NCAA Women’s Championships: Emma Sticklen Passes Alex Walsh in Final Stretch for 200 Butterfly Title

emma-sticklen-ncaa

The 2023 NCAA Division I Women’s Championships concluded its individual swimming events with the finals of the 200 butterfly.

After prelims, the field was loaded with interesting possibilities with defending champion Alex Walsh seeded in the middle of three stellar Texas swimmers – Emma Sticklen, Kelly Pash and Dakota Luther.

Walsh and Sticklen were out fast. At the 100 mark, Walsh started to pull ahead, as the Texas trio was forced to chase. Walsh steadily had a half body lead on Sticklen until the final turn when Sticklen made a late charge in the final 25 and passed Walsh in the final five yards to pull off the stunning title.

She is the fourth-fastest swimmer in the event, and fastest non-Stanford swimmer in history in the event.

Sticklen finished in 1:49.95, breaking the meet record. Walsh was next in 1:50.23, the fifth-fastest time in history and a half-second faster than her NCAA title time from last year.

“I never expected a time like that, let alone a meet record. That belongs to me now – that’s just crazy,” Sticklen said. “I knew I had to stick to my own race plan. That’s something I’ve been repeating to myself all day between prelims and finals: follow my race plan. It’s just relax on the first 100, and I am really confident in my finishes, really work on my underwaters on the last wall. That’s something I’m really confident in, and I just was like, ‘Push it as hard as a I can on the last wall, and charge the wall, and hope for the best.’

“The 200 fly is really hard. It is a hard race to finish. You know others will struggle at the end, and that is when you have to turn on the jets. I saw her a little bit ahead when I turned on the last wall, and then I couldn’t see anything. I was just like, ‘Go! Go! Go!’ and had some really positive self talk on the last 25.”

Sticklen has been one of the Longhorn leaders the past few years, leading the team to third, second and tonight, another second.

“I love my team so much. I really show that a lot. I just love being able to be myself around the other girls, and me being my 100% self makes them feel like they can be themselves. I love them all so much,” she said.

Pash finished third in 1:51.89 and Luther was fifth at 1:52.27, behind Arizona State senior Lindsay Looney (1:52.25).

“My teammates are what made it all possible. It is just such a big deal to be able to have both teammates at your side,” Sticklen said. “It made me feel comfortable, and that played a huge role.”

Stanford’s Charlotte Hook was sixth (1:53.17), Virginia’s Abby Harter was seventh (1:53.56) and Louisville’s Abby Hay was eighth (1:53.90).

PRELIMS

The Longhorns had the 1-2-4 seeds heading into finals.

Sticklen took the top seed in 1:51.71, just two tenths ahead of Luther (1:51.91).

Defending champion Walsh took the third seed in 1:52.05, ahead of Pash (1:52.73), who was fourth.

Arizona State senior Lindsay Looney took the fifth seed in 1:53.19, followed by Louisville senior Abby Hay (1:53.21), Virginia junior Abby Harter (1:53.28) and Stanford freshman Charlotte Hook (1:53.86).

Event 19  Women 200 Yard Butterfly
=========================================================================
         NCAA: N 1:49.51  2/24/2018 Ella Eastin, Stanford
         Meet: M 1:50.01  3/17/2018 Ella Eastin, Stanford
     American: A 1:49.51  2/24/2018 Ella Eastin, Stanford
      US Open: O 1:49.51  2/24/2018 Ella Eastin, Stanford
         Pool: P 1:51.51  2/18/2022 Riley Gaines, Kentucky
    Name                 Year School            Prelims     Finals Points 
=========================================================================
                       === Championship Final ===                        
 
  1 Sticklen, Emma         JR Texas             1:51.71    1:49.95M  20  
    r:+0.65  24.18        52.53 (28.35)
        1:21.16 (28.63)     1:49.95 (28.79)
  2 Walsh, Alex            JR Virginia          1:52.05    1:50.23P  17  
    r:+0.75  24.18        50.57 (26.39)
        1:19.83 (29.26)     1:50.23 (30.40)
  3 Pash, Kelly            SR Texas             1:52.73    1:51.89   16  
    r:+0.66  25.21        53.45 (28.24)
        1:22.09 (28.64)     1:51.89 (29.80)
  4 Looney, Lindsay        SR ASU               1:53.19    1:52.25   15  
    r:+0.67  25.25        53.50 (28.25)
        1:22.64 (29.14)     1:52.25 (29.61)
  5 Luther, Dakota         5Y Texas             1:51.91    1:52.27   14  
    r:+0.70  24.94        53.05 (28.11)
        1:22.07 (29.02)     1:52.27 (30.20)
  6 Hook, Charlotte        FR Stanford          1:53.86    1:53.17   13  
    r:+0.65  25.87        54.58 (28.71)
        1:23.68 (29.10)     1:53.17 (29.49)
  7 Harter, Abby           JR Virginia          1:53.28    1:53.56   12  
    r:+0.74  25.29        54.06 (28.77)
        1:23.37 (29.31)     1:53.56 (30.19)
  8 Hay, Abby              SR Louisville        1:53.21    1:53.90   11  
    r:+0.68  25.67        54.53 (28.86)
        1:24.09 (29.56)     1:53.90 (29.81)
 
                        === Consolation Final ===                        
 
  9 Nordmann, Lillie       SO Stanford          1:54.29    1:53.90    9  
    r:+0.68  25.63        54.41 (28.78)
        1:23.54 (29.13)     1:53.90 (30.36)
 10 Stotler, Sara          SO Tennessee         1:54.71    1:53.94    7  
    r:+0.69  25.39        53.98 (28.59)
        1:23.60 (29.62)     1:53.94 (30.34)
 11 Klinker, Rachel        SR California        1:54.16    1:54.03    6  
    r:+0.70  25.80        54.14 (28.34)
        1:23.44 (29.30)     1:54.03 (30.59)
 12 VanNote, Ellie         SR UNC               1:54.84    1:55.04    5  
    r:+0.71  25.52        54.30 (28.78)
        1:23.82 (29.52)     1:55.04 (31.22)
 13 Jernstedt, Edith       SO FSU               1:54.64    1:55.15    4  
    r:+0.72  25.66        54.92 (29.26)
        1:24.51 (29.59)     1:55.15 (30.64)
 14 Arens, Abby            JR NC State          1:54.45    1:55.80    3  
    r:+0.57  25.20        54.20 (29.00)
        1:24.41 (30.21)     1:55.80 (31.39)
 15 Guevara, Miriam        5Y Northwestern      1:55.18    1:56.14    2  
    r:+0.51  25.11        54.24 (29.13)
        1:24.54 (30.30)     1:56.14 (31.60)
 16 Dickinson, Callie      5Y Georgia           1:54.83    1:56.25    1  
    r:+0.63  25.40        54.46 (29.06)
        1:25.18 (30.72)     1:56.25 (31.07)
 
                Women - Team Rankings - Through Event 19                 
 
  1. Virginia                        501.5   2. Texas                           371.5
  3. Stanford                          299   4. Louisville                        245
  5. NC State                          233   6. Tennessee                         200
  7. Ohio St                           195   8. Indiana                           178
  9. Florida                           157  10. UNC                               137
 11. California                        127  12. Alabama                           111
 13. Wisconsin                         100  14. Southern California                99
 15. Lsu                                95  16. Georgia                          90.5
 17. Kentucky                           49  18. Duke                               42
 19. Minnesota                          37  20. Miami (Fl)                         36
 21. Arizona                            32  22. Michigan                           29
 23. Virginia Tech                      28  24. Texas A&M                          26
 25. South Carolina                     25  26. Arizona St                         19
 27. Northwestern                       15  28. Auburn                             14
 29. Arkansas                           12  30. Hawaii                           11.5
 31. Florida St                         11  32. Miami (Ohio)                        9
 33. Purdue                              7  33. Penn                                7
 35. UCLA                                6  36. Akron                               5
 37. Georgia Tech                        2  37. Utah                                2
 39. Florida Int'l                       1
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

1 Comment
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
T Hill
T Hill
1 year ago

Look where she’s come from time wise in this event since HS – kudo’s to her, staff and teammates who’ve pushed her. Don’t let female swimmers think they can’t get better when they head off to college. It’s a partnership with coach, teammates to find ways to get better. Not always easy but it can be done. Nice job Emma !!

1
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x