{"id":525168,"date":"2023-03-18T16:19:55","date_gmt":"2023-03-18T23:19:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=525168"},"modified":"2023-03-18T19:36:00","modified_gmt":"2023-03-19T02:36:00","slug":"ncaa-womens-championships-kate-douglass-a-little-speechless-after-another-american-ncaa-record-this-week-in-200-breast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ncaa-womens-championships-kate-douglass-a-little-speechless-after-another-american-ncaa-record-this-week-in-200-breast\/","title":{"rendered":"NCAA Women’s Championships: Kate Douglass ‘A Little Speechless’ After Another American, NCAA Record This Week in 200 Breast"},"content":{"rendered":"

NCAA Women’s Championships: Kate Douglass ‘A Little Speechless’ After Another American, NCAA Record This Week in 200 Breast<\/strong><\/p>\n

For the second consecutive season, Virginia’s\u00a0Kate Douglass<\/strong> has won all three of individual events at the NCAA Women’s Championships, all of them in American-record time and five of the six in the fastest time ever. Her first two races this week in Knoxville, Tenn., saw Douglass emerge victorious after clashing with loaded fields, both of which featuring other swimmers who also surpassed the previous fastest time ever, but in the 200 breaststroke, Douglass had no peer.<\/p>\n

Short on adjectives to describe her performance? That’s fair, and the 21-year-old from Pelham, N.Y., feels the same.<\/p>\n

“I think I\u2019ve left myself a little speechless. I was very shocked with last year\u2019s performance, and coming into the season, I was kind of like, \u2018I have no idea how I can be better than that.\u2019 To see myself outdo myself from last year was a little crazy,” Douglass said. “I\u2019ve just worked really hard this year, and I\u2019ve just seen a lot of improvement in a lot of areas. I\u2019m stronger. I\u2019ve worked hard in the weight room, and I\u2019m definitely a lot more confident than I was a year ago.”<\/p>\n

After her earlier wins in the 200 IM and 100 butterfly, Douglass led wire-to-wire in the 200 breast, and she ended up more than two seconds clear of the runnerup, Texas’ Anna Elendt<\/strong>. More, she beat the American, NCAA and U.S. Open records for the third time this season. Originally, she swam a time of 2:02.19 at last season’s NCAA Championships to knock off Lilly King’s<\/strong> four-year-old record, and over the course of this year, she dropped that record to 2:01.87 at the Tennessee Invitational in November and then to 2:01.43 at the Cavalier Invitational in February.<\/p>\n

Entering the race, it seemed plausible that Douglass could break into the 2:00-range or perhaps even get under 2:00, but she would merely settle for once again swimming faster than anyone ever had before.<\/p>\n

“I definitely have grown to love the 200 breast,” Douglass said. “I feel like I\u2019ve gotten pretty good at swimming the race. Just being able to go three best times in one season I think is pretty awesome. Once I started to think about that, I was like, \u2018Yeah, I\u2019m pretty happy with that swim.\u2019 I love that race, and I was pretty happy to come out with a best time tonight.<\/p>\n

Douglass was under record pace the entire way, and she finished in 2:01.29 to clip 14 hundredths from her previous top mark. Compared to her previous swims, Douglass was actually slower on the final 50, not that fading slightly ended up hurting her title or record chances.<\/p>\n

Splits from 2022 NCAA Championships:\u00a0<\/strong>27.84, 58.98 (31.14), 1:30.54 (31.56), 2:02.19 (31.65)
\nSplits from 2022 Tennessee Invitational:<\/strong>\u00a027.94, 58.76 (30.82), 1:30.25 (31.49), 2:01.87 (31.62)
\nSplits from 2023 Cavalier Invitational:<\/strong>\u00a027.71, 58.59 (30.88), 1:30.12 (31.53), 2:01.43 (31.31)
\nSplits from 2023 NCAA Championships:<\/strong> 27.60, 58.29 (30.69), 1:29.59 (31.30), 2:01.29 (31.70)<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Elendt was in second place for the entire distance, and she finished in 2:03.26 to tie\u00a0Bethany Galat<\/strong> for fourth all-time in the event. Only Douglass, King and\u00a0Alex Walsh<\/strong> have ever posted quicker times. Third went to Virginia’s\u00a0Ella Nelson<\/strong> in 2:04.33 as she overtook Tennessee’s\u00a0Mona McSharry<\/strong> on the last 50. Nelson clipped two hundredths from her previous best time, and she remains 10th all-time in this race. McSharry touched fourth in 2:04.59, good for 12th-fastest all-time in the event.<\/p>\n