INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, March 21. THE first day of preliminary competition is complete at the NCAA Division I Women's Championships at the IU Natatorium at IUPUI. Special thanks to SpeedoUSA for sponsoring our editorial coverage for this meet.
Georgia had a monster day with nine swimmers and two relays back this evening. The Bulldogs are looking to dethrone the two-time defending champs – The California Golden Bears.
Full coverage for the entire meet can be found at our landing page.
NCAA Day One Prelims Live Coverage
We are LIVE at the NCAA Division I Women's Championships at the IU Natatorium at IUPUI. This coverage is sponsored by SpeedoUSA!
Storified by SwimmingWorld· Thu, Mar 21 2013 10:46:29
WOMEN'S 400 MEDLEY RELAY
Tennessee made a statement with the top-seeded time of3:30.16 as Lauren Solernou (53.02), Molly Hannis (58.27), Kelsey Floyd (51.47)and Lindsay Gendron (47.40) put together the strong time. Tennessee has never won the 400 medley relay,and is looking to break through that barrier this evening.
Stanford's Maddy Schaefer (52.91), Sarah Haase (59.04),Felicia Lee (51.97) and Andrea Murez (46.94) placed second in 3:30.86, while TexasA&M's Paige Miller (51.64), Breeja Larson (57.55), Caroline McElhany(52.64) and Liliana Ibanez Lopez (49.10) also cleared 3:31 with a third-place3:30.93.
Arizona (3:31.12), Georgia (3:31.52), California (3:31.58),Texas (3:32.96) and Florida (3:33.03) grabbed the rest of the championship heatspots, while Indiana (3:33.45), Auburn (3:33.58), Minnesota (3:33.99), NotreDame (3:35.21), North Carolina (3:35.29), Missouri (3:36.03), Wisconsin(3:36.03) and San Diego State (3:36.15) all picked up consolation heatspots.
Four teams suffered DQs with the biggest likely beingSouthern California. Virginia Tech,Louisville and UCLA also had their times wiped out with disqualifications.
WOMEN'S 50 FREE
The big team winners in the splash-and-dash proved to beGeorgia and Tennessee as the Southeastern Conference programs both went two upin the sprint. That's some serious rangefrom the Bulldogs, who not only grabbed serious points in the 500 free, butalso secured strong sprint points.
Arizona's Margo Geer is the early favorite after dropping asizzling time of 21.73. That's just offher lifetime best of 21.64 that ranks her in an eight-place tie all time withDara Torres in the event. She's lookingto return the title to the Wildcats after a three-year drought following LaraJackson's back-to-back wins in 2008-09. Diane Johnson (1982) and Ashley Tappin(1995) are also former Wildcat victors in this event.
Georgia's Megan Romano, one of the most feared big-meetsprinters in the country, tied with Stanford's Maddy Schaefer for second withmatching 21.99s. Tennessee's Caroline Simmons would love to be the first LadyVolunteer to win the event since Nicole deMan in 1996, after qualifying fourthwith a 22.05. Teammate Faith Johnsoncould beat Simmons to the punch after qualifying seventh in 22.19.
Wisconsin's Ivy Martin (22.10), USC's Kasey Carlson (22.18)and Georgia's Chantal Van Landeghem (22.21) made their ways into the championshipheat to battle for the NCAA title as well.
Texas' Ellen Lobb (22.22), Florida's Natalie Hinds (22.27),Yale's Alexandra Forrester (22.35), Auburn's Emily Bos (22.35), Florida State'sTiffany Oliver (22.36), USC's Katarzyna Wilk (22.36), Arizona's Megan Lafferty(22.38) and Buffalo's Mallory Morrell (22.39) qualified ninth through 16thto make up the consolation heat.
WOMEN'S 200 IM
The field began to battle back from what looked to be anearly attempt at a first-day knockout shot from Georgia in the 500 free. The Golden Bears went two up, while SouthernCalifornia went two up, one down in the shorter medley. Georgia, however, managed a one up, one downeffort in the event.
Stanford's Maya DiRado, the ninth-fastest swimmer ever inthe event, raced to the top seed in 1:54.56. She will be bracketed byCalifornia's Elizabeth Pelton (1:55.00) and USC's Stina Gardell (1:55.01) inthe finale. DiRado is looking to win herprogram's eighth title in the event, the most ever in NCAA history in the 200IM. Former Stanford winners are SusieRapp (1986), Janel Jorgensen (1990), Summer Sanders (1991, 1992), JennyThompson (1995), Julia Smith (2009, 2010). That's some pretty illustrious company.
Florida's Elizabeth Beisel qualified fourth in 1:55.05, whileColumbia's Katie Meili could give the favorites a run for their money with afifth-seeded 1:55.45. Defending championand NCAA/American record holder Caitlin Leverenz put in an easy-speedsixth-seeded time of 1:55.80, and will look to turn up the heat in finals.
USC's Meghan Hawthorne (1:55.84) and Georgia's MelanieMargalis (1:55.98) also made the finale, and will be vying for the NCAA titlethis evening.
Texas A&M's Caroline McElhany (1:56.49), Notre Dame'sEmma Reaney (1:56.63), Georgia's Annie Zhu (1:56.97), North Carolina's CarolynBlalock (1:57.04), Louisville's Tanja Kylliainen (1:57.08), Penn State'sMerritt Krawczyk (1:57.16), USC's Andrea Kropp (1:57.16) and Texas A&M'sErica Dittmer (1:57.67) grabbed the B final transfer spots.
WOMEN'S 500 FREE
Georgia dominated the middle-distance event with a three up,two down performance from the Bulldogs. Sophomore Amber McDermott jumped to the top of the heap with a 4:36.26as the top seed, while Shannon Vreeland raced to second in 4:36.45. Meanwhile three-time NCAA champion in thisevent, Allison Schmitt, put in an easy fifth-seeded 4:37.76. Schmitt, who took last year off to focus onthe Olympics after winning the event in 2009, 2010 and 2011, is vying to becomejust the 12th swimmer to ever win an event four times in a career,including a pair of former Bulldogs in Kara Lynn Joyce (50 free, 100 free) andMary DeScenza (200 fly).
While plenty of Bulldogs will be shooting for that program'sfifth NCAA title in the event (Laura Conway also won in 2006), Indiana'sLindsay Vrooman could be a spoiler after qualifying third in 4:36.97. Defendingchampion Haley Anderson, who took the open water silver medal in London,qualified fourth with a 4:37.03 and will be looking for a second crown.
UNC's Danielle Siverling pushed the pace outside of thecircle-seeded heats and managed to earn her way to a sixth-seeded 4:38.39, whileTennessee's Lindsay Gendron (4:38.47) and Arizona's Bonnie Brandon (4:38.63)rounded out the championship finale.
Texas A&M's Sarah Henry (4:38.70), Minnesota's KieraJanzen (4:38.70), Florida's Jessica Thielmann (4:38.84), Georgia's BrittanyMacLean (4:38.84), Texas A&M's Maureen McLaine (4:39.56), California'sCatherine Breed (4:40.82), West Virginia's Rachael Burnett (4:41.13) andGeorgia's Jordan Mattern (4:41.55) earned the consolation final spots.
WOMEN'S 200 FREE RELAY
Arizona definitely put itself in position to win for thefirst time in the event since a four-year run of success from 2006-09. Margo Geer (21.88), Kaitlyn Flederbach(21.97), Megan Lafferty (21.81) and Alan Pazeviz (22.19) turned in a1:27.85. That's only a second off whatit took Stanford to win last year (1:26.85), and could push the Wildcats totheir eight title in the event's history. They currently own second with seven behind only Texas' amazing ninewins. Arizona previously won in 1996,97, 98, 06, 07, 08 and 09. Since 2009,Florida, California and Stanford have stood atop the podium.
Georgia joined the Wildcats under 1:28 as Maddie Locus(22.91), Chantal Van Landeghem (21.76) and Jessica Graber (22.20) set up MeganRomano to pull it home with a blistering fast time of 21.05 as the Bulldogsqualified second in 1:27.92. Georgia hasfive wins in the event's history, but hasn't topped the sprint relay since afour-year run from 2002-05. The Bulldogsalso won in 1995.
Tennessee's Caroline Simmons (22.22), Faith Johnson (21.77),Harper Bruens (22.13) and Kelsey Floyd (21.88) nearly joined the top two under1:28 with a 1:28.00 to qualify third. The Lady Volunteers are looking for their first win in program history inthe 200-yard free relay.
California's Kaylin Bing (22.36), Rachel Bootsma (21.87),Cindy Tran (21.88) and Elizabeth Pelton (22.01) qualified fourth in1:28.12. USC (1:28.60), Florida(1:28.77) and Texas (1:28.91) comprised the rest of the championship heat withAuburn drawing a huge disqualification after a -0.01 relay takeover by HaleyKrakoski.
Wisconsin (1:29.39), SMU (1:29.43), Texas A&M (1:29.57),Minnesota (1:29.66), Virginia (1:29.88), Missouri (1:30.15), UCLA (1:30.15) andPenn State (1:30.18) earned their way into the consolation heat.
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