start with the 100 back, where a stacked field will chase of the longest-lasting records the sport has seen. On March 23, 2002, Natalie Coughlin set American records in both the 100 fly (50.01) and 100 back (49.97), each of which still stand. Kelsi Worrell, seeded at 50.17 in the 100 fly, will have a chance to knock off Coughlin, as will the top seed in the 100 back, Virginia’s Courtney Bartholomew.

Bartholomew clocked 50.01 in the 100 back at the Georgia Invite in December, the second-fastest performance of all-time in the event. Four one-hundredths seems like a tiny margin to make up, but sometimes, the best chances of breaking vaunted records are the ones already missed. Still, all eyes will be on Bartholomew in the 100 back final on Friday night.

All eyes will be on Bartholomew, and yet she might be the least-recognized name in a crazy-deep field. Rachel Bootsma made the U.S. Olympic team in the event in 2012, while her Cal teammate Elizabeth Pelton has swum the 100 back at each of the past three long course World Championships. Indiana’s Brooklyn Snodgrass won the 200 back title in 2014 and is the top returning finisher in the 100. There’s also Olivia Smoliga from Georgia, who is the defending champion in the 50 free and also the gold medalist in the 100 back from the short course World Championships in 2012.

And then there’s Olympic gold medalist Missy Franklin, who’s sitting this one out in order to concentrate on the 200 free. A potential race of the meet with the event’s Olympic champion on the sidelines? That’s some depth. But Franklin will add the 200 back to her program this time around, adding to the anticipation for an event that came down to three one-hundredths of a second a year ago.

Snodgrass won that race, holding off a strong charge from Pelton on the final 50, with Bartholomew just three tenths back of the top two. But the addition of Franklin raises the stakes. Pelton leads the nation this year with her impressive 1:49.00 from the Georgia Invite, and she also has the top lifetime best in the field. In fact, she has the top lifetime best ever, as she holds the American record in 1:47.84.

Franklin (1:49.23) and Bartholomew (1:49.87) also broke the 1:50-barrier in that race in Athens in December, while Snodgrass has the fourth-best time this year with a 1:50.60. SEC Champion Danielle Galyer and Michigan freshman Clara Smiddy could also be in the mix, but look at the top four: Pelton, American record holder, vs. Franklin, the Olympic champion in potentially her final individual NCAA swim, vs. Snodgrass, the defending champion, vs. Bartholomew, who could be going for a backstroke sweep. This should be fun.

So the backstroke events look pretty darn good this week; how can the distance events be that interesting? Especially when the 500 subtracts the likes of Franklin from a year ago? Well, enter Cal freshman Cierra Runge. You may have heard the name last summer when Runge grabbed second in both the 400 and 800 at U.S. Nationals, behind someone named Katie Ledecky. Runge arrived on campus in Berkeley in September ranked in the top ten in the world in the 400, 800, and 1500.

Having transformed herself into a distance swimmer within the last 18 months, Runge did not have spectacular 500 and mile times headed into college, but she quickly changed that at Pac-12s. Runge put up a 4:31.90 in the 500 free, placing her behind just Ledecky, Katie Hoff, and Dagny Knutson as the fourth-best swimmer ever in the event. The time would already have won last season’s NCAA title by a half second.

Runge also has the top seed in the mile headed into the meet, with a 15:40.17, but if she wants to win NCAA titles as a freshman, she will have to hold off the star of last year’s championships in Minnesota. Georgia sophomore Brittany MacLean blazed through the 500 and the 1650 a year ago, chasing down Franklin for the 500 title and dominating the 1650 to the tune of 15:27.84, a time which only Ledecky and Hoff have surpassed.

This year, good luck figuring out what kind of form MacLean will bring to NCAAs. Now a junior, MacLean is seeded fourth in the 500 and sixth in the mile. This year’s seed times suggest that Runge could win two NCAA titles here, while MacLean’s history reminds us to not count her out. And then there’s Virginia’s Leah Smith, the second seed in both events and spoiler-to-be.

Smith finished third last year in the mile and ninth in the 500, although her 4:33.75 in the 500 would have placed her third in the A-final. She enters with the second-best seed time in both the 500 and the 1650 this time around. Georgia’s Amber McDermott, Arizona’s Bonnie Brandon, and Florida’s Jessica Thielmann should all be in the mix, but it’s the Runge-MacLean-Smith triumvirate that should draw the attention in the 500 and mile.

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