NCAA Prelim Takeaways: Texas A&M Depth Making Move

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Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

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By Dan D’Addona.

Day 3 of the NCAA women’s championship saw plenty of fast swimming in the preliminaries, it was not just Stanford and Cal leading the way.

Of course, Stanford and Cal had some stellar swims, but it was other teams that made a move on Friday in Indianapolis.

Three prelim races could make a huge difference:

1. Aggie depth pushing forward

Texas A&M came into Friday fifth in the meet, but within striking distance of third. The Aggies are pushing toward that top three finish behind their depth.

The Aggies took the top seed in the 200 medley relay (1:35.59) behind Beryl Gastaldello, Jorie Caneta, Sarah Gibson and Kristin Malone.

That event closed a strong prelims for the Aggies. Sydney Pickrem (4:03.63) and Bethany Galat (4:04.65) took the second and fourth seeds, respectively, in the 400 IM to lead off the morning. Monika Gonzalez also made the consolation final in the 400 IM.

Gibson reached the finals in the 100 butterfly (51.09), to tie for fifth and Claire Rasmus took the eighth seed in the 200 freestyle (1:43.73).

There are a lot of chances for the Aggies to score and even move up. If their 200 medley relay can have another swim like it did in the morning, this will be a huge night for the Aggies.

2. Big Ten and ACC breaststroke dominance

While Stanford and Cal have taken plenty of the top seeds in the prelims and championships in the finals, neither team has a 100 breaststroker in the final — or the consolation final.

In fact, no Pac-12 team had anyone in the final of the 100 breaststroke and just one SEC team had one (Missouri’s Katharine Ross in seventh).

It was the Big Ten and ACC that supplied the other seven finals qualifiers. Indiana’s Lilly King (57.38) and Minnesota’s Lindsey Horejsi (58.23) took the top two seeds, with Iowa’s Emma Sougstad (59.06) sneaking into the eighth seed.

Seeds 3-6 were ACC teams with Florida State’s Natalie Pierce (58.38) in third, followed by NC State’s Kayla Brumbaum (58.54), Virginia’s Laura Simon (58.58) and Louisville’s Andrea Cottrell (58.65).

3. 100 backstroke final loaded

The 100 backstroke was one of the most highly anticipated races of the meet, and the prelims didn’t disappoint.

A year after missing the ‘A’ final completely, Olivia Smoliga (50.31) took the top seed in the event.

Missouri’s Hannah Stevens (50.61) took the second seed, followed by Cal’s Kathleen Baker (50.63), Stanford’s Janet Hu (50.75) and Ally Howe (50.80), North Carolina’s Helen Moffitt (50.94), Missouri’s Nadine Laemmler (50.96) and Texas freshman Claire Adams (51.10).

It is a star-studded race that doesn’t even include Cal’s Amy Bilquist (51.35), who was ninth. Texas senior Tasija Karosas (51.41) was 10th. Tennessee’s Kira Toussaint was 12th (51.54) and defending 200 backstroke champion Danielle Galyer (51.68) was 14th, keeping several of the biggest backstroke names in the consolation final.

With sixth tenths of a second separating the 1-7 seeds, this should be an epic finish tonight.

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