{"id":499946,"date":"2022-03-18T10:02:31","date_gmt":"2022-03-18T17:02:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=499946"},"modified":"2022-03-18T10:05:24","modified_gmt":"2022-03-18T17:05:24","slug":"ncaa-womens-championships-virginia-goes-seven-up-four-down-poised-to-extend-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ncaa-womens-championships-virginia-goes-seven-up-four-down-poised-to-extend-lead\/","title":{"rendered":"NCAA Women’s Championships: Virginia Goes Seven Up, Four Down, Poised to Extend Lead"},"content":{"rendered":"

NCAA Women’s Championships: Virginia Goes Seven Up-Four Down, Poised to Extend Lead<\/strong><\/p>\n

Already in the lead by more than 80 points at the NCAA Women’s Championships, the University of Virginia Cavaliers are set to pull away from any other team even further during Friday night’s finals. Virginia entered projected to out-score the competition by more than 50 points during third day of racing, and that looks likely to happen after the Cavaliers picked up 11 individual swims for the evening, seven A-finalists and four B-finalists.<\/p>\n

Two Virginia swimmers, Alex Walsh<\/strong> and\u00a0Kate Douglass<\/strong>, are the top seeds in their respective events as each will be looking for a second title of the meet. Virginia has finished first and\/or second in every swimming event so far, but that streak will end three races into the Friday finals as no UVA swimmer qualified for the 200 freestyle A-final, with\u00a0Reilly Tiltmann<\/strong> finishing ninth and missing the top heat by six hundredths.<\/p>\n

But while the quest for a team title seems largely devoid of drama so far, but there are still a lot of team standings to sort out. Texas currently sits second in the team race by a narrow margin over Stanford and Alabama, but the Cardinal made a move Friday morning by finishing six up\/two down.\u00a0Taylor Ruck<\/strong> jumped out from 19th to first in the 200 free prelims, which was not a huge surprise but notable nonetheless, and\u00a0Regan Smith<\/strong> is in the top spot in the 100 backstroke.\u00a0Torri Huske<\/strong> is second to Douglass in the 100 fly. The Cardinal’s big morning is likely to move them into a comfortable second place by the end of Friday’s finals.<\/p>\n

Texas had five swimmers make it back, all to A-finals, including surprising top seed Anna Elendt<\/strong> in the 100 breast. Three other squads qualified at least three A-finalists: NC State, Tennessee and Kentucky. NC State was not a huge surprise with defending champions\u00a0Sophie Hansson<\/strong> (100 breast) and Katharine Berkoff\u00a0<\/strong>(100 back) in their respective best events. Tennessee, meanwhile, bounced back after a rough first two days that saw the Volunteers underperform their psych sheet projections by 51 points, slipping from a projected fourth-place finish to now being projected for sixth. But\u00a0Ellen Walshe<\/strong> took third in both the 400 IM and 100 fly while\u00a0Mona Mc Sharry<\/strong> is in contention in the 100 breast?<\/p>\n

Kentucky was a bit more of a surprise, but a trio of Wildcats got the job done in the 400 IM with\u00a0Bailey Bonnett<\/strong> and\u00a0Lauren Poole<\/strong> getting into the A-final and\u00a0Gillian Davey<\/strong> taking a spot in the consolation heat, and\u00a0Riley Gaines\u00a0<\/strong>will be in the field for the 200 free.<\/p>\n

Cal, USC and Northwestern each had two A-finalists, with both of Northwestern’s competitors,\u00a0Tara Vork<\/strong> and\u00a0Sophie Angus<\/strong>, making it back in the 100 breaststroke. Meanwhile, Alabama and Ohio State will likely fall in the rankings on day three after being projected for around 70 points each. Both squads qualified only a single championship finalist plus two in the B-heat.<\/p>\n