NCAA Women’s Championships: Taylor Ruck Rips 1:42.70 to Lead Tight 200 Freestyle Prelims

Stanford's Taylor Ruck -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

NCAA Women’s Championships: Taylor Ruck Rips 1:42.70 to Lead Tight 200 Free Prelims

At her final collegiate meet, Stanford’s Taylor Ruck will be in pole position to defend the 200 freestyle title she earned last year. Ruck, who entered the meet with the fifth-best seed time, jumped out ahead of her heat and held off a strong finish from Virginia’s Aimee Canny. Ruck finished in 1:42.70, just ahead of Canny’s 1:42.97. Ruck is tied for fourth all-time in this event at 1:40.37, and she swam a time of 1:41.12 in winning the national title last year.

The field will have a distinct international flavor with the top three seeds all from outside the United States. Canada’s Ruck and South Africa’s Canny will be joined by another Canadian, Tennessee’s Brooklyn Douthwright, after Douthwright swam a mark of 1:43.22 for the third-best time overall. Douthwright owns the top season-best mark in the field at 1:42.45. Indiana’s Anna Peplowski finished just behind Douthwright in that heat at 1:43.27, which tied Stanford’s Kayla Wilson for fourth overall.

In the third of seven heats, Virginia’s Maxine Parker made a huge jump up through the rankings. She entered with a seed time of 1:45.49, but she dropped down to 1:43.28 with a dominant effort. That held up for the sixth-best qualifying time overall. Texas A&M’s Chloe Stepanek qualified seventh in 1:43.83, while Louisville’s Paige Hetrick produced another sterling swim from outside the circle-seeded heats. Her time of 1:43.90 helped her comfortably win heat four, and because of that swim, Hetrick snuck into the A-final by one hundredth over Texas’ Kelly Pash (1:43.91).

Pash was the third-place finisher in this event last season, and with the Stanford duo of Lillie Nordmann and Morgan Tankersley also missing the A-final, Ruck is the only returning top-eight finisher from last season. Tankersley ended up tying for 12th with NC State’s Abbey Webb in 1:44.02 (Florida’s Ekaterina Nikonova and Ohio State’s Amy Fulmer both missed the A-final after going sub-1:44).

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 1:41.40  12/6/2013 Missy Franklin, California
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Ruck, Taylor           SR Stanford          1:43.04    1:42.70  
    r:+0.71  23.58        49.60 (26.02)
        1:15.97 (26.37)     1:42.70 (26.73)
  2 Canny, Aimee           FR Virginia          1:42.62    1:42.94  
    r:+0.74  24.14        50.24 (26.10)
        1:16.57 (26.33)     1:42.94 (26.37)
  3 Douthwright, Brooklyn  SO Tennessee         1:42.45    1:43.22  
    r:+0.60  24.26        50.60 (26.34)
        1:17.00 (26.40)     1:43.22 (26.22)
  4 Wilson, Kayla          FR Stanford          1:43.74    1:43.27  
    r:+0.68  24.31        50.20 (25.89)
        1:16.74 (26.54)     1:43.27 (26.53)
  4 Peplowski, Anna        SO Indiana           1:43.33    1:43.27  
    r:+0.70  24.22        50.43 (26.21)
        1:16.76 (26.33)     1:43.27 (26.51)
  6 Parker, Maxine         JR Virginia          1:45.49    1:43.28  
    r:+0.73  24.48        50.53 (26.05)
        1:16.80 (26.27)     1:43.28 (26.48)
  7 Stepanek, Chloe        JR TAMU              1:43.37    1:43.83  
    r:+0.67  24.05        50.45 (26.40)
        1:17.19 (26.74)     1:43.83 (26.64)
  8 Hetrick, Paige         JR Louisville        1:44.83    1:43.90  
    r:+0.69  23.98        49.98 (26.00)
        1:16.65 (26.67)     1:43.90 (27.25)
 -----------------------------------------------------------------
  9 Pash, Kelly            SR Texas             1:42.73    1:43.91  
    r:+0.69  23.75        49.65 (25.90)
        1:16.60 (26.95)     1:43.91 (27.31)
 10 Nikonova, Ekaterina    SO Florida           1:43.96    1:43.93  
    r:+0.67  24.36        50.81 (26.45)
        1:17.45 (26.64)     1:43.93 (26.48)
 11 Fulmer, Amy            SR Ohio St           1:42.94    1:43.99  
    r:+0.72  24.22        50.48 (26.26)
        1:17.20 (26.72)     1:43.99 (26.79)
 12 Webb, Abbey            JR NC State          1:43.84    1:44.02  
    r:+0.68  24.39        50.86 (26.47)
        1:17.53 (26.67)     1:44.02 (26.49)
 12 Tankersley, Morgan     SR Stanford          1:44.04    1:44.02  
    r:+0.69  24.64        50.87 (26.23)
        1:17.43 (26.56)     1:44.02 (26.59)
 14 Carlson, Abby          SO Wisconsin         1:44.19    1:44.27  
    r:+0.66  24.76        51.24 (26.48)
        1:17.75 (26.51)     1:44.27 (26.52)
 15 Atkinson, Emma         JR VT                1:43.31    1:44.31  
    r:+0.71  24.41        50.07 (25.66)
        1:16.85 (26.78)     1:44.31 (27.46)
 16 Motekaitis, Mia        SR California        1:43.92    1:44.47  
    r:+0.69  24.59        50.98 (26.39)
        1:17.86 (26.88)     1:44.47 (26.61)

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