{"id":408759,"date":"2019-12-30T00:49:14","date_gmt":"2019-12-30T07:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=408759"},"modified":"2019-12-30T00:49:14","modified_gmt":"2019-12-30T07:49:14","slug":"2019-ncaa-performances-of-the-year-abbey-weitzeil-dean-farris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/2019-ncaa-performances-of-the-year-abbey-weitzeil-dean-farris\/","title":{"rendered":"2019 NCAA Performances of the Year: Abbey Weitzeil, Dean Farris"},"content":{"rendered":"

There were plenty of stellar performances at the 2019 NCAA swimming championships. Records were broken, titles were won and historical performances turned heads. What performances were the 2019 NCAA Performances of the Year?<\/p>\n

Lilly King, Beata Nelson<\/strong>, Louise Hansson<\/strong> and Andrew Seliskar<\/strong> turned in stellar individual performances, while the Cal men and Stanford women won team titles. But there were two performances that had the sport’s full attention.<\/p>\n

One saved her best performance for last, closing out the women’s meet in record fashion. The other started the men’s meet in record fashion. Both had unprecedented energy and a buzz that people are still talking about.<\/p>\n

Cal’s Abbey Weitzeil<\/strong> and Harvard’s Dean Farris<\/strong> had the top NCAA swimming performances of the year.<\/p>\n

NCAA Performances of the Year: Weitzeil’s Relay Heroics<\/strong><\/h3>\n

After spending hours at the hospital before the final night of the NCAA championships, Abbey Weitzeil<\/strong> was determined to push through the pain.<\/p>\n

Weitzeil did more than push through the pain of her elbow injury, she turned in one of the most impressive performances in NCAA history<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With her right arm heavily wrapped, in addition to the pain of the injury and limited mobility of her arm — suffered on Friday night when she jammed it finishing the 200 medley relay — she had some extra drag with the wrap in the water.<\/p>\n

Weitzeil overcame all of that to finish fourth in the 100 free, before turning in an amazing performance to close the meet, anchoring Cal\u2019s title in the 400 free relay \u2014 in an NCAA record time of 3:06.96<\/a>, along with Izzy Ivey, Katie McLaughlin<\/strong> and Amy Bilquist<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"abbey-weitzeil-\"

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cHonestly, I was just going out there before the relay (looking at my teammates) going, you got me, I got you. We were all going to put it all out there,\u201d Weitzeil said. \u201cEven in the race I wasn\u2019t even thinking about it \u2014\u00a0I was trying not to think about it. We got our hand to the wall, that is all that matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her fierceness, coupled with the drive for her team that has made her one of the best relay swimmers in NCAA history.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just speaks to her character,\u201d Bilquist said. \u201cShe is a fighter. She is a warrior.\u201d<\/p>\n