NCAA Women’s Championships: Claire Curzan Breaks 1:50 to Lead 200 Back Prelims; Rhyan White Misses A-Final

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Claire Curzan -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

NCAA Women’s Championships: Claire Curzan Breaks 1:50 to Lead 200 Back Prelims; Rhyan White Misses A-Final

Stanford’s Claire Curzan has flown somewhat under the radar at her first NCAA Championships, mostly thanks to record-smashing performances in her first two individual events. Curzan placed fourth in the 100 butterfly final as three swimmers got into the 48-second range while Kate Douglass and Maggie Mac Neil both smashed the NCAA record, and then Curzan took third in the 100 backstroke behind Gretchen Walsh’s NCAA record of 48.26.

But Curzan has posted impressive results in the 200 back all season, including a time of 1:47.43 at the Pac-12 Championships last month that was within three tenths of the fastest time ever and ranks her fourth all-time behind Regan SmithBeata Nelson and Kathleen Baker. Now, Curzan enters the NCAA final as the favorite after swimming a time of 1:49.48 to win the final heat. Curzan was flying for the first 150 yards, flipping in 1:20.98 with 50 to go, and although she slowed slightly at the end, she comfortably held off Tennessee’s Josephine Fuller to take the win. Fuller ended up touching at 1:50.12 for the third-best time of the morning.

Wisconsin’s Phoebe Bacon was only seeded eighth entering the event after she skipped the event at the Big Ten Championships, but she blasted a time of 1:50.03 to lead the way in the second-to-last heat, and that time was good enough for the second-best time of the morning behind Curzan. Cal’s Isabelle Stadden (1:50.44) and NC State’s Kennedy Noble (1:50.88) also swam 1:50s in that heat, with those times good enough for fourth and fifth overall, respectively.

In the first of the seeded heats, NC State’s Emma Muzzy held off Texas’ Olivia Bray for the win, 1:51.00 to 1:51.18, but behind them, there was a surprising result as Alabama’s Rhyan White fell to third place in 1:52.70. White, the World Championships bronze medalist in the 200-meter back, is the eighth-fastest performer in history at 1:48.06, but she has not approached that form in several years. White ended up qualifying for the B-final in the 15th spot.

Virginia’s Reilly Tiltmann narrowly held off Indiana’s Anna Peplowski in the final heat to earn the last spot in the A-final, 1:51.23 to 1:51.32. Tiltmann joins Bacon, Stadden and Muzzy in returning to the A-final from last season while Stanford’s Lucie Nordmann ended up 14th (1:52.54) and Virginia Tech’s Emma Atkinson fell to a tie for 20th (1:53.21).

Event 16  Women 200 Yard Backstroke
==================================================================
         NCAA: N 1:47.24  3/23/2019 Beata Nelson, Wisconsin
         Meet: M 1:47.24  3/23/2019 Beata Nelson, Wisconsin
     American: A 1:47.16  3/10/2019 Regan Smith, Riptide
      US Open: O 1:47.16  3/10/2019 Regan Smith, Riptide
         Pool: P 1:49.30  11/21/2020Rhyan White, Alabama
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Curzan, Claire         FR Stanford          1:47.43    1:49.48  
    r:+0.57  25.75        52.99 (27.24)
        1:20.98 (27.99)     1:49.48 (28.50)
  2 Bacon, Phoebe          JR Wisconsin         1:51.22    1:50.03  
    r:+0.63  26.00        53.60 (27.60)
        1:21.82 (28.22)     1:50.03 (28.21)
  3 Fuller, Josephine      SO Tennessee         1:50.12    1:50.12  
    r:+0.74  26.15        54.07 (27.92)
        1:22.25 (28.18)     1:50.12 (27.87)
  4 Stadden, Isabelle      JR California        1:48.75    1:50.44  
    r:+0.95  25.96        53.87 (27.91)
        1:22.47 (28.60)     1:50.44 (27.97)
  5 Noble, Kennedy         FR NC State          1:50.24    1:50.88  
    r:+0.69  26.31        54.52 (28.21)
        1:22.76 (28.24)     1:50.88 (28.12)
  6 Muzzy, Emma            5Y NC State          1:50.96    1:51.00  
    r:+0.84  26.35        54.49 (28.14)
        1:22.86 (28.37)     1:51.00 (28.14)
  7 Bray, Olivia           JR Texas             1:50.09    1:51.18  
    r:+0.74  26.08        54.49 (28.41)
        1:22.97 (28.48)     1:51.18 (28.21)
  8 Tiltmann, Reilly       SO Virginia          1:51.05    1:51.23  
    r:+0.70  26.30        53.84 (27.54)
        1:22.02 (28.18)     1:51.23 (29.21)
 -----------------------------------------------------------------
  9 Peplowski, Anna        SO Indiana           1:51.81    1:51.32  
    r:+0.62  26.07        53.78 (27.71)
        1:22.24 (28.46)     1:51.32 (29.08)
 10 Lindner, Sophie        5Y UNC               1:53.46    1:51.72  
    r:+0.79  26.93        54.95 (28.02)
        1:23.15 (28.20)     1:51.72 (28.57)
 11 Hetrick, Paige         JR Louisville        1:51.70    1:51.84  
    r:+0.65  26.03        54.12 (28.09)
        1:23.05 (28.93)     1:51.84 (28.79)
 12 Brooks, Caitlin        SR Kentucky          1:52.38    1:52.35  
    r:+0.69  26.31        54.38 (28.07)
        1:23.06 (28.68)     1:52.35 (29.29)
 13 Gorecka, Weronika      SR Akron             1:53.33    1:52.43  
    r:+0.66  26.62        55.19 (28.57)
        1:23.55 (28.36)     1:52.43 (28.88)
 14 Nordmann, Lucie        SR Stanford          1:53.70    1:52.54  
    r:+0.71  25.96        54.09 (28.13)
        1:22.98 (28.89)     1:52.54 (29.56)
 15 White, Rhyan           5Y Alabama           1:51.53    1:52.70  
    r:+0.76  26.42        54.77 (28.35)
        1:23.88 (29.11)     1:52.70 (28.82)
 16 Bentz, Caroline        JR VT                1:53.78    1:52.76  
    r:+0.80  26.53        54.80 (28.27)
        1:23.57 (28.77)     1:52.76 (29.19)
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