{"id":524768,"date":"2023-03-17T07:43:28","date_gmt":"2023-03-17T14:43:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=524768"},"modified":"2023-03-17T07:59:16","modified_gmt":"2023-03-17T14:59:16","slug":"ncaa-womens-championships-alex-walsh-ella-nelson-swim-401s-to-dominate-400-im-prelims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ncaa-womens-championships-alex-walsh-ella-nelson-swim-401s-to-dominate-400-im-prelims\/","title":{"rendered":"NCAA Women’s Championships: Alex Walsh, Ella Nelson Swim 4:01s to Dominate 400 IM Prelims"},"content":{"rendered":"

NCAA Women’s Championships: Alex Walsh, Ella Nelson Swim 4:01s to Dominate 400 IM Prelims<\/strong><\/p>\n

With Virginia already holding a 46.5-point lead in the team competition, the Cavaliers are set up for another big haul in the 400 IM after\u00a0Alex Walsh<\/strong> and\u00a0Ella Nelson<\/strong> posted the top two qualifying times in the morning prelims. Walsh, the third-place swimmer in the 200 IM<\/a> Thursday and the defending NCAA champion in this event, was out well ahead of the field in the final heat, leading the final heat by almost three seconds at the halfway point before Nelson made a major charge on breaststroke.<\/p>\n

Nelson, who entered the meet as the top seed after swimming a time of 3:59.33 at the ACC Championships last month, trailed Walsh by just a quarter-second after breaststroke, and she appeared to take the lead on freestyle as the UVA duo went stroke-for-stroke to the finish, but Walsh got her hand on the wall in 4:01.86, one hundredth ahead of Nelson’s 4:01.87. Walsh’s best time of 3:57.25 ranks fourth all-time in this event behind\u00a0Ella Eastin<\/strong>,\u00a0Katie Ledecky<\/strong> and\u00a0Katinka Hosszu<\/strong>, while Nelson is 11th-quickest in history.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, NC State’s Grace Sheble<\/strong> took third in that heat in 4:04.65, and that was good enough for the third-best qualifying time into the evening’s final. Florida’s\u00a0Mabel Zavaros<\/strong> finished fourth in that heat in 4:05.72, good for fifth overall in the morning.<\/p>\n

In the fifth of sixth heats, Louisville’s\u00a0Abby Hay<\/strong> established a big early lead, but Florida’s\u00a0Emma Weyant<\/strong> built steadily over the course of the 16 lengths before taking over the lead on freestyle. Weyant, the fourth-place swimmer in this event last year behind Walsh, Stanford’s\u00a0Brooke Forde<\/strong> and Nelson, finished in 4:05.61 for fourth-best overall, while Stanford’s\u00a0Lucy Bell<\/strong> (4:06.05) and Kentucky’s\u00a0Lauren Poole\u00a0<\/strong>(4:06.33) also qualified out of that heat. Hay ended up finishing in 4:07.46 for 11th overall.<\/p>\n

In the first of the circle-seeded heats, Minnesota’s\u00a0Megan Van Berkom<\/strong> claimed a tight win over Cal’s\u00a0Leah Polonsky<\/strong> and Ohio State’s\u00a0Felicia Pasadyn<\/strong>. Van Berkom finished in 4:06.70, and she needed every bit to clinch the last spot in the A-final. Polonsky (4:06.94) and Pasadyn (4:06.95) will be the top two swimmers in the B-final.<\/p>\n