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By David Rieder
They did what they needed to do in the morning. The Georgia Bulldogs came through in the meet’s final preliminary session, securing five spots in championship finals this evening to go along with Brittany MacLean’s swim in the top heat of the mile. Kylie Stewart and Annie Zhu earned surprise top-eight finishes while Olivia Smoliga, Hali Flickinger and Megan Kingsley all came through.
Then the platform diving prelims happened, and Stanford’s Gracia Leydon-Mahoney and Lilly Hinrichs placed second and third. All the sudden, what looked like a comfortable margin had been cut considerably. If all seeds were to hold tonight, Georgia would defeat Stanford by a mere ten points, 406 to 396.
The Cardinal will have their moments as well, with Lia Neal in contention for the 100 free title, Sarah Haase a top contender in the 200 breast and Ella Eastin seeded second in the 200 fly. But by the end of the night, the disqualification of their 200 free relay team that had apparently won the race will really sting since, if the Bulldogs pull off the victory, the margin will be less than the 40 points Stanford lost with that DQ.
Cal looks like a pretty solid bet for third after the preliminary session. They went four up/three down, but they needed and were depending on even more. They needed to get more than just Amy Bilquist in the 200 back A-final – both Kathleen Baker and Elizabeth Pelton ended up in the consolation heat.
Texas A&M had a huge morning that should keep them ahead of Virginia for fourth. The Aggies put five in the evening’s championship finals, including both Bethany Galat and Esther Gonzalez in the 200 breast. Meanwhile, Southern California could give UVA a run as well – the Trojans had a much better morning than on Friday, claiming the top seed in the 400 free relay.
Aside from A&M and Georgia, the team that has been most impressive this weekend has without a doubt been Indiana. The Hoosiers went three up/two down in prelims, with Kennedy Goss (200 back) joining the breaststroke duo of Lilly King and Miranda Tucker in the big heats. If all seeds hold, Indiana will finish just one point ahead of Louisville for a surprise seventh-place finish.
