{"id":525164,"date":"2023-03-18T16:26:10","date_gmt":"2023-03-18T23:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=525164"},"modified":"2023-03-18T19:03:16","modified_gmt":"2023-03-19T02:03:16","slug":"ncaa-womens-championships-emma-sticklen-passes-alex-walsh-in-final-stretch-for-200-butterfly-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ncaa-womens-championships-emma-sticklen-passes-alex-walsh-in-final-stretch-for-200-butterfly-title\/","title":{"rendered":"NCAA Women’s Championships: Emma Sticklen Passes Alex Walsh in Final Stretch for 200 Butterfly Title"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2023 NCAA Division I Women\u2019s Championships concluded its individual swimming events with the finals of the 200 butterfly.<\/p>\n

After prelims, the field was loaded with interesting possibilities with defending champion Alex Walsh seeded in the middle of three stellar Texas swimmers – Emma Sticklen, Kelly Pash<\/strong> and Dakota Luther<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Walsh and Sticklen were out fast. At the 100 mark, Walsh started to pull ahead, as the Texas trio was forced to chase. Walsh steadily had a half body lead on Sticklen until the final turn when Sticklen made a late charge in the final 25 and passed Walsh in the final five yards to pull off the stunning title.<\/p>\n

She is the fourth-fastest swimmer in the event, and fastest non-Stanford swimmer in history in the event.<\/p>\n

Sticklen finished in 1:49.95, breaking the meet record. Walsh was next in 1:50.23, the fifth-fastest time in history and a half-second faster than her NCAA title time from last year.<\/p>\n

“I never expected a time like that, let alone a meet record. That belongs to me now – that’s just crazy,” Sticklen said. “I knew I had to stick to my own race plan. That\u2019s something I\u2019ve been repeating to myself all day between prelims and finals: follow my race plan. It\u2019s just relax on the first 100, and I am really confident in my finishes, really work on my underwaters on the last wall. That\u2019s something I\u2019m really confident in, and I just was like, \u2018Push it as hard as a I can on the last wall, and charge the wall, and hope for the best.\u2019<\/p>\n

“The 200 fly is really hard. It is a hard race to finish. You know others will struggle at the end, and that is when you have to turn on the jets. I saw her a little bit ahead when I turned on the last wall, and then I couldn’t see anything. I was just like, ‘Go! Go! Go!’ and had some really positive self talk on the last 25.”<\/p>\n

Sticklen has been one of the Longhorn leaders the past few years, leading the team to third, second and tonight, another second.<\/p>\n

“I love my team so much. I really show that a lot. I just love being able to be myself around the other girls, and me being my 100% self makes them feel like they can be themselves. I love them all so much,” she said.<\/p>\n

Pash finished third in 1:51.89 and Luther was fifth at 1:52.27, behind Arizona State senior Lindsay<\/strong> Looney<\/strong> (1:52.25).<\/p>\n

“My teammates are what made it all possible. It is just such a big deal to be able to have both teammates at your side,” Sticklen said. “It made me feel comfortable, and that played a huge role.”<\/p>\n

Stanford’s Charlotte Hook<\/strong> was sixth (1:53.17), Virginia’s Abby Harter<\/strong> was seventh (1:53.56) and Louisville’s Abby Hay<\/strong> was eighth (1:53.90).<\/p>\n