NCAA Women’s Championships: Gretchen Walsh Misses 100 Fly Record By One Hundredth

Gretchen Walsh -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

NCAA Women’s Championships: Gretchen Walsh Misses 100 Fly Record By One Hundredth

The unstoppable Gretchen Walsh rolls on at the NCAA Women’s Championships. Just a prelims race? Does not matter, with Walsh lowering her American and NCAA records in the 50 freestyle Thursday before knocking off another four hundredths in the final. Similarly, Walsh dominated the 100 butterfly in prelims and came within the slimmest of margins of setting her third individual standard of the meet.

Walsh was out in 22.34 at the 50-yard mark, seven hundredths faster than her 22.41 split clocked on the way to her record time of 48.25 at the ACC Championships last month. The 21-year-old was slightly slower on the back half, but she still finished in 48.26, merely one hundredth adrift of her record — giving Walsh eight hours to figure out how to drop a little bit more time in the final and beat the record again.

The performance did beat the NCAA Championships record of 48.46 established by former Virginia teammate Kate Douglass last season, when Douglass won a sizzling final against 100-meter fly Olympic gold medalist Maggie Mac Neil and world champion Torri Huske. That race produced the three fastest swimmers in history at the time, but just one season later, those times have been left behind as Walsh continues to shock the world with her short course yards performances.

Meanwhile, in the more-competitive race for second place, Emma Sticklen of the University of Texas showed some fight with a big prelims swim, with the senior clocking 49.73 to clip her personal-best time by six hundredths. Sticklen remains the 10th-fastest swimmer ever in the event. More importantly for the Longhorns, chasing a top-two finish at the NCAAs for a third consecutive year, Texas finished second, third and fourth in this event, with Olivia Bray (50.33) and Kelly Pash (50.69) both clocking season-best times.

Texas was already in third place in the team race without having a single A-finalist in an individual swimming event thus far, so performances like this will be huge in the Longhorns’ attempts to run down the current second-place team, Florida.

Auburn’s Meghan Lee and Florida’s Olivia Peoples tied for fifth in 50.85, followed by Stanford’s Gigi Johnson (51.01) and Cal’s Mia Kragh (51.07).

Event 9  Women 100 Yard Butterfly
==================================================================
         NCAA: N 48.25  2/22/2024 Gretchen Walsh, Virginia
         Meet: M 48.46  3/17/2023 Kate Douglass, Virginia
     American: A 48.25  2/22/2024 Gretchen Walsh, Virginia
      US Open: O 48.25  2/22/2024 Gretchen Walsh, Virginia
         Pool: P 49.85  2/21/2019 Erika Brown, Tennessee
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Walsh, Gretchen        JR Virginia            48.25      48.26M 
    r:+0.77  10.30        22.34 (12.04)
          35.09 (12.75)       48.26 (13.17)
  2 Sticklen, Emma         SR Texas               50.36      49.73P 
    r:+0.65  10.75        23.02 (12.27)
          36.23 (13.21)       49.73 (13.50)
  3 Bray, Olivia           SR Texas               50.47      50.33  
    r:+0.70  10.65        23.52 (12.87)
          36.75 (13.23)       50.33 (13.58)
  4 Pash, Kelly            5Y Texas               50.37      50.69  
    r:+0.68  10.97        23.75 (12.78)
          37.02 (13.27)       50.69 (13.67)
  5 Lee, Meghan            SR Auburn              50.66      50.85  
    r:+0.66  10.98        24.08 (13.10)
          37.25 (13.17)       50.85 (13.60)
  5 Peoples, Olivia        JR Florida             50.47      50.85  
    r:+0.65  10.74        23.72 (12.98)
          36.93 (13.21)       50.85 (13.92)
  7 Johnson, Gigi          SO Stanford            51.17      51.01  
    r:+0.71  10.94        23.92 (12.98)
          37.19 (13.27)       51.01 (13.82)
  8 Kragh, Mia             JR California          50.89      51.07  
    r:+0.71  10.93        23.85 (12.92)
          37.24 (13.39)       51.07 (13.83)

The middle morning of prelims at the NCAA Women’s Championships began with the 400 individual medley and also included the 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke and 100 backstroke. The Virginia Cavaliers were looking to extend their 47.5-point advantage on Florida while the Gators entered the day ahead of Texas by 22 points in the battle for second place.

Women - Team Rankings - Through Event 7                      
 
  1. Virginia                        210.5   2. Florida                           163
  3. Texas                             141   4. Stanford                          105
  5. Tennessee                         104   6. Louisville                         99
  7. Southern California                94   8. Indiana                            87
  9. Michigan                         80.5  10. Georgia                            75
 11. Ohio St                            61  12. California                         59
 13. NC State                           50  14. Wisconsin                          40
 15. UNC                                34  16. Duke                               33
 17. Texas A&M                          26  18. Utah                               14
 19. Minnesota                          13  20. Auburn                             12
 20. Alabama                            12  22. Arizona St                         11
 23. Rutgers                             6  23. Virginia Tech                       6
 23. Lsu                                 6  26. Northwestern                        4
 27. Kansas                              3  28. Akron                               1

400 IM

An Olympic silver medalist before beginning her college career, Emma Weyant is thriving in her junior season at the University of Florida. Weyant has played a key role in the Gators’ impressive start to the meet, swimming the third leg on a victorious 800 freestyle relay before placing second in the 500 free while closing down on teammate and eventual winner Bella Sims. Now, Weyant will head into the 400 IM A-final as the top qualifier.

Swimming in the fourth of five prelims heats, Weyant established a comfortable lead and did not allow Virginia’s Ella Nelson to make up ground down the stretch. Weyant came in at 4:00.98, clipping her season-best mark of 4:01.20 that ranked second nationally entering the meet. The time was also a personal best for Weyant by a narrow margin as she moved to No. 19 all-time in the event.

In the final, Weyant will chase both the 4:00 barrier and the first individual NCAA title of her career, but she will have to fend off a charge from Virginia’s Alex Walsh, already the winner of the 200 IM in the second-quickest time in history. Walsh, the two-time defending NCAA champion in the event, demolished her heat of the longer medley through 300 meters, with a split of 3:04.01 that was more than a second quicker than anyone in the field, but she decelerated significantly on freestyle as she cruised to the finish. Walsh won her heat in 4:02.85, good enough for the fourth seed for the final.

Qualifying second was Stanford freshman Caroline Bricker, who edged out Minnesota’s Megan Van Berkom to win their heat, 4:02.20 to 4:02.53. Virginia, Stanford and Florida each got another swimmer into the final, with the Cavaliers’ Ella Nelson (4:02.93), Stanford’s Lucy Bell (4:04.26) and Florida’s Zoe Dixon (4:06.03), with UCLA’s Paige Maceachern clocking 4:05.26 to round out the championship heat.

Event 8  Women 400 Yard IM
==================================================================
         NCAA: N 3:54.60  3/16/2018 Ella Eastin, Stanford
         Meet: M 3:54.60  3/16/2018 Ella Eastin, Stanford
     American: A 3:54.60  3/16/2018 Ella Eastin, Stanford
      US Open: O 3:54.60  3/16/2018 Ella Eastin, Stanford
         Pool: P 3:59.26  2/20/2014 Elizabeth Beisel, Florida
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Weyant, Emma           JR Florida           4:01.20    4:00.98  
    r:+0.76  26.36        55.72 (29.36)
        1:26.29 (30.57)     1:56.38 (30.09)
        2:30.55 (34.17)     3:05.22 (34.67)
        3:33.52 (28.30)     4:00.98 (27.46)
  2 Bricker, Caroline      FR Stanford          4:02.32    4:02.20  
    r:+0.67  26.08        55.36 (29.28)
        1:26.31 (30.95)     1:56.89 (30.58)
        2:30.67 (33.78)     3:05.26 (34.59)
        3:33.98 (28.72)     4:02.20 (28.22)
  3 Van Berkom, Megan      SR Minnesota         4:04.36    4:02.53  
    r:+0.70  26.08        55.20 (29.12)
        1:27.06 (31.86)     1:57.74 (30.68)
        2:31.76 (34.02)     3:06.11 (34.35)
        3:35.07 (28.96)     4:02.53 (27.46)
  4 Walsh, Alex            SR Virginia          4:00.52    4:02.85  
    r:+0.79  25.37        54.55 (29.18)
        1:25.62 (31.07)     1:55.36 (29.74)
        2:29.45 (34.09)     3:04.01 (34.56)
        3:33.83 (29.82)     4:02.85 (29.02)
  5 Nelson, Ella           5Y Virginia          4:03.61    4:02.93  
    r:+0.72  26.45        55.95 (29.50)
        1:27.63 (31.68)     1:58.45 (30.82)
        2:31.68 (33.23)     3:05.39 (33.71)
        3:34.52 (29.13)     4:02.93 (28.41)
  6 Bell, Lucy             SO Stanford          4:03.25    4:04.26  
    r:+0.71  25.71        55.13 (29.42)
        1:26.96 (31.83)     1:58.05 (31.09)
        2:31.69 (33.64)     3:06.81 (35.12)
        3:35.85 (29.04)     4:04.26 (28.41)
  7 Maceachern, Paige      JR UCLA              4:03.47    4:05.38  
    r:+0.70  25.96        55.80 (29.84)
        1:27.56 (31.76)     1:58.12 (30.56)
        2:32.27 (34.15)     3:07.70 (35.43)
        3:36.78 (29.08)     4:05.38 (28.60)
  8 Dixon, Zoe             SO Florida           4:03.33    4:06.03  
    r:+0.68  26.50        56.03 (29.53)
        1:26.69 (30.66)     1:56.39 (29.70)
        2:31.70 (35.31)     3:07.55 (35.85)
        3:37.12 (29.57)     4:06.03 (28.91)

200 Freestyle

Two swimmers who contributed to the U.S. women’s silver medal in the 800-meter free relay at last year’s World Championships faced off in the final heat of the 200 free, with Bella Sims of Florida racing in lane four while Anna Peplowski of Indiana was in lane five. Sims, already the winner of the 500 free, jumped on the race early as is her signature, but Peplowski reeled her in and took a slight lead on the third 50.

By the finish, Peplowski was two hundredths ahead, 1:41.85 to 1:41.87. Both swimmers were slightly off their season-best marks, with Sims having been 1:40.90 while Peplowski clocked 1:41.16 leading off the Hoosiers’ 800 free relay two days earlier.

Meanwhile, the rest of the field was tightly packed leading into the final, with the six remaining qualifiers separated by less than two tenths. USC’s Minna Abraham won her heat in 1:42.79, with Stanford’s Kayla Wilson, Virginia’s Aimee Canny, Tennessee’s Camille Spink, Florida’s Isabel Ivey and Texas A&M’s Chloe Stepanek all dipping under 1:43 to secure their spots in the championship heat.

At last season’s NCAAs, only three swimmers broke 1:43 in prelims while it took a time of 1:43.90 to qualify for the A-final. It was a much different story this time as Tennessee’s Brooklyn Douthwright was left out despite clocking 1:42.99. Texas’ Erin Gemmell, also a member of the aforementioned U.S. women’s relay, clocked 1:43.13 but ended up 11th. Michigan’s Katie Crom was the last swimmer into the B-final in 1:43.78 while Stanford’s Natalie Mannion, who equaled last year’s eighth-place time at 1:43.90, ended up as the first alternate.

Event 10  Women 200 Yard Freestyle
==================================================================
         NCAA: N 1:39.10  3/20/2015 Missy Franklin, California
         Meet: M 1:39.10  3/20/2015 Missy Franklin, California
     American: A 1:39.10  3/20/2015 Missy Franklin, California
      US Open: O 1:39.10  3/20/2015 Missy Franklin, California
         Pool: P 1:41.23  12/6/2014 Missy Franklin, California
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Peplowski, Anna        JR Indiana           1:42.04    1:41.85  
    r:+0.72  23.83        49.41 (25.58)
        1:15.33 (25.92)     1:41.85 (26.52)
  2 Sims, Bella            FR Florida           1:40.90    1:41.87  
             23.60        49.01 (25.41)
        1:15.39 (26.38)     1:41.87 (26.48)
  3 Abraham, Minna         FR USC               1:41.38    1:42.79  
    r:+0.66  23.49        49.45 (25.96)
        1:16.09 (26.64)     1:42.79 (26.70)
  4 Wilson, Kayla          SO Stanford          1:42.91    1:42.88  
    r:+0.66  24.33        50.16 (25.83)
        1:16.30 (26.14)     1:42.88 (26.58)
  5 Canny, Aimee           SO Virginia          1:42.93    1:42.89  
    r:+0.74  24.19        50.19 (26.00)
        1:16.53 (26.34)     1:42.89 (26.36)
  6 Spink, Camille         FR Tennessee         1:42.37    1:42.91  
    r:+0.69  23.62        49.51 (25.89)
        1:16.19 (26.68)     1:42.91 (26.72)
  7 Ivey, Isabel           5Y Florida           1:41.85    1:42.95  
    r:+0.70  23.73        49.49 (25.76)
        1:16.28 (26.79)     1:42.95 (26.67)
  8 Stepanek, Chloe        SR TAMU              1:42.41    1:42.96  
    r:+0.68  24.06        50.15 (26.09)
        1:16.60 (26.45)     1:42.96 (26.36)

100 Breaststroke

Tennessee’s Mona McSharry will aim for her first NCAA title in what is expected to be a hotly-contested final Friday evening. The Irish swimmer who made the final of the 100-meter breast at the 2021 Olympics and 2023 World Championships swam a time of 56.76 prelims, eclipsing her own best time of 56.87 by a small margin. McSharry now moves into a tie for fourth all-time in the event, with former Virginia swimmer Alexis Wenger, with only Lilly King, Molly Hannis and Sophie Hansson ahead.

McSharry or another swimmer in the field could become the second-fastest swimmer ever in the final, but no one will be catching Lilly King’s NCAA record of 55.73, with King ranking as the fastest swimmer ever by nine tenths.

Also swimming a best time in the morning was Virginia’s Jasmine Nocentini. Already the runnerup in the 50 freestyle, Nocentini clocked 56.96, good for No. 8 all-time in the event. Kaitlyn Dobler, the 2022 winner in this event, took third in 57.18. Defending champion and 100-meter breast Olympic gold medalist Lydia Jacoby placed sixth in 57.96, requiring a much-improved effort to have any title hopes. But the Texas Longhorns did get some good news as both Jacoby and Anna Elendt (fourth, 57.50) made their way into the top heat.

Two Ohio State fifth-year swimmers, Hannah Bach (57.58) and Josie Panitz (59.06), made the final, while Auburn’s Stasya Makarova placed eighth in 58.15.

Event 11  Women 100 Yard Breaststroke
==================================================================
         NCAA: N 55.73  3/22/2019 Lilly King, Indiana
         Meet: M 55.73  3/22/2019 Lilly King, Indiana
     American: A 55.73  3/22/2019 Lilly King, Indiana
      US Open: O 55.73  3/22/2019 Lilly King, Indiana
         Pool: P 57.28  2/21/2014 Breeja Larson, Texas A&M
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 McSharry, Mona         SR Tennessee           56.87      56.76P 
    r:+0.71  12.39        26.83 (14.44)
          41.64 (14.81)       56.76 (15.12)
  2 Nocentini, Jasmine     SR Virginia            57.01      56.96P 
    r:+0.62  11.95        26.72 (14.77)
          41.79 (15.07)       56.96 (15.17)
  3 Dobler, Kaitlyn        SR USC                 56.99      57.18P 
    r:+0.64  12.13        26.76 (14.63)
          41.79 (15.03)       57.18 (15.39)
  4 Elendt, Anna           SR Texas               57.51      57.50  
    r:+0.70  12.32        26.89 (14.57)
          41.80 (14.91)       57.50 (15.70)
  5 Bach, Hannah           5Y OSU                 57.54      57.58  
    r:+0.61  12.13        26.68 (14.55)
          41.69 (15.01)       57.58 (15.89)
  6 Jacoby, Lydia          SO Texas               57.27      57.96  
    r:+0.66  12.30        27.11 (14.81)
          42.25 (15.14)       57.96 (15.71)
  7 Panitz, Josie          5Y OSU                 58.36      58.06  
    r:+0.69  12.37        27.07 (14.70)
          42.21 (15.14)       58.06 (15.85)
  8 Makarova, Stasya       JR Auburn              59.09      58.15  
    r:+0.66  12.59        27.64 (15.05)
          42.60 (14.96)       58.15 (15.55)

100 Backstroke

NC State’s Katharine Berkoff won NCAA titles in the 100 backstroke in 2021 and 2022, only to surrender the top spot to Virginia’s Gretchen Walsh last season as Walsh took away the American and NCAA records. But this year, with Walsh opting to swim the 100 fly instead of 100 back on this day of the meet, Berkoff enters as heavy favorite.

Berkoff swam a lifetime best of 48.70 at last month’s ACC Championships to cement her status as No. 2 all-time in the event, and she clocked 49.34 for the top time in prelims by almost nine tenths. Berkoff is the only swimmer in the field who has cracked 50 all season, and we’ll see if she has a chance to chase down Walsh’s current record of 48.10 or the meet record of 48.26 at night.

Meanwhile, Indiana’s Kacey McKenna dropped one-quarter of a second from her best time to place second in 50.23, just ahead of Tennessee’s Josephine Fuller. Fuller, third in the 200 IM Thursday evening, touched in 50.25. Veterans Isabelle Stadden (Cal, 50.42) and Phoebe Bacon (50.68) were the next two qualifiers, while NC State’s Kennedy Noble made it two up for the Wolfpack with her time of 50.93.

Southern Illinois’ Celia Pulido dropped more than eight tenths from her seed to place seventh in 50.98, becoming the first swimmer from a mid-major university to qualify for an A-final at this meet, while Texas A&M’s Miranda Grana was the last one in at 50.99. A time of 51.55 was required to qualify for the top-16, with three Texas longhorns (Berit Berglund, Olivia Bray and Emma Kern) make it in.

Event 12  Women 100 Yard Backstroke
==================================================================
         NCAA: N 48.10  2/23/2024 Gretchen Walsh, Virginia
         Meet: M 48.26  3/17/2023 Gretchen Walsh, Virginia
     American: A 48.10  2/23/2024 Gretchen Walsh, Virginia
      US Open: O 48.10  2/23/2024 Gretchen Walsh, Virginia
         Pool: P 50.01  12/5/2014 Courtney Bartholomew, Virginia
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Berkoff, Katharine     5Y NC State            48.70      49.34P 
    r:+0.67  11.61        23.98 (12.37)
          36.74 (12.76)       49.34 (12.60)
  2 McKenna, Kacey         JR Indiana             50.49      50.23  
    r:+0.68  11.74        24.09 (12.35)
          37.01 (12.92)       50.23 (13.22)
  3 Fuller, Josephine      JR Tennessee           50.59      50.25  
    r:+0.70  11.78        24.29 (12.51)
          37.31 (13.02)       50.25 (12.94)
  4 Stadden, Isabelle      SR California          50.26      50.42  
    r:+0.63  11.86        24.21 (12.35)
          37.16 (12.95)       50.42 (13.26)
  5 Bacon, Phoebe          SR Wisconsin           51.14      50.48  
    r:+0.62  11.93        24.38 (12.45)
          37.35 (12.97)       50.48 (13.13)
  6 Noble, Kennedy         SO NC State            50.79      50.93  
    r:+0.62  12.24        24.72 (12.48)
          37.70 (12.98)       50.93 (13.23)
  7 Pulido, Celia          JR SIU                 51.82      50.98  
    r:+0.63  11.75        24.29 (12.54)
          37.46 (13.17)       50.98 (13.52)
  8 Grana, Miranda         FR TAMU                50.65      50.99  
    r:+0.63  12.14        24.78 (12.64)
          37.84 (13.06)       50.99 (13.15)

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