{"id":466015,"date":"2021-03-20T16:28:04","date_gmt":"2021-03-20T23:28:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=466015"},"modified":"2021-03-24T20:31:37","modified_gmt":"2021-03-25T03:31:37","slug":"olivia-carter-completes-michigans-butterfly-sweep-with-200-ncaa-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/olivia-carter-completes-michigans-butterfly-sweep-with-200-ncaa-title\/","title":{"rendered":"Olivia Carter Completes Michigan’s Butterfly Sweep With 200 NCAA Title"},"content":{"rendered":"

Much like the rest of the winners tonight, Michigan’s\u00a0Olivia Carter\u00a0<\/strong>threw down an impressive back half to win the NCAA title in the 200 butterfly as her win complements her junior teammate Maggie MacNeil’s\u00a0<\/strong>win in the 100 butterfly<\/a> last night.<\/p>\n

Carter won with a 1:51.33, completely dominating the field on the back half, out splitting everyone on the third and fourth 50’s to win by a second and a half over Texas freshman\u00a0Olivia Bray\u00a0<\/strong>(1:52.87). Carter is now 11th all-time with her time as the Greensboro native won in her home pool.<\/p>\n

“It is absolutely amazing to win in my home pool. It is definitely a dream come true. I wish there could be a home crowd for me to celebrate with but it felt like I was right at home,” Olivia Carter said after the race. “The last day has always wanted to be one of my best days. Going off of Maggie’s win, it gave me a lot of energy to push through.”<\/p>\n

Bray took it out first at the halfway point at 53.08 as she was leading a 1-2-4 with Longhorn teammates\u00a0Kelly Pash\u00a0<\/strong>(53.29) and freshman\u00a0Emma Sticklen\u00a0<\/strong>(53.70), with Carter splitting the trio at 53.60. Then Carter threw down a 28.3 split as no one else broke 29 seconds and was clear sailing on the final 50.<\/p>\n

Texas was hoping to gather as many points as possible in the pursuit of a top two finish with NC State currently holding that spot at the moment, as Bray was second, Pash was fourth at 1:53.42, and Sticklen was seventh at 1:54.09. Texas is now 23.5 points behind NC State with just the platform diving event and 400 free relay left.<\/p>\n

Georgia’s\u00a0Dakota Luther<\/strong>, who was the top seed heading into the meet in this event, finished in third at 1:53.01 while Texas A&M’s\u00a0Taylor Pike\u00a0<\/strong>tied Pash for fourth at 1:53.42.<\/p>\n

Virginia’s\u00a0Abby Harter <\/strong>(1:53.86) and Kentucky’s\u00a0Izzy Gati\u00a0<\/strong>(1:54.35) also swam in the championship final.<\/p>\n

Olivia Carter’s title is Michigan’s first ever NCAA title in the 200 butterfly and the first for the Big Ten Conference.<\/p>\n

Listen to Carter’s interview below with teammate Maggie MacNeil.<\/p>\n\nhttps:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/carter-macneil.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n