NCAA Women’s Championships: Texas Dominates with 1-2-4 Seeds in 200 Butterfly

Emma Sticklen. Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

The 2023 NCAA Division I Women’s Championships continued with the prelims of the 200 butterfly.

Defending NCAA champion Alex Walsh enters as the favorite, though she wasn’t seeded in the circle heats.

The rest of the field was packed with some interesting possibilities, most from Texas. Emma Sticklen, Kelly Pash and Dakota Luther were the top three seeds going into the meet.

Walsh was in heat four of seven, swimming in lane seven. She was out fast in a 52.78 and continued to pull away from the field and touched in 1:52.05.

Luther was the first Texas swimmer up in the circle heats. She started strong and pulled away with a strong swim in 1:51.91.

Next, it was Pash. She wasn’t quite as fast as Luther, but held off the swimmers in her heat to get to the wall in 1:52.73.

In the final heat, it was Sticklen pulling away from the field to touch in 1:51.71.

That leaves the Longhorns with the 1-2-4 seeds heading into finals.

Sticklen took the top seed in 1:51.71, just two tenths ahead of Luther (1:51.91).

Defending champion Walsh took the third seed in 1:52.05, ahead of Pash (1:52.73), who was fourth.

Arizona State senior Lindsay Looney took the fifth seed in 1:53.19, followed by Louisville senior Abby Hay (1:53.21), Virginia junior Abby Harter (1:53.28) and Stanford freshman Charlotte Hook (1:53.86).

The Longhorns have the chance to score some major points and if the trio swims its best, would even have a chance to go 1-2-3, a rare feat in NCAA swimming.

Of course, Walsh and the rest of the field will have something to say about that.

Event 19  Women 200 Yard Butterfly
==================================================================
         NCAA: N 1:49.51  2/24/2018 Ella Eastin, Stanford
         Meet: M 1:50.01  3/17/2018 Ella Eastin, Stanford
     American: A 1:49.51  2/24/2018 Ella Eastin, Stanford
      US Open: O 1:49.51  2/24/2018 Ella Eastin, Stanford
         Pool: P 1:51.51  2/18/2022 Riley Gaines, Kentucky
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Sticklen, Emma         JR Texas             1:51.37    1:51.71  
    r:+0.66  24.53        52.45 (27.92)
        1:21.71 (29.26)     1:51.71 (30.00)
  2 Luther, Dakota         5Y Texas             1:51.58    1:51.91  
    r:+0.70  25.11        53.27 (28.16)
        1:22.27 (29.00)     1:51.91 (29.64)
  3 Walsh, Alex            JR Virginia          1:55.63    1:52.05  
    r:+0.77  25.15        52.78 (27.63)
        1:21.78 (29.00)     1:52.05 (30.27)
  4 Pash, Kelly            SR Texas             1:51.45    1:52.73  
    r:+0.68  25.06        53.42 (28.36)
        1:22.40 (28.98)     1:52.73 (30.33)
  5 Looney, Lindsay        SR ASU               1:52.68    1:53.19  
    r:+0.67  25.20        53.57 (28.37)
        1:22.99 (29.42)     1:53.19 (30.20)
  6 Hay, Abby              SR Louisville        1:53.51    1:53.21  
    r:+0.72  25.05        53.37 (28.32)
        1:22.77 (29.40)     1:53.21 (30.44)
  7 Harter, Abby           JR Virginia          1:54.31    1:53.28  
    r:+0.72  25.38        54.13 (28.75)
        1:23.08 (28.95)     1:53.28 (30.20)
  8 Hook, Charlotte        FR Stanford          1:52.48    1:53.86  
    r:+0.68  26.04        54.87 (28.83)
        1:23.92 (29.05)     1:53.86 (29.94)
 -----------------------------------------------------------------
  9 Klinker, Rachel        SR California        1:53.57    1:54.16  
    r:+0.70  25.75        54.37 (28.62)
        1:23.40 (29.03)     1:54.16 (30.76)
 10 Nordmann, Lillie       SO Stanford          1:53.89    1:54.29  
    r:+0.67  25.80        54.77 (28.97)
        1:23.98 (29.21)     1:54.29 (30.31)
 11 Arens, Abby            JR NC State          1:52.91    1:54.45  
    r:+0.65  25.14        54.08 (28.94)
        1:24.34 (30.26)     1:54.45 (30.11)
 12 Jernstedt, Edith       SO FSU               1:55.78    1:54.64  
    r:+0.74  25.48        54.77 (29.29)
        1:24.28 (29.51)     1:54.64 (30.36)
 13 Stotler, Sara          SO Tennessee         1:54.61    1:54.71  
    r:+0.64  25.55        54.35 (28.80)
        1:24.19 (29.84)     1:54.71 (30.52)
 14 Dickinson, Callie      5Y Georgia           1:54.63    1:54.83  
    r:+0.68  25.28        53.90 (28.62)
        1:23.80 (29.90)     1:54.83 (31.03)
 15 VanNote, Ellie         SR UNC               1:54.07    1:54.84  
    r:+0.64  25.74        54.70 (28.96)
        1:24.44 (29.74)     1:54.84 (30.40)
 16 Guevara, Miriam        5Y Northwestern      1:55.82    1:55.18  
    r:+0.60  24.96        54.04 (29.08)
        1:23.89 (29.85)     1:55.18 (31.29)
 -----------------------------------------------------------------
 17 Gati, Izzy             5Y Kentucky          1:56.19    1:55.23  
    r:+0.68  25.72        54.54 (28.82)
        1:24.49 (29.95)     1:55.23 (30.74)
 18 Theall, Olivia         JR TAMU              1:54.81    1:55.25  
    r:+0.75  26.05        55.72 (29.67)
        1:25.38 (29.66)     1:55.25 (29.87)

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