NCAA Division I Women’s Championships: Simone Manuel “Lezaks” Virginia for 400 Medley Relay NCAA/American Record

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Through three legs, it looked like Virginia was well on its way to a banner night with the women’s 400-yard medley relay well in hand – until Stanford’s Simone Manuel entered the water.

Manuel showed her big-time anchor ability, first demonstrated with a huge victory for Team USA at the Duel in the Pool in 2013, as she pulled off a Lezakesque anchor of 45.45.

Virginia led Stanford by more than two seconds, 2:38.73 to 2:40.96, heading into the anchor leg.

In the end, Stanford’s Ally Howe (52.00), Katie Olsen (58.07), Janet Hu (50.89) and Manuel (45.45) finished the finale with an NCAA, U.S. Open and American record time of 3:26.41.

Just a hundredth behind, Virginia’s Courtney Bartholomew (50.19), Laura Simon (57.52), Ellen Williamson (51.02) and Ellen Thomas (47.69) collected second overall with 3:26.42.

California’s Rachel Bootsma (50.84), Marina Garcia (59.28), Farida Osman (51.07) and Missy Franklin (45.98) also cleared the previous NCAA and American record of 3:27.51 set by Stanford last year as California clocked a 3:27.17 tonight.

Those are the three fastest relays in history.

That’s Stanford’s NCAA record 11th win in the 400-yard medley relay:

1987 Stanford (Michelle Donahue, Susie Rapp, Jenna Johnson, Aimee Berzins), 3:38.17
1990 Stanford (Dede Trimble, Lori Heisick, Suzy Buckovich, Janel Jorgensen), 3:38.84
1991 Stanford (Janel Jorgensen, Lori Heisick, Summer Sanders, Suzy Buckovich), 3:39.51
1992 Stanford (Lea Loveless, Lori Heisick, Summer Sanders, Janel Jorgensen), 3:35.64
1993 Stanford (Lea Loveless, Lori Heisick, Janel Jorgensen, Lisa Jacob), 3:37.27
1998 Stanford (Catherine Fox, Elin Austevoll, Misty Hyman, Siobhan Cropper), 3:33.61
1999 Stanford (Shelly Ripple, Elin Austevoll, Misty Hyman, Catherine Fox), 3:33.75
2001 Stanford (Shelly Ripple, Tara Kirk, Misty Hyman, Siobhan Cropper), 3:32.43
2002 Stanford (Amy Wagner, Tara Kirk, Shelly Ripple, Lacey Boutwell), 3:31.74
2014 Stanford (Maya DiRado, Katie Olsen, Felicia Lee, Lia Neal) 3:27.51

  1 Stanford-PC  'A'              3:29.89    3:26.41ND1-A    40  
     1) Howe, Ally FR                 2) r:0.24 Olsen, Katie SR       
     3) r:0.19 Hu, Janet FR           4) r:0.19 Manuel, Simone FR     
    r:+0.63  25.40        52.00 (52.00)
        1:19.25 (27.25)     1:50.07 (58.07)
        2:13.43 (23.36)     2:40.96 (50.89)
        3:02.74 (21.78)     3:26.41 (45.45)
  2 Virginia-VA  'A'              3:28.27    3:26.42ND1-A    34  
     1) Bartholomew, Courtney JR      2) r:0.35 Simon, Laura SO       
     3) r:0.26 Williamson, Ellen SR   4) r:0.24 Thomas, Ellen SO      
    r:+0.59  24.45        50.19 (50.19)
        1:17.22 (27.03)     1:47.71 (57.52)
        2:11.20 (23.49)     2:38.73 (51.02)
        3:00.88 (22.15)     3:26.42 (47.69)
  3 California-PC  'A'            3:30.63    3:27.17ND1-A    32  
     1) Bootsma, Rachel JR            2) r:0.04 Garcia, Marina SO     
     3) r:0.17 Osman, Farida SO       4) r:0.36 Franklin, Missy SO    
    r:+0.55  24.59        50.84 (50.84)
        1:18.44 (27.60)     1:50.12 (59.28)
        2:13.44 (23.32)     2:41.19 (51.07)
        3:03.32 (22.13)     3:27.17 (45.98)

 1. Georgia                           172   2. California                        162
  3. Stanford                          111   4. Texas A&M                        82.5
  5. Virginia                           76   5. Louisville                         76
  7. Wisconsin                          54   8. Tennessee                          52
  9. Southern California                46  10. Arizona                            44
 11. Texas                              42  12. NC State                           41
 13. Auburn                             32  14. Missouri                           30
 15. Florida                            27  16. UNC                                24
 16. Notre Dame                         24  18. Kentucky                           21
 19. Penn State                         19  19. Minnesota                          19
 21. Purdue                             14  22. Illinois State University          12
 23. Florida State                      11  24. So. Methodist                       8
 25. Miami University (Ohio)             7  25. Indiana                             7
 27. University of Miami (Florida)       6  28. Florida Gulf Coast                4.5
 29. Iowa                                4  29. San Diego State                     4
 31. Hawaii (W)                          3  31. Michigan                            3
 33. Ohio State                          2

Duel in the Pool Anchor

2015 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships, Day One Results – Results

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Therese McAdams

9 years ago

Amazing!

Matthew Broussard

9 years ago

I support this use of the verb Lezak.

Dana Abbott

9 years ago

Reply to Matthew Broussard

SO much better verb than that stupid “twerk”, lol! And Simone truly did “Lezak” UVA. Remarkable and inspiring swim! Putting on quite a show for her hometown fans! Have watched her progress since she was 12, amazing talent and really nice person.

Susannah Miller Muller

9 years ago

check out the relays listed at the bottom of the article for some familiar names!! 🙂