Georgia’s Brittany MacLean Wins Close Battle for 200 Free

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

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Georgia’s Brittany MacLean held off a stacked field to win the women’s 200-yard free at the 2016 NCAA Division I Women’s Championships.

MacLean, who had to come back from the middle of the pack at the halfway mark, turned up the heat down the stretch to win in 1:42.42. That swim moved her up to 10th all time in the event’s history, and delivered Georgia an NCAA-record tying seventh victory in the event’s history.

Previous Georgia Winners:

2000 Maritza Correia, Georgia, 1:57.33 *
2006 Kara Lynn Joyce, Georgia, 1:43.96
2010 Allison Schmitt, Georgia, 1:42.84
2011 Allison Schmitt, Georgia, 1:42.08
2012 Megan Romano, Georgia, 1:41.21
2013 Allison Schmitt, Georgia, 1:41.85

MacLean returned to the top of the podium for the first time since winning the 500 and 1650 free her sophomore year.

Louisville’s Mallory Comerford nearly gave the Cardinals a second title in a row with a 1:42.54 for second. That’s just .12 back of MacLean. That’s not the record for the closest 200 free in NCAA meet history, however, as North Carolina’s Jessi Perruquet and Auburn’s Heather Kemp tied for the title with 1:45.01s in 2003.

Stanford’s Lia Neal claimed third in 1:42.58 with Georgia’s Hali Flickinger picking up fourth in 1:43.32.

Michigan’s Siobhan Haughey (1:43.35), Virginia’s Leah Smith (1:43.50), Indiana’s Haley Lips (1:43.72) and Indiana’s Kennedy Goss (1:44.75) turned in the rest of the championship final finishes.

                            === A - Final ===                            
 
  1 MacLean, Britta  SR Georgia           1:43.31    1:42.42P        20  
    r:+0.72  24.51        50.54 (26.03)
        1:16.64 (26.10)     1:42.42 (25.78)
  2 Comerford, Mall  FR Louisville        1:43.63    1:42.54P        17  
    r:+0.74  24.37        50.26 (25.89)
        1:16.45 (26.19)     1:42.54 (26.09)
  3 Neal, Lia        JR Stanford          1:43.56    1:42.58P        16  
    r:+0.76  23.36        49.00 (25.64)
        1:15.40 (26.40)     1:42.58 (27.18)
  4 Flickinger, Hal  SR Georgia           1:43.45    1:43.32         15  
    r:+0.71  24.12        49.77 (25.65)
        1:16.35 (26.58)     1:43.32 (26.97)
  5 Haughey, Siobha  FR Michigan          1:44.01    1:43.35         14  
    r:+0.73  24.30        50.77 (26.47)
        1:17.16 (26.39)     1:43.35 (26.19)
  6 Smith, Leah      JR Virginia          1:43.89    1:43.50         13  
    r:+0.75  24.89        51.12 (26.23)
        1:17.42 (26.30)     1:43.50 (26.08)
  7 Lips, Haley      SR Indiana           1:43.79    1:43.72         12  
    r:+0.68  25.01        51.30 (26.29)
        1:17.81 (26.51)     1:43.72 (25.91)
  8 Goss, Kennedy    SO Indiana           1:44.29    1:44.75         11  
    r:+0.63  25.19        52.10 (26.91)
        1:18.57 (26.47)     1:44.75 (26.18)
 
                            === B - Final ===                            
 
  9 Raab, Meaghan    SO Georgia           1:44.91    1:44.62          9  
    r:+0.77  24.88        51.69 (26.81)
        1:18.58 (26.89)     1:44.62 (26.04)
 10 Ackman, Alyson   SR Penn St           1:44.72    1:44.78          7  
    r:+0.69  24.83        51.29 (26.46)
        1:18.09 (26.80)     1:44.78 (26.69)
 11 Moroney, Megan   FR Virginia          1:44.32    1:44.89          6  
    r:+0.63  24.93        51.73 (26.80)
        1:18.28 (26.55)     1:44.89 (26.61)
 12 Chenault, Chels  JR USC               1:44.62    1:44.93          5  
    r:+0.78  24.80        51.53 (26.73)
        1:18.29 (26.76)     1:44.93 (26.64)
 13 Votava, Lauren   SR Minnesota         1:45.13    1:45.09          4  
    r:+0.73  24.92        51.81 (26.89)
        1:18.60 (26.79)     1:45.09 (26.49)
 14 Pelton, Elizabe  SR California        1:44.90    1:45.19          3  
    r:+0.76  24.60        51.05 (26.45)
        1:18.08 (27.03)     1:45.19 (27.11)
 15 Muller, Rachel   JR NC State          1:45.17    1:45.34          2  
             24.89        51.67 (26.78)
        1:18.47 (26.80)     1:45.34 (26.87)
 16 Rasmus, Claire   FR Tex AM            1:44.52    1:45.63          1  
    r:+0.73  25.34        52.81 (27.47)
        1:19.41 (26.60)     1:45.63 (26.22)

               Women - Team Rankings - Through Event 10                 
 
  1. Georgia                           248   2. California                      194.5
  3. Texas A&M                       173.5   4. Stanford                          166
  5. Virginia                          137   6. Southern Cali                   133.5
  7. Louisville                        131   8. Indiana                            92
  9. Arizona                            80  10. NC State                           70
 11. Michigan                           68  12. Tennessee                          62
 13. Ohio St                            59  14. Texas                              48
 15. Missouri                           40  16. UCLA                               37
 17. UNC                                36  18. Nevada                             29
 19. Wisconsin                          25  20. Florida                          19.5
 21. Minnesota                          19  22. South Carolina                     17
 23. Miami University (Ohio)            16  24. Penn St                            13
 24. Alabama                            13  26. Kansas                             11
 27. Kentucky                           10  27. Denver                             10
 29. Purdue                              8  30. University of Nebraska-Lincoln      7
 31. Smu                                 6  31. Virginia Tech                       6
 33. Air Force (W)                       4  33. University of Hawaii (W)            4

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