NCAA Women’s Championships: Claire Weinstein Pulls Away for First NCAA Title
Night 3 of the 2026 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships continued with the 500-yard freestyle from the campus of Georgia Tech in Atlanta.
After being chased down by Jillian Cox in the mile, Cal’s Claire Weinstein was out strong and hung on for her first NCAA title.
“It was amazing. Honestly, I looked up at the board and saw that I won and looked over to my teammates and saw them running toward me and that was just really special,” Weinstein said. “The last 75 of that race, I was just replaying moments from the whole season and things that people have told me. I never wanted something so bad. I dug really deep and thought about all the people who came before me, all the women who made Cal swimming what it is. We are trying to bring that back and move in that direction.”
Weinstein took the early lead, finishing the 100 in 51.66 with Virginia’s Madi Mintenko just behind (52.08).
Weinstein was still ahead of the 200 in 1:47.03 with Tennessee’s Ella Jansen in second (1:47.50), at the 250 and at the 300 at 2:42.34 for Weinstein.
Weinstein picked up the pace and turned at 3:09.81 at the 350.
Defending champion Cox made her move at the 400 mark but was still behind Weinstein, who turned ahead at the 450.
In the final lap, Weinstein had more in the tank and turned ahead and got to the wall in 4:30.09 to break the pool record for her first NCAA title.
It started with her reaction to her runner-up finish in the mile.
“The mile gave me a lot of confidence. Even when I have really good swims, sometimes I am not super satisfied with them, and that mile, I was proud of. I put my heart and soul into that mile,” Weinstein said. “I wanted to swim my best and I know I did my best. I was able to lock in and swim my own race (in both races).”
These best races came after a tumultuous week of ACCs.
“ACCs, I was pretty sick going into it and averaging 2 hours of sleep each night. That was really rough. The week after ACCs, I strained a muscle in my back and I was not able to do flip turns, which was difficult because turns is what I knew I had to clean up on,” she said. “It made me spiral a little bit, but I relied on my coaches and my training.”
Cox came into the meet as the defending champion and looked to complete the 1650 and 500 title sweep for the second year in a row. She finished second in 4:31.56.
Georgia’s Kennedi Dobson was third in 4:32.24, ahead of Tennessee’s Jansen (4:32.82) and Florida’s Julie Brousseau (4:34.63).
Virginia’s Cavan Gormsen was sixth (4:35.11) and Mintenko took eighth (4:36.68) sandwiched around Michigan’s Hannah Bellard, who was seventh n 4:35.80.
Event 13 Women 500 Yard Freestyle
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NCAA: N 4:24.06 3/16/2017 Katie Ledecky, Stanford
Meet: M 4:24.06 3/16/2017 Katie Ledecky, Stanford
American: A 4:24.06 3/16/2017 Katie Ledecky, Stanford
US Open: O 4:24.06 3/16/2017 Katie Ledecky, Stanford
Pool: P 4:30.81 3/17/2016 Leah Smith, Virginia
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
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=== Championship Final ===
1 Weinstein, Claire FR California 4:36.66 4:30.09P 20
r:+0.73 24.67 51.66 (26.99)
1:19.29 (27.63) 1:47.03 (27.74)
2:14.81 (27.78) 2:42.34 (27.53)
3:09.81 (27.47) 3:37.04 (27.23)
4:03.94 (26.90) 4:30.09 (26.15)
2 Cox, Jillian SO Texas 4:33.89 4:31.56 17
r:+0.61 25.42 52.58 (27.16)
1:20.12 (27.54) 1:47.72 (27.60)
2:15.24 (27.52) 2:42.74 (27.50)
3:10.42 (27.68) 3:37.50 (27.08)
4:04.66 (27.16) 4:31.56 (26.90)
3 Dobson, Kennedi FR Georgia 4:34.73 4:32.24 16
r:+0.72 25.22 52.39 (27.17)
1:20.02 (27.63) 1:47.80 (27.78)
2:15.38 (27.58) 2:42.88 (27.50)
3:10.41 (27.53) 3:37.71 (27.30)
4:05.18 (27.47) 4:32.24 (27.06)
4 Jansen, Ella SO Tennessee 4:34.13 4:32.82 15
r:+0.74 24.97 52.26 (27.29)
1:19.85 (27.59) 1:47.50 (27.65)
2:15.25 (27.75) 2:42.99 (27.74)
3:10.62 (27.63) 3:38.38 (27.76)
4:05.91 (27.53) 4:32.82 (26.91)
5 Brousseau, Julie SO Florida 4:35.79 4:34.63 14
r:+0.76 25.55 52.67 (27.12)
1:20.00 (27.33) 1:47.62 (27.62)
2:15.43 (27.81) 2:43.43 (28.00)
3:11.24 (27.81) 3:39.11 (27.87)
4:07.10 (27.99) 4:34.63 (27.53)
6 Gormsen, Cavan JR Virginia 4:35.36 4:35.11 13
r:+0.74 25.33 52.88 (27.55)
1:20.57 (27.69) 1:48.37 (27.80)
2:16.29 (27.92) 2:44.03 (27.74)
3:11.87 (27.84) 3:39.81 (27.94)
4:07.80 (27.99) 4:35.11 (27.31)
7 Bellard, Hannah JR Michigan 4:37.00 4:35.80 12
r:+0.76 25.44 52.76 (27.32)
1:20.25 (27.49) 1:48.21 (27.96)
2:16.09 (27.88) 2:44.20 (28.11)
3:12.48 (28.28) 3:40.54 (28.06)
4:08.51 (27.97) 4:35.80 (27.29)
8 Mintenko, Madi FR Virginia 4:37.43 4:36.68 11
r:+0.73 24.80 52.08 (27.28)
1:19.89 (27.81) 1:48.07 (28.18)
2:16.27 (28.20) 2:44.54 (28.27)
3:13.12 (28.58) 3:41.80 (28.68)
4:09.81 (28.01) 4:36.68 (26.87)
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