2022 NCAA Women’s Championships: Alex Walsh Takes Top Seed in 200 IM With Dominant Breaststroke Split

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

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The 2022 NCAA Women’s Division I Swimming and Diving Championships continued with the 200 IM prelims from McAuley Aquatic Center at Georgia Tech.

Virginia’s Alex Walsh , the defending NCAA champion, put together a stellar breaststroke leg of the 200 IM to take the top seed in 1:53.00. Her breaststroke split of 32.32 was by far the fastest in the field and completely changed the race.

In the final heat, Walsh trailed Cal’s Isabel Ivey heading into the breaststroke, but then completely took charge during the breaststroke to open up a body lead.

Walsh finished in 1:53.00 and Ivey was second in the heat (1:54.49).

Stanford freshman Torri Huske took an early lead in Heat 9 and was able to hang on to finish in 1:54.05, ahead of Texas’ Kelly Pash, who touched the wall just behind in 1:54.18.

Walsh took the top seed overall, a second ahead of the field, followed by Huske and Pash.

Louisville junior Abby Hay took the fourth seed in 1:54.33, ahead of Virginia junior Ella Nelson (1:54.48), Ivey, Georgia senior Zoie Hartman (1:54.50) and Duke sophomore Sally Foley, who took the eighth seed in 1:54.57, rounding out the NCAA finalists.

• Day 2 prelims heat sheets

• Live Results

Event 4  Women 200 Yard IM
==================================================================
         NCAA: N 1:50.67  3/15/2018 Ella Eastin, Stanford
         Meet: M 1:50.67  3/15/2018 Ella Eastin, Stanford
     American: A 1:50.67  3/15/2018 Ella Eastin, Stanford
      US Open: O 1:50.67  3/15/2018 Ella Eastin, Stanford
         Pool: P 1:51.65  3/17/2016 Ella Eastin, Stanford
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Walsh, Alex            SO Virginia                     1:53.00  
    r:+0.76  24.67        52.49 (27.82)
        1:24.81 (32.32)     1:53.00 (28.19)
  2 Huske, Torri           FR Stanford                     1:54.05  
    r:+0.60  24.00        52.17 (28.17)
        1:25.44 (33.27)     1:54.05 (28.61)
  3 Pash, Kelly            JR Texas                        1:54.18  
    r:+0.68  24.30        53.07 (28.77)
        1:26.19 (33.12)     1:54.18 (27.99)
  4 Hay, Abby              JR Louisville                   1:54.33  
    r:+0.70  24.17        52.08 (27.91)
        1:26.06 (33.98)     1:54.33 (28.27)
  5 Nelson, Ella           JR Virginia                     1:54.48  
    r:+0.66  25.48        54.29 (28.81)
        1:27.23 (32.94)     1:54.48 (27.25)
  6 Ivey, Isabel           SR California                   1:54.49  
    r:+0.72  24.29        52.50 (28.21)
        1:27.13 (34.63)     1:54.49 (27.36)
  7 Hartman, Zoie          JR Georgia                      1:54.50  
    r:+0.74  25.51        53.74 (28.23)
        1:26.69 (32.95)     1:54.50 (27.81)
  8 Foley, Sally           SO Duke                         1:54.57  
    r:+0.64  25.28        54.66 (29.38)
        1:27.15 (32.49)     1:54.57 (27.42)
 -----------------------------------------------------------------
  9 Polonsky, Leah         FR California                   1:54.77  
    r:+0.66  25.16        54.14 (28.98)
        1:26.71 (32.57)     1:54.77 (28.06)
 10 Bacon, Phoebe          SO Wisconsin                    1:55.04  
    r:+0.65  24.70        52.69 (27.99)
        1:27.06 (34.37)     1:55.04 (27.98)
 11 Poole, Lauren          JR Kentucky                     1:55.42  
    r:+0.68  25.32        54.36 (29.04)
        1:27.34 (32.98)     1:55.42 (28.08)
 11 Looze, Mackenzie       SR Indiana                      1:55.42  
    r:+0.67  25.21        54.79 (29.58)
        1:27.32 (32.53)     1:55.42 (28.10)
 13 Romano, Kristen        5Y Ohio St                      1:55.47  
    r:+0.72  25.33        54.21 (28.88)
        1:27.88 (33.67)     1:55.47 (27.59)
 14 Bonnett, Bailey        5Y Kentucky                     1:55.49  
    r:+0.64  25.11        54.04 (28.93)
        1:27.01 (32.97)     1:55.49 (28.48)
 15 Walshe, Ellen          FR Tennessee                    1:55.63  
    r:+0.67  25.15        54.81 (29.66)
        1:28.90 (34.09)     1:55.63 (26.73)
 16 Harter, Abby           SO Virginia                     1:55.90  
    r:+0.73  24.63        54.12 (29.49)
        1:27.92 (33.80)     1:55.90 (27.98)

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