{"id":581471,"date":"2024-03-22T06:15:20","date_gmt":"2024-03-22T13:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=581471"},"modified":"2024-03-22T10:09:00","modified_gmt":"2024-03-22T17:09:00","slug":"ncaa-womens-championships-thursday-champions-poised-for-friday-follow-up-prelims-heat-sheets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ncaa-womens-championships-thursday-champions-poised-for-friday-follow-up-prelims-heat-sheets\/","title":{"rendered":"NCAA Women’s Championships: Thursday Champions Poised for Friday Follow Up (Prelims Heat Sheets)"},"content":{"rendered":"

NCAA Women’s Championships: Thursday Champions Poised for Friday Follow Up (Prelims Heat Sheets)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Individual titles at the NCAA Women’s Championships Thursday night went to Florida’s\u00a0Bella Sims<\/strong> in the 500 freestyle, Virginia’s Alex Walsh<\/strong> in the 200 IM and Virginia’s Gretchen Walsh\u00a0<\/strong>in the 50 free. All three will be in action Friday as the top seed in further individual events, with Sims leading the way in the 200 free while Alex Walsh is the favorite in the 400 IM and Gretchen in the 100 fly.<\/p>\n

Click here to view the full heat sheet for Friday morning<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alex Walsh will be in the final heat of the 400 IM next to Stanford’s\u00a0Lucy Bell<\/strong>, whose phenomenal breaststroke vaulted her to fourth in the 200 IM Thursday. Florida’s\u00a0Emma Weyant<\/strong>, already the runnerup in the 500 free, and Bell’s Stanford teammate\u00a0Caroline Bricker<\/strong> top the other two seeded heats. As for the younger Walsh sister, Gretchen will be the heavy favorite in the 100 fly, having clocked an NCAA record of 48.25 already this season. Texas swimmers\u00a0Emma Sticklen<\/strong>,\u00a0Kelly Pash<\/strong> and\u00a0Olivia Bray<\/strong> occupy the next three seeds.<\/p>\n

Sims and Indiana’s Anna Peplowski<\/strong>, teammates on the U.S. World Championships team last year, will swim in adjacent lanes in the 200 free. USC’s\u00a0Minna Abraham<\/strong> is seeded second while\u00a0Isabel Ivey<\/strong>, the runnerup in the 200 IM, is seeded third.<\/p>\n

A deep field in the 100 breaststroke will feature Virginia’s\u00a0Jasmine Nocentini<\/strong> swimming in between Ohio State’s\u00a0Hannah Bach<\/strong> and\u00a0Josie Panitz<\/strong> in the first seeded heat. USC’s\u00a0Kaitlyn Dobler<\/strong> and Texas’\u00a0Anna Elendt<\/strong> are in the next heat before\u00a0Mona McSharry<\/strong> and defending champion\u00a0Lydia Jacoby<\/strong> of Texas highlight the final grouping. In the last event of the morning, NC State’s\u00a0Katharine Berkoff<\/strong> is the big favorite in the 100 backstroke, as the only swimmer to break both 49 and 50 all season.<\/p>\n