{"id":524770,"date":"2023-03-17T08:48:22","date_gmt":"2023-03-17T15:48:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=524770"},"modified":"2023-03-17T08:48:22","modified_gmt":"2023-03-17T15:48:22","slug":"ncaa-womens-championships-gretchen-walsh-swims-third-fastest-time-ever-in-100-back-prelims-berkoff-curzan-2-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ncaa-womens-championships-gretchen-walsh-swims-third-fastest-time-ever-in-100-back-prelims-berkoff-curzan-2-3\/","title":{"rendered":"NCAA Women’s Championships: Gretchen Walsh Swims Third-Fastest Time Ever in 100 Back Prelims; Berkoff, Curzan 2-3"},"content":{"rendered":"

NCAA Women’s Championships: Gretchen Walsh Swims Third-Fastest Time Ever in 100 Back Prelims; Berkoff, Curzan 2-3<\/strong><\/p>\n

When Virginia’s Gretchen Walsh<\/strong> entered the pool for the final qualifying heat of the 100 backstroke, her top rivals in the event had already cruised to dominant wins in their respective heats. NC State’s Katharine Berkoff<\/strong>, the defending NCAA champion and the American and NCAA-record holder at 48.74, won her heat in 50.14,\u00a0and Stanford’s\u00a0Claire Curzan\u00a0<\/strong>went 50.19 in her heat. But Walsh quickly jumped to another level as she put a scare into Berkoff’s record.<\/p>\n

Walsh went out in 23.52, quicker than the 23.72 in which Berkoff covered the initial 50 yards of her record-setting performance, and she used massive underwater kickouts to further her advantage. Walsh looked to slightly ease off the gas over the final final yards, but she still hit the wall in 49.12, the third-fastest time in history behind Berkoff’s 48.74 and her own 49.00 from the 2022 NCAA final. In the final, Walsh is potentially set to join Berkoff in the exclusive sub-49 club, and Berkoff’s record certainly could go down.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the meet, Walsh was the runnerup in the 50 freestyle behind an NCAA-record-breaking performance from LSU’s\u00a0Maggie Mac Neil<\/strong> while Berkoff was fifth in that event. Curzan has yet to race in an A-final at this meet, but she will swim both the 100 fly and 100 back in the evening session.<\/p>\n

Behind Walsh, Berkoff and Curzan, three other swimmers broke 51, with all three swimming in he final heat with Walsh. Wisconsin’s\u00a0Phoebe Bacon<\/strong>, the 2021 NCAA champion in the 200 back and the World Championships silver medalist in the 200-meter back, was fourth in a lifetime best of 50.47, followed by Cal’s\u00a0Isabelle Stadden<\/strong> (50.73) and Texas’\u00a0Olivia Bray<\/strong> (50.85). Bray already has a third-place finish at this meet in the 500 freestyle.<\/p>\n

Tennessee’s\u00a0Josephine Fuller\u00a0<\/strong>(51.00) and Alabama’s\u00a0Rhyan White\u00a0<\/strong>(51.15) also got into the A-final, with White, the World Championships bronze medalist in the 200-meter back, beating UNC’s\u00a0Grace Countie\u00a0<\/strong>(51.16) by one hundredth for the last spot.<\/p>\n