NCAA Women’s Championships: Virginia to Pull Away on Final Night; Texas Looks Good for Second (Heat Sheets)

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Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

NCAA Women’s Championships: Virginia to Pull Away on Final Night; Texas Looks Good for Second (Heat Sheets)

NCAA team titles are often decided during the final prelims session, and even with the University of Virginia’s point total already well clear of any rivals, the Cavaliers should only extend the margin on the final day after qualifying seven A-finalists for the final day.

Click here to view the full heat sheet for finals.

Gretchen Walsh captured the top seed for the 100 freestyle final, while Kate Douglass will aim for her third title and third record-setting swim of the meet in the 200 breaststroke, with Virginia teammates Ella Nelson and Anna Keating joining her in the top heat. Additionally, Reilly Tiltmann (200 backstroke) and Abby Harter (200 butterfly) will each compete in their first A-final of the meet.

In the 200 fly, Alex Walsh will be in pursuit of a title defense, but she could have her hands full with Texas swimmers after Emma SticklenDakota Luther and Kelly Pash qualified first, second and fourth, respectively. The Longhorns ended up with five A-finalists Saturday, with Olivia Bray also making it in the 200 backstroke and Anna Elendt set for the 200 breast.

Texas did miss a point-scoring opportunity when Lydia Jacoby ended up 10th in the 200 breast, but the five up, one down performance was second best among teams in the heats. Currently sitting in second place with 272.5 points, 33.5 clear of third-place Stanford, the Longhorns look good to repeat as the second-place team. It helps that Texas is the only title-contending team set for big points in the 1650 free, with Erica Sullivan seeded third.

The remaining teams currently sitting in the top five, Stanford, Louisville and NC State, each qualified three A-finalists. Stanford has Claire Curzan seeded first in the 200 backTorri Huske third in the 100 free and Charlotte Hook eighth in the 200 fly. For Louisville, Gabi Albiero and Christiana Regenauer are in strong position in the 100 free while Abby Hay has the 200 fly, and NC State’s big opportunities will come from 200 backstrokers Emma Muzzy and Kennedy Noble plus 100 freestyler Katharine Berkoff.

The only other team to qualify multiple A-finalists was Tennessee, with the host Volunteers getting Josephine Fuller in the 200 back final and Mona McSharry in the 200 breast. Tennessee currently sits eighth in the team competition but with a strong chance of moving up after outperforming sixth-place Florida and seventh-place Ohio State in prelims.

Full Up-Downs:

  • Virginia 7 up, 3 down
  • Texas 5 up, 1 down
  • NC State 3 up, 2 down
  • Stanford 3 up, 2 down
  • Louisville 3 up, 1 down
  • Tennessee 2 up, 1 down
  • Indiana 1 up, 2 down
  • Cal 1 up, 1 down
  • Duke 1 up, 1 down
  • Ohio State 1 up, 1 down
  • USC 1 up, 1 down
  • Arizona State 1 up, 0 down
  • Hawaii 1 up, 0 down
  • LSU 1 up, 0 down
  • Wisconsin 1 up, 0 down
  • Alabama 0 up, 3 down
  • North Carolina 0 up, 3 down
  • Georgia 0 up, 2 down
  • Kentucky 0 up, 2 down
  • Akron 0 up, 1 down
  • Florida 0 up, 1 down
  • Florida State 0 up, 1 down
  • Northwestern 0 up, 1 down
  • Texas A&M 0 up, 1 down
  • Virginia Tech 0 up, 1 down

Women - Team Rankings - Through Event 14                     
 
  1. Virginia                        374.5   2. Texas                           272.5
  3. Stanford                          239   4. Louisville                      191.5
  5. NC State                          190   6. Ohio St                           170
  7. Florida                           146   8. Tennessee                         135
  9. UNC                               125  10. Indiana                           121
 11. California                        105  12. Southern California                86
 13. Lsu                                79  14. Alabama                            75
 15. Georgia                          70.5  16. Wisconsin                          67
 17. Kentucky                           42  18. Minnesota                          37
 19. Miami (Fl)                         36  20. Arizona                            32
 21. Michigan                           29  22. South Carolina                     25
 22. Virginia Tech                      25  24. Texas A&M                          22
 25. Duke                               20  26. Auburn                             13
 26. Northwestern                       13  28. Arkansas                           12
 29. Miami (Ohio)                        9  30. Florida St                          7
 30. Purdue                              7  32. UCLA                                6
 33. Arizona St                          4  34. Utah                                2
 35. Florida Int'l                       1  35. Akron                               1
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