NCAA Women’s Championships: Regan Smith Kicks Off Busy Day With Top Time in 200 Back Prelims

Regan Smith -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

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NCAA Women’s Championships: Regan Smith Kicks Off Busy Day With Top Time in 200 Back Prelims

On the final day of the NCAA Women’s Championships, Stanford freshman Regan Smith is attempting a daunting double that includes the 200 backstroke and 200 butterfly. Smith excels in both events as she is the American-record holder in the 200 back and the second-fastest swimmer in the 200 fly, so she decided to pursue both events despite the quick turnaround time.

Smith finished third in the 100 back final Friday evening, well behind NC State’s Katharine Berkoff and Virginia’s Gretchen Walsh as both of those swimmers went under Smith’s American record, but Smith looked strong in the eight-lap race in the morning. Swimming in the final heat, she turned just eight hundredths ahead of Alabama’s Rhyan White with 50 yards to go before finishing with a strong 27.73 final split. That allowed Smith to post the top time of the morning, a 1:49.22.

The only other swimmer to break 1:50 in prelims was Cal’s Isabelle Stadden, who pulled ahead of defending NCAA champion Phoebe Bacon in their prelims heat with a strong last 50. Stadden touched in 1:49.94, while Bacon, a Wisconsin sophomore, touched in 1:50.08. Those times were the second and third-fastest of the morning, respectively.

In the first circle-seeded heat, Stanford’s Taylor Ruck was back in the pool after capturing the NCAA title in the 200 free Friday night. Ruck led at the halfway point, but Virginia’s Reilly Tiltmann used brilliant underwaters to surge ahead, and she finished in 1:50.34, more than a second ahead of Ruck’s 1:51.47. In her previous individual events, Tiltmann has finished fifth in the 100 back and ninth in the 200 free. Tiltmann and Virginia Tech’s Emma Atkinson tied for the fourth seed.

White, who placed second last year but later won the 200-meter back at the U.S. Olympic Trials ahead of Bacon and Smith, ended up sixth in 1:50.36, while NC State’s Emma Muzzy (1:51.06) and Stanford’s Lucie Nordmann (1:51.20) also got into the final. Ruck, however, ended up ninth.

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 1:49.61  3/19/2016 Alexia Zevnik, NC St
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Smith, Regan           FR Stanford                     1:49.22P 
    r:+0.57  25.66        53.54 (27.88)
        1:21.49 (27.95)     1:49.22 (27.73)
  2 Stadden, Isabelle      SO California                   1:49.94  
    r:+0.67  25.96        53.86 (27.90)
        1:21.98 (28.12)     1:49.94 (27.96)
  3 Bacon, Phoebe          SO Wisconsin                    1:50.08  
    r:+0.69  25.94        53.78 (27.84)
        1:22.02 (28.24)     1:50.08 (28.06)
  4 Atkinson, Emma         SO VT                           1:50.34  
    r:+0.62  26.27        53.74 (27.47)
        1:21.87 (28.13)     1:50.34 (28.47)
  4 Tiltmann, Reilly       FR Virginia                     1:50.34  
    r:+0.68  26.37        54.03 (27.66)
        1:21.75 (27.72)     1:50.34 (28.59)
  6 White, Rhyan           SR Alabama                      1:50.36  
    r:+0.58  25.77        53.65 (27.88)
        1:21.57 (27.92)     1:50.36 (28.79)
  7 Muzzy, Emma            SR NCSU                         1:51.06  
    r:+0.82  26.33        54.12 (27.79)
        1:22.59 (28.47)     1:51.06 (28.47)
  8 Nordmann, Lucie        JR Stanford                     1:51.20  
    r:+0.59  25.89        53.77 (27.88)
        1:22.49 (28.72)     1:51.20 (28.71)
 -----------------------------------------------------------------
  9 Ruck, Taylor           JR Stanford                     1:51.47  
    r:+0.62  25.90        53.95 (28.05)
        1:22.34 (28.39)     1:51.47 (29.13)
 10 Moore, Kate            5Y NCSU                         1:51.90  
    r:+0.65  26.38        54.43 (28.05)
        1:22.89 (28.46)     1:51.90 (29.01)
 11 Sorenson, Sophie       SR Kentucky                     1:51.99  
    r:+0.62  25.95        53.82 (27.87)
        1:22.23 (28.41)     1:51.99 (29.76)
 12 Hetrick, Paige         SO Louisville                   1:52.05  
    r:+0.67  25.96        54.15 (28.19)
        1:22.86 (28.71)     1:52.05 (29.19)
 13 Brooks, Caitlin        JR Kentucky                     1:52.76  
    r:+0.73  26.35        54.46 (28.11)
        1:23.43 (28.97)     1:52.76 (29.33)
 14 Cook, Julia            SR Texas                        1:52.80  
    r:+0.53  25.98        54.36 (28.38)
        1:23.23 (28.87)     1:52.80 (29.57)
 15 Ulett, Rye             FR Louisville                   1:53.11  
    r:+0.64  26.81        54.95 (28.14)
        1:23.63 (28.68)     1:53.11 (29.48)
 16 Lindner, Sophie        SR UNC                          1:53.21  
    r:+0.72  26.89        55.08 (28.19)
        1:23.66 (28.58)     1:53.21 (29.55)

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