{"id":466013,"date":"2021-03-20T15:29:31","date_gmt":"2021-03-20T22:29:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=466013"},"modified":"2021-03-24T20:33:31","modified_gmt":"2021-03-25T03:33:31","slug":"paige-madden-dominates-1650-for-third-individual-win-of-ncaa-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/paige-madden-dominates-1650-for-third-individual-win-of-ncaa-championships\/","title":{"rendered":"Paige Madden Dominates 1650 For Third Individual Win of NCAA Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virginia senior\u00a0Paige Madden\u00a0<\/strong>concluded a perfect weekend from the 2021 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships in Greensboro with her fourth title at 15:41.86 in the 1650, adding on to her wins in the 500 and 200 freestyle as well as the 800 freestyle relay. Madden stayed calm, cool and collected in the first half of the race, staying even with the field that looked like a classic in the making, with many fans remembering the men’s 2017 race where the top four all swam under the fastest time in history.<\/p>\n

Tennessee’s\u00a0Kristen Stege<\/strong>, Texas’\u00a0Evie Pfeifer\u00a0<\/strong>and Michigan’s\u00a0Sierra Schmidt\u00a0<\/strong>were all within striking distance of Madden in the first half, with Michigan’s\u00a0Kaitlynn Sims<\/strong> and Alabama’s\u00a0Kensey McMahon\u00a0<\/strong>with a chance to pounce if the pace got too fast. But Madden, much like she did during all her races this week, turned on the jets and slowly but surely scooted away from the field and won at the very end with a comfortable margin.<\/p>\n

Pfeifer finished in second place for the Longhorns at 15:46.41 in what could be a historic day for the program, chasing their first top four finish since 2001 and first runner-up spot since 1994. Michigan’s Schmidt was third at 15:51.09 while Tennessee’s Stege was fourth at 15:52.07.<\/p>\n

Michigan’s Sims (15:57.80) and Alabama’s McMahon (16:00.62) placed fifth and sixth as they fell off the pace on the back half.<\/p>\n

Texas A&M’s\u00a0Camryn Toney <\/strong>(16:04.02) and Northwestern’s\u00a0Lola Mull\u00a0<\/strong>(16:04.11) also placed in the top eight from swimming in the earlier heats.<\/p>\n

Virginia now has five NCAA titles in the 1650, the fourth most among Division I schools, as Madden joins the likes of Cara Lane\u00a0<\/strong>(2000, 2001) and\u00a0Leah Smith\u00a0<\/strong>(2015, 2016) as winners of the event for the Cavaliers.<\/p>\n

Listen to Madden’s interview below:<\/p>\n\n