{"id":500276,"date":"2022-03-19T07:33:29","date_gmt":"2022-03-19T14:33:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=500276"},"modified":"2022-03-19T07:33:29","modified_gmt":"2022-03-19T14:33:29","slug":"ncaa-womens-championships-regan-smith-kicks-off-busy-day-with-top-time-in-200-back-prelims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ncaa-womens-championships-regan-smith-kicks-off-busy-day-with-top-time-in-200-back-prelims\/","title":{"rendered":"NCAA Women’s Championships: Regan Smith Kicks Off Busy Day With Top Time in 200 Back Prelims"},"content":{"rendered":"

NCAA Women’s Championships: Regan Smith Kicks Off Busy Day With Top Time in 200 Back Prelims<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the final day of the NCAA Women’s Championships, Stanford freshman\u00a0Regan Smith<\/strong> is attempting a daunting double that includes the 200 backstroke and 200 butterfly. Smith excels in both events as she is the American-record holder in the 200 back and the second-fastest swimmer in the 200 fly, so she decided to pursue both events despite the quick turnaround time.<\/p>\n

Smith finished third in the 100 back final Friday evening, well behind NC State’s Katharine Berkoff<\/strong> and Virginia’s\u00a0Gretchen Walsh<\/strong> as both of those swimmers went under Smith’s American record, but Smith looked strong in the eight-lap race in the morning. Swimming in the final heat, she turned just eight hundredths ahead of Alabama’s Rhyan White<\/strong> with 50 yards to go before finishing with a strong 27.73 final split. That allowed Smith to post the top time of the morning, a 1:49.22.<\/p>\n

The only other swimmer to break 1:50 in prelims was Cal’s\u00a0Isabelle Stadden<\/strong>, who pulled ahead of defending NCAA champion\u00a0Phoebe Bacon<\/strong> in their prelims heat with a strong last 50. Stadden touched in 1:49.94, while Bacon, a Wisconsin sophomore, touched in 1:50.08. Those times were the second and third-fastest of the morning, respectively.<\/p>\n

In the first circle-seeded heat, Stanford’s Taylor Ruck<\/strong> was back in the pool after capturing the NCAA title in the 200 free Friday night. Ruck led at the halfway point, but Virginia’s Reilly Tiltmann\u00a0<\/strong>used brilliant underwaters to surge ahead, and she finished in 1:50.34, more than a second ahead of Ruck’s 1:51.47. In her previous individual events, Tiltmann has finished fifth in the 100 back and ninth in the 200 free. Tiltmann and Virginia Tech’s\u00a0Emma Atkinson<\/strong> tied for the fourth seed.<\/p>\n

White, who placed second last year but later won the 200-meter back at the U.S. Olympic Trials ahead of Bacon and Smith, ended up sixth in 1:50.36, while NC State’s\u00a0Emma Muzzy<\/strong> (1:51.06) and Stanford’s\u00a0Lucie Nordmann<\/strong> (1:51.20) also got into the final. Ruck, however, ended up ninth.<\/p>\n