Katie Ledecky Pulls Away for Stanford Win in 4×200 Free Relay to Open NCAAs

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

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The Stanford women pulled away to win the first title of the women’s NCAA championships, with Katie Ledecky anchoring the Cardinal to a win in the 4×200 free relay. Katie Drabot (1:42.99) and Ella Eastin (1:41.13) had the Cardinal in contention before Brooke Forde (1:42.94) opened up a lead and Ledecky (1:39.87) extended it.

The Cardinal finished in 6:46.93, just one second off their American and NCAA record of 6:45.91 set last year. Simone Manuel swam on that relay in 2017 but sat it out this time around.

Michigan ended up finishing second in 6:50.03, with the Wolverines just edging out Cal, which settled for third in 6:50.83. Catie DeLoof, Siobhan Haughey, Rose Bi and Gabby DeLoof swam for the Wolverines, with Haughey posting the fastest split of 1:40.49.

Cal’s team consisted of Robin Neumann, Kathleen Baker, Katie McLaughlin and Amy Bilquist. McLaughlin’s 1:41.64 split on the third leg put the Bears into contention.

Swimming out of the second of three heats, Tennessee took fourth in 6:52.12 after a sterling 1:42.39 opening leg from Erika Brown. Texas was fifth in 6:53.42, with Claire Adams leading the way with a 1:41.71 split.

Louisville finished sixth in 6:53.75, and as usual, Mallory Comerford starred for the Cardinals. She split 1:39.14, believed to be the quickest split in history.

Rounding out the top eight teams were Virginia (6:54.60) and Minnesota (6:56.40).

Four swimmers outside of the top eight teams posted sub-1:43 splits: Georgia’s Meaghan Raab anchored in 1:42.95, Kentucky’s Asia Seidt was 1:42.93, USC’s Louise Hansson led off in 1:42.71, and Wisconsin’s Beata Nelson put up a 1:42.58 anchor split.

In the team race, Stanford opened a lead with 40 points, followed by Michigan (34) and Cal (32) with the first full day of competition to come Thursday.

Event 1  Women 800 Yard Freestyle Relay
====================================================================
    School                                 Seed     Finals        
====================================================================
  1 Stanford                            6:53.86    6:46.93  
     1) Katie Drabot SO               2) Ella Eastin JR               
     3) Brooke Forde FR               4) Katie Ledecky SO             
                 24.09        50.37 (50.37)
      1:16.66 (1:16.66)   1:42.99 (1:42.99)
        2:06.97 (23.98)     2:33.11 (50.12)
      2:58.77 (1:15.78)   3:24.12 (1:41.13)
        3:48.14 (24.02)     4:14.60 (50.48)
      4:40.89 (1:16.77)   5:07.06 (1:42.94)
        5:30.32 (23.26)     5:55.44 (48.38)
      6:21.21 (1:14.15)   6:46.93 (1:39.87)
  2 Michigan                            6:52.04    6:50.03  
     1) Catie Deloof JR               2) Siobhan Haughey JR           
     3) Rose Bi JR                    4) Gabby Deloof SR              
                 24.50        50.83 (50.83)
      1:17.01 (1:17.01)   1:43.35 (1:43.35)
        2:06.42 (23.07)     2:32.00 (48.65)
      2:57.94 (1:14.59)   3:23.84 (1:40.49)
        3:48.06 (24.22)     4:14.21 (50.37)
      4:40.95 (1:17.11)   5:07.72 (1:43.88)
        5:31.52 (23.80)     5:57.54 (49.82)
      6:23.53 (1:15.81)   6:50.03 (1:42.31)
  3 California                          6:52.62    6:50.83  
     1) Robin Neumann FR              2) Kathleen Baker JR            
     3) Katie McLaughlin JR           4) Amy Bilquist JR              
                 24.26        50.65 (50.65)
      1:17.27 (1:17.27)   1:43.78 (1:43.78)
        2:06.99 (23.21)     2:32.71 (48.93)
      2:59.01 (1:15.23)   3:26.56 (1:42.78)
        3:49.69 (23.13)     4:15.69 (49.13)
      4:42.02 (1:15.46)   5:08.20 (1:41.64)
        5:31.33 (23.13)     5:57.34 (49.14)
      6:23.96 (1:15.76)   6:50.83 (1:42.63)
  4 Tennessee                           6:58.85    6:52.12  
     1) Erika Brown SO                2) Stanzi Moseley SO            
     3) Tessa Cieplucha SO            4) Meghan Small SO              
                 23.59        49.59 (49.59)
      1:15.88 (1:15.88)   1:42.39 (1:42.39)
        2:06.03 (23.64)     2:32.11 (49.72)
      2:58.50 (1:16.11)   3:25.49 (1:43.10)
        3:49.59 (24.10)     4:16.04 (50.55)
      4:42.74 (1:17.25)   5:09.67 (1:44.18)
        5:33.11 (23.44)     5:58.68 (49.01)
      6:25.18 (1:15.51)   6:52.12 (1:42.45)
  5 Texas                               6:57.84    6:53.42  
     1) Quinn Carrozza JR             2) Claire Adams SO              
     3) Evie Pfeifer FR               4) Rebecca Millard SR           
                 24.26        50.05 (50.05)
      1:16.59 (1:16.59)   1:43.72 (1:43.72)
        2:06.78 (23.06)     2:32.10 (48.38)
      2:58.55 (1:14.83)   3:25.43 (1:41.71)
        3:49.47 (24.04)     4:15.85 (50.42)
      4:42.43 (1:17.00)   5:08.61 (1:43.18)
        5:32.57 (23.96)     5:58.89 (50.28)
      6:26.04 (1:17.43)   6:53.42 (1:44.81)
  6 Louisville                          6:56.32    6:53.75  
     1) Sophie Cattermole JR          2) Mallory Comerford JR         
     3) Arina Openysheva FR           4) Rachael Bradford-Feldman JR  
                 24.75        51.04 (51.04)
      1:17.75 (1:17.75)   1:44.36 (1:44.36)
        2:07.31 (22.95)     2:32.76 (48.40)
      2:58.09 (1:13.73)   3:23.50 (1:39.14)
        3:47.27 (23.77)     4:14.11 (50.61)
      4:41.05 (1:17.55)   5:07.91 (1:44.41)
        5:31.91 (24.00)     5:58.55 (50.64)
      6:25.81 (1:17.90)   6:53.75 (1:45.84)
  7 Virginia                            6:55.55    6:54.60  
     1) Morgan Hill SO                2) Jen Marrkand SR              
     3) Megan Moroney SO              4) Eryn Eddy JR                 
                 24.78        50.71 (50.71)
      1:17.33 (1:17.33)   1:44.11 (1:44.11)
        2:07.63 (23.52)     2:33.46 (49.35)
      2:59.81 (1:15.70)   3:26.50 (1:42.39)
        3:50.67 (24.17)     4:16.54 (50.04)
      4:43.08 (1:16.58)   5:10.09 (1:43.59)
        5:33.71 (23.62)     6:00.06 (49.97)
      6:27.39 (1:17.30)   6:54.60 (1:44.51)
  8 Minnesota                           6:59.53    6:56.40  
     1) Danielle Nack SR              2) Chantal Nack JR              
     3) Mackenzie Padington FR        4) Zoe Avestruz JR              
                 24.03        50.36 (50.36)
      1:17.24 (1:17.24)   1:44.33 (1:44.33)
        2:08.65 (24.32)     2:35.28 (50.95)
      3:02.06 (1:17.73)   3:28.79 (1:44.46)
        3:52.32 (23.53)     4:18.56 (49.77)
      4:45.36 (1:16.57)   5:12.06 (1:43.27)
        5:35.80 (23.74)     6:02.45 (50.39)
      6:29.42 (1:17.36)   6:56.40 (1:44.34)

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Ibolya Garai

6 years ago

Dopping

Lane Four

6 years ago

Reply to Ibolya Garai

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Trevor Dove

6 years ago

League of her own