2021 NCAA Division I Women’s Championships: White, Berkoff, Bacon, Stadden All in Striking Distance in 200 Back

Photo Courtesy: NCAA Media

The 2021 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships continued with the final preliminary session of the meet on Saturday.

Saturday’s prelim events are the 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly and platform diving. The relays are all timed finals and will take place during the finals session. The 1,650 will also be a timed final and heats will start in the afternoon leading into the final.

Virginia leads the meet after winning five events, while NC State has won four and is in second place.

NCAA Championships: Women’s 200 Backstroke

The NCAA record in the event is 1:47.24 held by Wisconsin’s Beata Nelson, who won the title in 2019. The fastest time in history is a non-NCAA time by Regan Smith (1:47.16). Three of the top six times are former Cal swimmers with Kathleen Baker third (1:47.30), Elizabeth Pelton fifth (1:47.84) and Missy Franklin sixth (1:47.91). Stanford’s Taylor Ruck is the other in the top five (1:47.59). Cal has won the event eight times, including four of the past seven with Baker winning twice and Franklin and Pelton each winning one. Natalie Coughlin won the event three years in a row from 2001-2004.

Alabama junior Rhyan White and NC State sophomore Katharine Berkoff had a great battle in the final prelims heat. White took the top seed in 1:50.18, while Berkoff was just behind in 1:50.32.

A pair of freshman dueled in the second-to-last prelims heat and will have prime seeds as well. Wisconsin freshman Phoebe Bacon took the third seed in 1:50.32, while Cal freshman Isabelle Stadden was fourth at 1:50.33.

That leaves just 15 hundredths of a second between the top four competitors and a single hundredth between seeds 2-3-4.

Virginia freshman Reilly Tiltman took the fifth seed (1:51.40), followed by NC State junior Emma Muzzy (1:51.45), Virginia Tech freshman Emma Atkinson (1:51.47) and Kentucky junior Sophie Sorenson (1:51.74).

NCAA Championships: Top 16

Event 16  Women 200 Yard Backstroke
==================================================================
         NCAA: N 1:47.24  3/23/2019 Beata Nelson, Wisconsin
         Meet: M 1:47.24  3/23/2019 Beata Nelson, Wisconsin
     American: A 1:47.16  3/10/2019 Regan Smith, Riptide
      US Open: O 1:47.16  3/10/2019 Regan Smith, Riptide
         Pool: P 1:47.91  3/21/2015 Missy Franklin, California
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 White, Rhyan           JR Alabama           1:48.55    1:50.18  
    r:+0.62  25.66        53.23 (27.57)
        1:21.35 (28.12)     1:50.18 (28.83)
  2 Berkoff, Katharine     SO NC State          1:50.20    1:50.31  
             25.84        53.42 (27.58)
        1:21.73 (28.31)     1:50.31 (28.58)
  3 Bacon, Phoebe          FR Wisconsin         1:50.90    1:50.32  
             25.84        53.78 (27.94)
        1:22.18 (28.40)     1:50.32 (28.14)
  4 Stadden, Isabelle      FR California        1:49.77    1:50.33  
    r:+0.66  25.77        53.88 (28.11)
        1:22.39 (28.51)     1:50.33 (27.94)
  5 Tiltmann, Reilly       FR Virginia          1:52.53    1:51.40  
    r:+0.72  27.17        55.51 (28.34)
        1:23.69 (28.18)     1:51.40 (27.71)
  6 Muzzy, Emma            JR NC State          1:50.12    1:51.45  
    r:+0.82  26.18        53.93 (27.75)
        1:22.92 (28.99)     1:51.45 (28.53)
  7 Atkinson, Emma         FR VT                1:51.64    1:51.47  
    r:+0.80  26.38        53.93 (27.55)
        1:22.66 (28.73)     1:51.47 (28.81)
  8 Sorenson, Sophie       JR Kentucky          1:50.94    1:51.74  
             26.25        54.40 (28.15)
        1:23.16 (28.76)     1:51.74 (28.58)
 -----------------------------------------------------------------
  9 Brooks, Caitlin        SO Kentucky          1:51.55    1:52.04  
    r:+0.54  25.97        53.87 (27.90)
        1:22.64 (28.77)     1:52.04 (29.40)
 10 Moore, Kate            SR NC State          1:51.95    1:52.12  
    r:+0.69  26.47        54.43 (27.96)
        1:23.05 (28.62)     1:52.12 (29.07)
 11 Venter, Mariella       SO Michigan          1:53.92    1:52.21  
    r:+0.74  26.87        55.37 (28.50)
        1:23.86 (28.49)     1:52.21 (28.35)
 12 Cook, Julia            JR Texas             1:52.40    1:52.91  
    r:+0.70  26.10        55.06 (28.96)
        1:23.82 (28.76)     1:52.91 (29.09)
 13 Sacha, Ioanna          SR Houston           1:53.54    1:53.16  
    r:+0.71  26.71        55.10 (28.39)
        1:23.86 (28.76)     1:53.16 (29.30)
 14 Stewart, Bayley        JR Notre Dame        1:53.46    1:53.35  
    r:+0.53  26.62        54.81 (28.19)
        1:23.88 (29.07)     1:53.35 (29.47)
 15 Lagrand, Susan         JR Oakland           1:53.91    1:53.48  
             27.34        55.79 (28.45)
        1:24.54 (28.75)     1:53.48 (28.94)
 16 Lindner, Sophie        JR UNC               1:52.85    1:53.67  
    r:+0.76  27.59        56.10 (28.51)
        1:24.39 (28.29)     1:53.67 (29.28)

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