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AUBURN, Alabama, March 17. FLORIDA's Elizabeth Beisel held off a hard charging field in the 200 back to capture the title at the NCAA Division I Women's Championships.
Beisel clocked a 1:50.58, the 15th-fastest time ever, for the victory. The win returned the distance dorsal title to Florida for the first time since Gemma Spofforth won three straight from 2007-09. Kristen Linehan is the other Florida victor with wins in 1989 and 1990, giving the Gators a total of six 200 back titles in NCAA history. They trail only Texas' seven for the most in the NCAA. Beisel has been faster with a fourth-ranked 1:49.82 at the Southeastern Conference Championships last month.
Stanford's Maya DiRado raced to second in 1:51.42 to improve to 12th all time, while Missouri's Dominique Bouchard placed third in 1:51.68 — just off her lifetime best of 1:51.54 from last NCAAs. Arizona's Sarah Denninghoff (1:52.49), Florida's Teresa Crippen (1:53.00), Virginia's Ellen Williamson (1:54.04), Notre Dame's Kelly Ryan (1:54.16) and Virginia's Meredith Cavalier (1:55.36) also vied for the championship title.
Georgia's Kelsey Gaid won the consolation heat in 1:53.62, while California's Melanie Klaren earned second in 1:53.99. SMU's Therese Svendsen picked up third in 1:54.11, while Georgia's Kristen Shickora (1:54.31), Ohio State's Emily Creran (1:54.89), Minnesota's Tess Behrens (1:55.51), Maryland's Virginia Glover (1:55.77) and Texas' Katie Riefenstahl (1:55.80) rounded out the B final.
California held onto its lead with 318 points, while Georgia made a big push with a second-place tally of 292. Southern California (242), Arizona (241) and Stanford (239) continued their battle for third place.
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