2017 NCAA D1 Women’s Swim & Dive Championships: Stanford Rolls Through Friday Prelims

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Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

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The stroke events were in full force this morning at the IUPUI Natatorium from Indianapolis, Indiana at the 2017 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships. Stanford dominated the ups and downs with the most swimmers coming back tonight. California also had a strong morning to solidify their second place spot for now. The big surprise of the day was Missouri, who placed four swimmers into their respective championship finals, with their 200 medley relay in the B-final. Here is how the morning went down.

 

 

400 IM

American Record: 3:57.68 – Katie Ledecky, Stanford (2017)

U.S. Open Record: 3:56.54 – Katinka Hosszu, USC (2012)

NCAA Record: 3:56.54 – Katinka Hosszu, USC (2012)

Meet Record: 3:56.54 – Katinka Hosszu, USC (2012)

After a disappointing second place finish in the 200 IM on night two, Stanford’s Ella Eastin has set herself up to defend her 400 IM title. Eastin touched with a 4:03.47 to lead the seeds for tonight’s ‘A’ final.

Texas A&M’s Sydney Pickrem delivered a strong performance in prelims, picking up the second place seed with a 4:03.63. Texas’ Madisyn Cox is the third seed after finishing in that position in the 200 last night. She had a 4:04.03 this morning. Texas A&M’s Bethany Galat (4:04.65), Denver’s Bailey Andison (4:04.84), Ohio State’s Lindsey Clary (4:05.58), Virginia Tech’s Reka Gyrogy (4:05.87) and Mizzou’s Sharli Brady (4:06.00) will also swim in the A-final.

Eastin will be looking to be Stanford’s 10th overall champion in the 400 IM, as well as the first to defend the 400 IM title since Katinka Hosszu repeated in 2012. No other school has more than seven titles. Texas last won the event in 1986 with Patty Sabo and A&M last won in 2015 with Sarah Henry. If any of the other girls win it, then it will be the first time any of those schools have won the event at the NCAA’s.

=================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Ella Eastin      SO Stanford          4:00.36    4:03.47     q  
    r:+0.74  26.28        55.74 (29.46)
        1:25.91 (30.17)     1:55.81 (29.90)
        2:30.56 (34.75)     3:05.49 (34.93)
        3:34.90 (29.41)     4:03.47 (28.57)
  2 Sydney Pickrem   SO Texas A&M         4:02.25    4:03.63     q  
    r:+0.68  26.44        56.29 (29.85)
        1:27.03 (30.74)     1:57.48 (30.45)
        2:31.50 (34.02)     3:06.01 (34.51)
        3:35.58 (29.57)     4:03.63 (28.05)
  3 Madisyn Cox      SR Texas             4:01.15    4:04.03     q  
    r:+0.75  25.84        55.25 (29.41)
        1:26.50 (31.25)     1:57.51 (31.01)
        2:31.63 (34.12)     3:06.48 (34.85)
        3:35.88 (29.40)     4:04.03 (28.15)
  4 Bethany Galat    JR Texas A&M         4:03.88    4:04.65     q  
    r:+0.64  26.06        56.20 (30.14)
        1:26.78 (30.58)     1:57.33 (30.55)
        2:31.78 (34.45)     3:07.01 (35.23)
        3:36.33 (29.32)     4:04.65 (28.32)
  5 Bailey Andison   SO Denver            4:07.40    4:04.84     q  
    r:+0.67  26.71        56.72 (30.01)
        1:28.03 (31.31)     1:58.12 (30.09)
        2:32.85 (34.73)     3:07.92 (35.07)
        3:36.99 (29.07)     4:04.84 (27.85)
  6 Lindsey Clary    SR Ohio St           4:04.09    4:05.58     q  
    r:+0.68  26.98        57.08 (30.10)
        1:28.46 (31.38)     1:58.87 (30.41)
        2:33.50 (34.63)     3:08.53 (35.03)
        3:37.38 (28.85)     4:05.58 (28.20)
  7 Reka Gyorgy      FR Virginia Tech     4:04.97    4:05.87     q  
    r:+0.70  26.03        55.99 (29.96)
        1:26.55 (30.56)     1:56.41 (29.86)
        2:32.11 (35.70)     3:08.54 (36.43)
        3:37.70 (29.16)     4:05.87 (28.17)
  8 Sharli Brady     JR Missouri          4:05.63    4:06.00     q  
    r:+0.75  26.43        55.92 (29.49)
        1:27.75 (31.83)     1:59.36 (31.61)
        2:34.46 (35.10)     3:09.43 (34.97)
        3:38.05 (28.62)     4:06.00 (27.95)

100 Fly

American Record: 49.43 – Kelsi Worrell, Louisville (2016)

U.S. Open Record: 49.43 – Kelsi Worrell, Louisville (2016)

NCAA Record: 49.43 – Kelsi Worrell, Louisville (2016)

Meet Record: 49.43 – Kelsi Worrell, Louisville (2016)

Noemie Thomas of Cal led a tight field of flyers through prelims of the women’s 100 fly. Thomas, a junior, qualified first out of the final heat with a 50.71.

USC freshman Louise Hansson turned in a close 50.74 for the second place seed, followed by a tie for third between UNC’s Hellen Moffitt and Cal’s Farida Osman. The two stopped the clock at matching times of 50.77 from heats seven and five respectively.

A second tie resulted for matching fifth place times as Stanford’s Janet Hu and Texas A&M’s Sarah Gibson delivered matching times of 51.09.

Indiana’s Gia Dalesandro and Ohio State’s Liz Li picked up the seventh and eighth place seeds with times of 51.27 and 51.45.

Four of the top eight swimmers of all time (Hu [4th], Hansson [5th], Osman [6th] and Thomas [8th]) are all in tonight’s A-final, making this final truly wide open.

Cal and Stanford each have 10 wins in the 100 fly in NCAA history. Stanford last won through Felicia Lee in 2014 and Cal last won through Sara Isakovic in 2012. Southern Cal, North Carolina, Texas A&M, Indiana and Ohio State have never won the 100 fly at the NCAA Championships.

==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Noemie Thomas    JR California          50.44      50.71P q179  
    r:+0.58  23.67        50.71 (27.04)
  2 Louise Hansson   FR Southern Cali       50.39      50.74P q179  
    r:+0.72  23.46        50.74 (27.28)
  3 Hellen Moffitt   SR UNC                 50.86      50.77P q179  
    r:+0.74  23.79        50.77 (26.98)
  3 Farida Osman     SR California          50.40      50.77P q179  
    r:+0.65  23.64        50.77 (27.13)
  5 Sarah Gibson     SR Texas A&M           50.71      51.09P q176  
    r:+0.71  24.09        51.09 (27.00)
  5 Janet Hu         JR Stanford            50.38      51.09P q176  
    r:+0.59  23.70        51.09 (27.39)
  7 Gia Dalesandro   SR Indiana             50.45      51.27P q175  
    r:+0.58  24.18        51.27 (27.09)
  8 Liz Li           JR Ohio St             50.90      51.45P q173  
    r:+0.68  24.52        51.45 (26.93)

200 Free

 

American Record: 1:39.10 – Missy Franklin, Cal (2015)

U.S. Open Record: 1:39.10 – Missy Franklin, Cal (2015)

NCAA Record: 1:39.10 – Missy Franklin, Cal (2015)

Meet Record: 1:39.10 – Missy Franklin, Cal (2015)

After winning the 50 free one night earlier, Stanford’s Simone Manuel earned the fastest seed for the final of the 200 free with her prelims time of 1:41.81. Manuel, who ranks No. 2 all-time in the event, will be tasked with holding off teammate Katie Ledecky in the final.

After a dominant victory in the 500 free, Ledecky comes down in distance to meet Manuel in the 200, and she qualified second in 1:42.08. Virginia’s Leah Smith was fourth in 1:42.86, just ahead of Louisville’s Mallory Comerford (1:42.90). Comerford had the fastest split on the 800 free relay earlier in the meet with her time of 1:40.21.

Michigan’s Siobhan Haughey finished fifth in 1:43.03, and Cincinnati’s Jackie Keire took sixth in 1:43.27. Michigan’s Gabby Deloof finished seventh in 1:43.50.

Texas A&M’s Claire Rasmus grabbed the final spot in the championship final with her time of 1:43.73, just locking out Cal’s Katie McLaughlin (1:43.75) and Georgia’s Meghan Raab (1:43.78). Stanford’s Lia Neal, the third-place finisher in the event last season, ended up 11th in 1:44.17.

Stanford has not won a 200 free NCAA title since 1984 through Marybeth Linzmeier. None of the other schools represented in the championship final have won the 200 free title at NCAA’s.

==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Simone Manuel    SO Stanford          1:40.37    1:41.81P q181  
    r:+0.72  23.55        49.44 (25.89)
        1:15.68 (26.24)     1:41.81 (26.13)
  2 Katie Ledecky    FR Stanford          1:40.50    1:42.02  q180  
    r:+0.69  24.11        49.71 (25.60)
        1:15.97 (26.26)     1:42.02 (26.05)
  3 Leah Smith       SR Virginia          1:43.29    1:42.86  q175  
    r:+0.73  24.03        49.86 (25.83)
        1:16.33 (26.47)     1:42.86 (26.53)
  4 Mallory Comerfo  SO Louisville        1:41.70    1:42.99  q175  
    r:+0.67  24.38        50.59 (26.21)
        1:16.86 (26.27)     1:42.99 (26.13)
  5 Siobhan Bernade  SO Michigan          1:42.49    1:43.03  q175  
    r:+0.68  23.56        49.72 (26.16)
        1:16.16 (26.44)     1:43.03 (26.87)
  6 Jackie Keire     SR Cincinnati        1:43.19    1:43.27  q173  
    r:+0.70  24.38        50.57 (26.19)
        1:17.03 (26.46)     1:43.27 (26.24)
  7 Gabby Deloof     JR Michigan          1:44.22    1:43.50  q172  
    r:+0.66  24.86        51.00 (26.14)
        1:16.97 (25.97)     1:43.50 (26.53)
  8 Claire Rasmus    SO Texas A&M         1:44.51    1:43.73  q171  
    r:+0.68  24.69        51.49 (26.80)
        1:17.88 (26.39)     1:43.73 (25.85)

100 Breast

American Record: 56.30 – Lilly King, Indiana (2017)

U.S. Open Record: 56.30 – Lilly King, Indiana (2017)

NCAA Record: 56.30 – Lilly King, Indiana (2017)

Meet Record: 56.85 – Lilly King, Indiana (2016)

Lilly King swam a conservative 100 breast to take the top seed at 57.38, a little over a second from her American Record set last month at the Big Ten Championships. King also split a 56.1 last night on the 400 medley relay tonight, so the record will be on call tonight.

A plethora of 58s followed behind King with Minnesota freshman Lindsey Horejsi, Florida State’s Natalie Pierce, NC State’s Kayla Brumbaum, Virginia’s Laura Simon and Louisville’s Andrea Cottrell all posting 58s this morning. Mizzou’s Katharine Ross and Iowa’s Emma Sougstad rounded out the top 8 with 59 lows.

None of the teams currently in the top 5 have a swimmer in the finals tonight as Texas A&M is the only team in the top 5 with a swimmer at all with Jorie Caneta in 11th. Louisville is currently sitting sixth in the team standings so look for the top ten to shuffle a bit after the 100 breast tonight.

King will be looking to defend her title and be the first to defend the 100 breast NCAA title since Breeja Larson won three in a row from 2012-2014. Minnesota last won in 2011 through Jillian Tyler. None of the other schools in the championship final have won the 100 breast at NCAA’s.

 1 Lilly King       SO Indiana             56.30      57.38  q193  
    r:+0.64  26.45        57.38 (30.93)
  2 Lindsey Horejsi  FR Minnesota           58.90      58.23  q186  
    r:+0.69  27.05        58.23 (31.18)
  3 Natalie Pierce   JR Florida St          58.37      58.38  q185  
    r:+0.68  27.11        58.38 (31.27)
  4 Kayla Brumbaum   SR NC STATE            58.85      58.54  q184  
    r:+0.67  27.68        58.54 (30.86)
  5 Laura Simon      SR Virginia            58.41      58.58  q183  
    r:+0.68  27.60        58.58 (30.98)
  6 Andrea Cottrell  SR Louisville          58.61      58.65  q183  
    r:+0.65  28.35        58.65 (30.30)
  7 Katharine Ross   SR Missouri            59.54      59.00  q180  
    r:+0.69  27.81        59.00 (31.19)
  8 Emma Sougstad    SR Iowa                59.31      59.06  q179  
    r:+0.68  28.10        59.06 (30.96)

100 Back

American Record: 49.69 – Ally Howe, Stanford (2017)

U.S. Open Record: 49.69 – Ally Howe, Stanford (2017)

NCAA Record: 49.69 – Ally Howe, Stanford (2017)

Meet Record: 49.97 – Natalie Coughlin, Cal (2002)

Olivia Smoliga moved up to a tie for seventh all-time with a 50.31 to take the top seed in the 100 back. Smoliga won the B-final last year with the second fastest overall time in the event but could not place higher than 9th. She will have a chance to win her first 100 back title and be the first Georgia winner in the event since Courtney Shealy in 2000.

Smoliga is not the heavy favorite, though, as she has six other 50-point swims in the A-final to contend with. She will be joined by the only two women to swim 49s this year in Kathleen Baker (3rd) and Ally Howe (5th). One of the (not so) big surprises though is the Mizzou Tigers who put Hannah Stevens (2nd) and Nadine Laemmler (7th) in the A-final. It should be no surprise however after Laemmler’s 50.54 leadoff last night. Stanford’s Janet Hu (4th), North Carolina’s Hellen Moffitt (6th) and Texas’ Claire Adams (8th) are also in the A-final.

It should be a very tight race going into the championship final tonight as the winner of three of the last four years, Cal’s Rachel Bootsma, has moved on from swimming, so the race is wide open tonight. Cal has the most titles in the event with 12, Stanford has 6, Texas has 5, North Carolina has 3 and Georgia has 1. Missouri has never won an NCAA title in the 100 back.

  
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Olivia Smoliga   SR Georgia             50.60      50.31  q192  
    r:+0.62  24.14        50.31 (26.17)
  2 Hannah Stevens   JR Missouri            50.82      50.61  q189  
    r:+0.62  24.69        50.61 (25.92)
  3 Kathleen Baker   SO California          50.27      50.63  q189  
    r:+0.63  24.37        50.63 (26.26)
  4 Janet Hu         JR Stanford            50.29      50.75  q188  
    r:+0.54  24.78        50.75 (25.97)
  5 Ally Howe        JR Stanford            49.69      50.80  q188  
    r:+0.65  24.76        50.80 (26.04)
  6 Hellen Moffitt   SR UNC                 51.42      50.94  q186  
    r:+0.92  24.89        50.94 (26.05)
  7 Nadine Laemmler  SR Missouri            51.96      50.96  q186  
    r:+0.53  24.68        50.96 (26.28)
  8 Claire Adams     FR Texas               51.19      51.10  q185  
    r:+0.63  25.10        51.10 (26.00)

200 Medley Relay

American Record: 1:34.15 – Stanford (2015)

U.S. Open Record: 1:34.15 – Stanford (2015)

NCAA Record: 1:34.15 – Stanford (2015)

Meet Record: 1:34.24 – Cal (2012)

In the splash-and-dash 200 medley relay, Texas A&M ended up taking the top seed with a 1:35.59 ahead of NC State (1:35.77) and California (1:35.90). There was a bit of uneasiness after the heats concluded for the review of the exchanges, giving the swimmers a bit of deja vu from last night’s 400 medley, when Cal originally touched first but was disqualified, giving Stanford the win. But in the end, it was UCLA that was disqualified for a relay exchange violation, giving the rest of the teams a big sigh of relief going into tonight.

Beryl Gastaldello (25.07), Jorie Caneta (25.54), Sarah Gibson (22.97) and Kristin Malone (22.01) will have lane four tonight in the relay. NC State was second thanks to a swift anchor from freshman Ky-lee Perry (21.32). Elise Haan (25.17), Kayla Brumbaum (26.06) and Natalie Labonge (23.22) swam for the Wolfpack. Cal swam with Amy Bilquist (23.95), Abbey Weitzeil (27.58), Noemie Thomas (22.56) and Valerie Hull (21.84). Cal will most likely switch out Hull with Farida Osman, who split 20.9 last night, and possibly switch Bilquist for Kathleen Baker, but I’m not going to question Teri McKeever’s decision making.

Texas A&M, NC State, California, Arizona (1:36.02), Indiana (1:36.06), Missouri (1:36.17), Southern Cal (1:36.18) and Stanford (1:36.24) will swim in the championship final, with the whole field separated by less than a second.

The fastest backstroke split among the top eight was Cal’s Bilquist at 23.95, just ahead of Missouri’s Nadine Laemmler at 23.96. Lilly King split a modest 26.31 for her standards. The Omega results say that Jorie Caneta and Kayla Brumbaum were faster, but that may have been due to a soft touch on their backstrokers on the exchange. They both registered negative reaction times with no disqualification, so signs point to soft touches. Thomas of Cal and Louise Hansson of USC both split 22s along with Stanford’s Janet Hu. Arizona’s Katrina Konopka had the fastest anchor split with a 21.30.

The Pac-12 has won eight of the last ten titles in the 200 medley relay and they will have four teams vying for the title tonight. The SEC has not won the relay since 2013 when Tennessee did it and the ACC has never won the relay at the NCAA Championships.

 1 TAMU                          1:35.33    1:35.59  q573  
     1) Beryl Gastaldello JR          2) r:-0.86 Jorie Caneta JR      
     3) r:0.22 Sarah Gibson SR        4) r:0.19 Kristin Malone JR     
    r:+0.57  12.01        25.07 (25.07)
          35.93 (10.86)       50.61 (25.54)
        1:00.96 (10.35)     1:13.58 (22.97)
        1:24.07 (10.49)     1:35.59 (22.01)
  2 NC STATE                      1:34.89    1:35.77  q570  
     1) Elise Haan SO                 2) r:-0.70 Kayla Brumbaum SR    
     3) r:0.23 Natalie Labonge SR     4) r:0.18 Ky-lee Perry FR       
    r:+0.58  12.03        25.17 (25.17)
          36.57 (11.40)       51.23 (26.06)
        1:01.74 (10.51)     1:14.45 (23.22)
        1:24.59 (10.14)     1:35.77 (21.32)
  3 California                    1:34.42    1:35.93  q567  
     1) Amy Bilquist SO               2) r:0.07 Abbey Weitzeil FR     
     3) r:0.20 Noemie Thomas JR       4) r:0.35 Valerie Hull JR       
    r:+0.60  11.97        23.95 (23.95)
          36.20 (12.25)       51.53 (27.58)
        1:01.71 (10.18)     1:14.09 (22.56)
        1:24.51 (10.42)     1:35.93 (21.84)
  4 Arizona                       1:34.63    1:36.02  q567  
     1) Taylor Garcia SO              2) r:0.07 Kennedy Lohman FR     
     3) r:0.26 Annie Ochitwa SO       4) r:0.15 Katrina Konopka SO    
    r:+0.60  12.18        24.32 (24.32)
          36.55 (12.23)       51.60 (27.28)
        1:01.95 (10.35)     1:14.72 (23.12)
        1:24.82 (10.10)     1:36.02 (21.30)
  5 Indiana                       1:35.74    1:36.06  q567  
     1) Ally Rockett JR               2) r:0.27 Lilly King SO         
     3) r:0.15 Gia Dalesandro SR      4) r:0.10 Holly Spears JR       
    r:+0.60  12.02        24.12 (24.12)
          35.95 (11.83)       50.43 (26.31)
        1:01.04 (10.61)     1:13.67 (23.24)
        1:24.29 (10.62)     1:36.06 (22.39)
  6 Missouri                      1:36.98    1:36.17  q564  
     1) Nadine Laemmler SR            2) r:0.16 Katharine Ross SR     
     3) r:0.15 Maddie Gehrke SO       4) r:0.19 Hannah Stevens JR     
    r:+0.61  11.84        23.96 (23.96)
          36.18 (12.22)       51.03 (27.07)
        1:01.06 (10.03)     1:14.19 (23.16)
        1:24.64 (10.45)     1:36.17 (21.98)
  7 Southern Cali                 1:35.18    1:36.18  q564  
     1) Hanni Leach SO                2) r:0.13 Riley Scott SO        
     3) r:0.26 Louise Hansson FR      4) r:0.39 Anika Apostalon SR    
    r:+0.57  12.19        24.36 (24.36)
          36.58 (12.22)       51.88 (27.52)
        1:02.18 (10.30)     1:14.55 (22.67)
        1:24.86 (10.31)     1:36.18 (21.63)
  8 Stanford                      1:34.32    1:36.24  q564  
     1) Ally Howe JR                  2) r:0.26 Kim Williams SO       
     3) r:0.13 Janet Hu JR            4) r:0.27 Simone Manuel SO      
    r:+0.63  12.08        24.27 (24.27)
          37.38 (13.11)       51.78 (27.51)
        1:02.16 (10.38)     1:14.71 (22.93)
        1:25.10 (10.39)     1:36.24 (21.53)
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