{"id":639007,"date":"2026-03-19T15:15:56","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T22:15:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=639007"},"modified":"2026-03-20T06:41:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T13:41:02","slug":"ncaa-division-i-womens-championships-torri-huske-touches-out-claire-curzan-in-epic-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ncaa-division-i-womens-championships-torri-huske-touches-out-claire-curzan-in-epic-clash\/","title":{"rendered":"NCAA Women’s 100 Butterfly: Torri Huske Touches Out Claire Curzan in Epic Clash ‘We Have Grown Together’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first full night of finals at the 2026 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships kicked off with the 100 butterfly.<\/p>\n

Two of the world’s best – Stanford’s Torri Huske<\/strong> and Virginia’s Claire Curzan<\/strong> have battled in this event for years both in short and long course.<\/p>\n

This was no different.<\/p>\n

Huske pulled away at the 75-yard mark with a third split of 12.72 and was able to hold off Curzan’s late surge as they finished nearly together.<\/p>\n

Huske won in a time of 48.49, just ahead of Curzan, who finished in 48.55.<\/p>\n

“I feel like I was definitely nervous, even during the race. I could see that I was behind at the 50 and I knew I really had to go. My last stroke was a short stroke, and I think that was the right decision, but as I was taking it, I thought I cost myself the race,” Huske said. “I am proud of myself for racing. My goal was to race Claire. She is always so good. I love racing her. It has been since our junior year of high school going head-to-head. I love racing the best of the best and that makes me a better swimmer.”<\/p>\n

Curzan felt the same.<\/p>\n

“I love racing with her. I am really sad that she is graduating and I won’t have her to race next year,” Curzan said. “I do think she has been awesome at pushing me. I always feel like I am chasing her and if I have a good prelims swim, she is chasing me. It has been a really fun back-and-forth and we have really grown together. It is special that I got to swim her last 100 fly short-course together.”<\/p>\n

It was Curzan, who was out fastest and led at the 25 and barely at the 50.<\/p>\n

Huske pulled ahead at the 75 and the race was neck-and-neck the rest of the way.<\/p>\n

Indiana’s Alex Shackell<\/strong> took third in 49.82, as three swimmers broke 50 seconds.<\/p>\n

Stanford’s Gigi Johnson<\/strong> took fourth in 50.06, giving the Cardinal a good point swing in the event.<\/p>\n

Cal’s Annie Jia<\/strong> was fifth in 50.34, followed by Tennessee’s Mizuki Hirai<\/strong> (50.56), Texas’ Campbell<\/strong> Stoll<\/strong> (50.61) and Indiana’s Miranda Grana<\/strong> (51.11).<\/p>\n