SW Biweekly – Great Girls: A Full Recap of All the Highlights From the 2022 Women’s NCAA Championships – On Sale Now!

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ISSUE FEATURES

008 AFTER TRIALS, ILLNESS SETBACKS, LUCA URLANDO IS READY AND REALISTIC FOR 2022
by Matthew De George
Luca Urlando is beyond his years in practicing how to handle adversity—a disappointing summer of 2021 and more than two weeks out of the water in the fall with the flu and an emergency appendectomy. So, the soon-to-be-20-year-old is being realistic when it comes to setting his 2022 goals at NCAAs and, hopefully, at this summer’s World Championships.

010 ANDREW SELISKAR ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT AFTER COMPETING IN TOKYO OLYMPICS
by David Rieder
Longtime U.S. national team standout Andrew Seliskar announced he is retiring from competitive swimming. During his illustrious career, he was named Swimming World’s Male High School Swimmer of the Year in 2015, and he was an impact performer for Cal from 2015 through 2019 before qualifying for the U.S. Olympic team in 2021.

012 WHEN JANET EVANS WENT A 4:03 OVER EIGHT LAPS TO LEGENDARY STATUS
by John Lohn
To mark International Women’s Day, Swimming World recalls the day Janet Evans clocked a stunning 4:03.85 in the 400 meter freestyle on a trajectory to the pantheon of greats.

014 GREAT GIRLS
On the following pages, Swimming World shares the many highlights of the NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships, March 16-19, at Georgia Tech in Atlanta—a meet that featured records in nine of the 21 events and a dominant performance by the University of Virginia to win its second straight national team title.

016 VIRGINIA CAVALIERS DOMINATE NCAA WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIPS
by David Rieder
The University of Virginia, coached by Todd DeSorbo, won the women’s NCAA Division I team title for the second year in a row. The Cavaliers won 11 of the 18 swimming events, including four of the five relays (two in American-record times). Kate Douglass and Alex Walsh led the way individually, with each winning three events (four American records).

018 KATE DOUGLASS BUILDS LEGACY AS ONE OF GREATEST COLLEGE SWIMMERS IN HISTORY
by Dan D’Addona
Virginia junior Kate Douglass not only displayed her talent, but her versatility, winning three individual races in three different strokes (50 free, 100 fly and 200 breast)—all in American-record times.

019 ALEX WALSH CLOBBERS AMERICAN, NCAA RECORDS IN 200 IM TITLE DEFENSE
by David Rieder
Last season, the University of Virginia’s Alex Walsh won the NCAA title in the 200 IM as a freshman. One year later and with an Olympic silver medal in the 200 meter IM already in her pocket, Walsh is now the fastest swimmer in history in the event.

020 VIRGINIA CAPS OFF DOMINANT MEET WITH AMERICAN RECORD IN 400 FREE RELAY
by David Rieder
Virginia capped off its NCAA-title-winning performance by breaking the American, NCAA and U.S. Open records in the 400 freestyle relay. Kate Douglass, Alex Walsh, Reilly Tiltmann and Gretchen Walsh clocked 3:06.91, edging Cal’s previous all-time best of 3:06.96 in 2019 and crushing Stanford’s American record of 3:07.61 from 2017.

022 KATHARINE BERKOFF PRODUCES FIRST-EVER 48-SECOND 100 BACK
by David Rieder
Swimming head-to-head against Stanford’s American record holder Regan Smith, NCAA 100 back defending champ Katharine Berkoff not only bettered the previous American record by nearly a half-second, but she also became the first female swimmer to break 49 seconds with her jaw-dropping time of 48.74.

023 KATE DOUGLASS SMASHES AMERICAN, NCAA RECORDS IN 200 BREASTSTROKE
by David Rieder
After earlier winning the 50 free and 100 fly—recording the fastest times in history in both events—Virginia’s Kate Douglass did it again in the 200 breast. Her 2:02.19 was 4-tenths faster than Indiana’s Lilly King’s American, NCAA and U.S. Open records from 2018.

024 VIRGINIA’S GRETCHEN WALSH CLAIMS FIRST NCAA TITLE IN 100 FREESTYLE
by Dan D’Addona
Heading into the meet, the 100 free looked to be a showdown between Michigan’s Maggie Mac Neil, the defending champion, plus upstart freshmen Torri Huske of Stanford and Gretchen Walsh of Virginia. However, with Mac Neil and Huske qualifying for the B-final, Walsh claimed her first NCAA individual title with a 46.05 performance, the fourth-best all time in the event.

026 REGAN SMITH EXPLODES LATE TO RUN DOWN FOES FOR 200 BACKSTROKE TITLE
by John Lohn
Regan Smith, whose commitment to Stanford was deferred a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent postponement of the Tokyo Olympics, finally won her first NCAA title—a win in the 200 back that came with flair and drama. Jumpstarting a grueling final-session double, Smith used phenomenal turns at the 150 and 175 to come from behind and win in 1:47.76 over defending champ Phoebe Bacon of Wisconsin.

027 PAIGE McKENNA OVERCOMES TWO TORN LABRUMS FOR BREAKTHROUGH 1650 FREE NATIONAL TITLE
by David Rieder
Wisconsin’s Paige McKenna swam a lifetime best in the 1650 by more than seven seconds to win the mile in 15:40.84 and become the 16th-fastest performer in history. Her breakthrough performance and emergence on the national level comes as she tries to overcome two torn labrums suffered when she was forced to deal with the closure of pools during the COVID-19 pandemic two years ago. McKenna is still deciding if she will have surgery to repair the tears.

028 TAYLOR RUCK SURGES TO SPECTACULAR 200 FREESTYLE VICTORY, CEMENTING ROAD BACK FROM EATING DISORDER
by Dan D’Addona
After struggling through the pandemic with an eating disorder and a disappointing couple of years in the water, Stanford’s Taylor Ruck is back, as she turned in a dominating performance to win the 200 freestyle, the junior’s first individual NCAA championship.

032 2022 SWIM CAMP DIRECTORY

036 LIA THOMAS DEBATE: THROUGH INACTION, NCAA OPERATED A CIRCUS AT CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION
by John Lohn
Despite Virginia’s dominance as team champion, the individual excellence of Kate Douglass and Alex Walsh, numerous American-record performances and the backstroke brilliance from Katharine Berkoff and Regan Smith, this year’s women’s NCAAs sadly was defined by controversy, specifically the inclusion of transgender woman Lia Thomas.

038 REKA GYORGY, BUMPED OUT OF B-FINAL IN 500 FREE, WRITES CRITICAL LETTER TO NCAA ON TRANSGENDER RULES
by David Rieder
Virginia Tech swimmer, Reka Gyorgy, finished 17th in the 500 freestyle and was one spot removed from making the consolation final in an event that transgender swimmer Lia Thomas won. Gyorgy wrote an open letter to the NCAA, saying she stands with Thomas, but blamed the NCAA for the way the institution handled the entire situation, including the rules. Swimming World shares Gyorgy’s letter in full.

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Coach

2 years ago

Are we really calling 18-22 year old women “Girls”?! I can’t wait for the article that calls this week’s NCAA champions boys!