NCAA Division I Women’s Champs: Auburn’s Ava Ohlgren Narrowly Misses NCAA Record in 200 IM

COLUMBUS, Ohio, March 20. AVA Ohlgren, representing the Auburn Tigers, came within a whisker of claiming the NCAA record in the 200 IM at the NCAA Division I Championships.

Ohlgren did, however, become the third-fastest swimmer in the event all time when she dropped a 1:53.94 on the audience at the meet. That performance stands behind only Katie Hoff's American record of 1:53.77 set last year and Maggie Bowen's NCAA standard of 1:53.91 set in 2002.

Coming into the day, Ohlgren had been sixth all time with a 1:54.97. She jumped Kirsty Coventry (1:54.37), Whitney Myers (1:54.88) and Natalie Coughlin (1:54.95) on the all time list.

Additionally, her effort tied Auburn for the most 200 IM titles in NCAA history as Florida, Stanford and Auburn each now have five titles.

Joining her in the top three were the Kukors siblings. The younger Ariana, a freshman representing Washington in her first NCAA championship meet, grabbed the fingernail triumph over older sister Emily of Auburn. Ariana hit the pad in 1:55.26, while Emily took third in 1:55.28.

While Emily did not move up the all-time ladder, as she'd previously set her lifetime best with a 1:55.14 at SECs this year, Ariana moved into eighth all-time right behind Emily as she improved her 1:55.48 from the Long Beach Grand Prix in February.

In the team title hunt, Auburn took a large lead with 86 points, while Arizona stood second with 62 points. Texas A&M (56), California (46) and Florida (41) completed the top five.

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