{"id":465337,"date":"2021-03-18T16:58:51","date_gmt":"2021-03-18T23:58:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=465337"},"modified":"2021-03-18T20:57:57","modified_gmt":"2021-03-19T03:57:57","slug":"kate-douglass-continues-virginias-momentum-with-narrow-win-over-macneil-in-50-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/kate-douglass-continues-virginias-momentum-with-narrow-win-over-macneil-in-50-free\/","title":{"rendered":"Kate Douglass Continues Virginia’s Momentum With Narrow Win Over MacNeil in 50 Free"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virginia kept the ball rolling on Thursday night at the 2021 NCAA<\/a> Division I Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships in Greensboro as sophomore\u00a0Kate Douglass\u00a0<\/strong>won the third straight event for the Cavaliers tonight. But it was not a walk in the park for Douglass as she swam a 21.13 to just out-touch Michigan’s\u00a0Maggie MacNeil\u00a0<\/strong>at 21.17 as those two are on a collision course all weekend and will race all three of their individual events side by side.<\/p>\n

Douglass has had a lot of hype around her name and is a big reason why this Virginia team is so dominant at the moment as last year was expected to be her coming out party but the meet was unfortunately cancelled.<\/p>\n

“I definitely didn’t think I would go that fast today. Going a best time twice today was really great,” Douglass said after the race. “I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy race because Maggie is really fast and there were a lot of other really fast girls in the field, but I tried to focus on my own swim and hoped that would do the job.”<\/p>\n

With that behind her, Douglass did not miss a beat, and although she dropped the 200 IM in favor of this event, she still won the national title and is expected to contend in her other two events – the 100 fly and 100 free.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the night, Douglass put herself third all-time in the 50 freestyle with her 21.0 in leading off Virginia’s 200 free relay that finished second as her swim in the individual 50 is her second fastest time of her career, coming in with a 21.4 best time. MacNeil is now tied for fourth all-time with Stanford’s\u00a0Simone Manuel<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Missouri’s Sarah Thompson<\/strong> scored her own best time in the 50 free with a 21.42 as NC State’s Kylee Alons<\/strong> was fourth at 21.51 and\u00a0Katharine Berkoff\u00a0<\/strong>was eighth at 21.96 to put the Wolfpack in third place overall ahead of Ohio State.<\/p>\n

Thompson is now 13th all-time in the 50 freestyle with her swim.<\/p>\n

North Carolina’s Grace Countie<\/strong> (21.60), Alabama’s\u00a0Kalia Antoniou\u00a0<\/strong>(21.85) and Northwestern’s\u00a0Maddie Smith\u00a0<\/strong>(21.92) also swam in the championship final in fifth, sixth and seventh place.<\/p>\n

All-Time Rankings:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. 20.90,\u00a0Abbey Weitzeil<\/strong>, California, 2019<\/li>\n
  2. 21.03,\u00a0Erika Brown<\/strong>, Tennessee, 2020<\/li>\n
  3. 21.09,\u00a0Kate Douglass<\/strong>, Virginia, 2021<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n
  4. 21.17,\u00a0Simone Manuel<\/strong>, Stanford, 2017<\/li>\n
  5. 21.17,\u00a0Maggie MacNeil<\/strong>, Michigan, 2021<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n
  6. 21.19,\u00a0Anna Hopkin<\/strong>, Arkansas, 2019<\/li>\n
  7. 21.21,\u00a0Olivia Smoliga<\/strong>, Georgia, 2016<\/li>\n
  8. 21.27,\u00a0Lara Jackson<\/strong>, Arizona, 2009<\/li>\n
  9. 21.28,\u00a0Liz Li<\/strong>, Ohio State, 2018<\/li>\n
  10. 21.32, Farida Osman<\/strong>, California, 2016<\/li>\n
  11. 21.34,\u00a0Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace<\/strong>, Auburn, 2011<\/li>\n
  12. 21.41,\u00a0Gretchen Walsh<\/strong>, Nashville, 2020<\/li>\n
  13. 21.42,\u00a0Sarah Thompson<\/strong>, Missouri, 2021<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n
  14. 21.43,\u00a0Torri Huske<\/strong>, Arlington, 2020<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n