2015 Women’s NCAA DI Championships: Day 1 Finals Live Recap

2015 WOMEN’S NCAA DI CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Thursday, March 19 – Saturday, March 21
• Greensboro Aquatic Center – Greensboro, NC
• Prelims 11AM/Finals 7PM (Eastern Time)
• Defending Champion: Georgia (2x) – results
• NCAA Championship Central
• Social Hosted by SwimSwam At The 2015 Women’s NCAA Championships
• Live stream: All prelims & Thursday finals (Other sessions will be on ESPN3)
• Live results
• thursday finals heat sheet

The first day of the 2015 Women’s NCAA D1 Championships features the 200 freestyle relay, 500 freestyle, 200 IM, 50 Freestyle, 1 meter diving, and the 400 medley relay.

Georgia and Cal both made big moves this morning to set themselves up to pull away from the field. Georgia put four swimmers in the A final of the 500 freestyle and 3 in the 50 freestyle, while California put 3 swimmers in first, second, and third in the 200 IM.

There are several records that could fall tonight. The first one will be with Simone Manuel in the 200 freestyle relay and individual 50 free. She is within .05 seconds of the USA Swimming 17-18 NAG Record. After that, watch for Missy Franklin to break the American record in the 200 IM. She was under pace through the first 100 of her prelim swim this morning.

We already saw an NCAA record fall this morning in the 500 freestyle, which sets up a great race between Leah Smith, the current NCAA Record holder, and Cierra Runge, the former NCAA Record holder. With both athletes in the A final tonight, they should push the pace under 4:30, which would lower the NCAA record further.

Finally, Virginia and Stanford are both within stiking distance of the Amerian/US Open/NCAA records in the 400 Medley Relay. On that same relay, watch for Virginia’s Courtney Bartholomew on the lead-off leg of the relay. She was within a few hundredths of a second earlier this year with her time of 50.01.

200 FREESTYLE RELAY – FINALS

• NCAA Record – 1:26.20, Arizona – 2009
• Championship Record – 1:26.20, Arizona – 2009
• American Record – 1:26.20, Arizona – 2009
• US Open Record – 1:26.20, Arizona – 2009
• 2014 Champion: Stanford, 1:26.23

It looked as if it was going to be Stanford’s race until the Cal’s Farida Osman powered through her turn to overtake the field with a 21.17 split. California reached into the wall with a final NCAA winning time of 1:26.41. Stanford was just behind them with a time of 1:26.52. If Stanford would have had Maddy Schaefer for that relay, she probably would have been fast enough to put their relay ahead of Cal.

California’s Splits:

• Bing – 22.36
  Franklin – 21.28
  Bootsma – 21.60
  Osman – 21.17

Stanford’s Splits:

• Manuel – 21.68
  Neal – 21.34
  Hu – 21.59
  Howe – 21.91

Georgia finished in third with their time of 1:26.93, and Wisconsin was fourth at 1:26.98. Texas A&M finished fifth at 1:27.85, Auburn was sixth at 1:27.88, NC State was seventh at 1:28.13, and Louisville closed out the A final with their time of 1:28.90.

Tennessee won the B final with their time of 1:28.01. USC was second in the heat at 1:28.15.

500 FREESTYLE – FINALS

• NCAA – 4:30.37 – Leah Smith, Virginia – 2015
• Championship – 4:32.53 – Brittany MacLean, Georgia – 2014
• American – 4:26.58, Katie Ledecky – 2014
• US Open – 4:26.58, Katie Ledecky – 2014
• 2014 Champion: Brittany Maclean, UGA – 4:32.53

Leah Smith took control of the 500 freestyle early on to claim her first NCAA title in this event with a time of 4:31.54. She was out a little slower than she was this morning, but it was still too much for Cierra Runge the rest of the field.

Runge picked up second place points with her time of 4:33.82, dropping a second and a half from her prelim swim.

Texas A&M’s Sarah Henry made a huge move in the back half of the race to move up a few positions to third with her time of 4:34.34. She dropped close to 2 seconds from her morning swim to improve to win the bronze medal.

Georgia’s Amber McDertmott lead the four-woman charge for Georiga with her time of 4:35.31 for fourth.

Jessica Thielmann was fifth for Florida with her time of 4:37.22. She was followed by the other three swimmers from Georgia in 6-7-8, Hali Flickinger, Brittany Maclean, and Rachel Zilinskas. Flickinger was 4:37.40, MacLead finished at 4:38.05, and Zilinskas closed out the final with her time of 4:39.22.

 Jordan Mattern made the most of her B final swim in the 500 after four of her teammates qualified for the A final. She dropped almost three seconds to win the B final and pick up 9 points for the Bulldogs. USC’s Chelsea Chenault finished second in the heat with her time of 4:37.55.

200 IM – FINALS

• NCAA – 1:51.77 – Caitlin Leverenz, California – 2012
• Championship – 1:51.77 – Caitlin Leverenz, California – 2012
• American – 1:51.77 – Caitlin Leverenz – 2012
• US Open – 1:51.77 – Caitlin Leverenz – 2012
• 2014 Champion: Maya DiRado, Stanford – 1:52.50

Missy Franklin was just off Caitlin Leverenz’s record time from 2012 with her time of 1:52.11, which will stand as the third fastest performance in history. She was through the first 100 of the race under 52 seconds at 51.98. Her teammate, Liz Pelton, finished second at 1:52.80. Her start looked off for some reason, even though the results don’t indicate she was much slower off the blocks than the rest of the field.

Madisyn Cox slid into third place with her time of 1:54.43, dropping nearly a half of a second. Notre Dame’s Emma Reaney was just under her prelim time to finish fourth at 1:55.13, but even more impressive was her 32.14 breaststroke split. As the American record holder in the 200 breaststroke, the breaststroke leg is definitely her strong leg of the race.

Virginia’s Courtney Bartholomew added fifth place points for the Cavaliers with her time of 1:55.71, and Cal’s Celina Li added sixth place points with her time of 1:56.10.

Louisville’s Tanja Kyliainen reached in for seventh with her time of 1:56.40, and Georgia’s Annie Zhu rounded out the A final with her time of 1:57.46. That was Zhu’s third 200 IM after the day after tying for 8th during prelims.

Texas A&M freshman Bethany Galat took off more than a second from her morning swim to win the B final with her time of 1:55.48. Her 33.03 breaststroke split separated her from the field in the back half of her swim. Caroline Piehl was second in the heat for Cal at 1:56.28.

50 FREESTYLE – FINALS

• NCAA – 21.27 – Lara Jackson, Arizona – 2009
• Championship – 21.27 – Lara Jackson, Arizona – 2009
• American – 21.27 – Lara Jackson – 2009
• US Open – 21.27 – Lara Jackson – 2009
• 2014 Champion: Olivia Smoliga, UGA – 21.59

Stanford picked up their first event win of the meet with a new pool record time of 21.32 from Simone Manuel. That time from Manuel will stand as the second fastest time in history and the new USA Swimming 17-18 NAG Record, dipping under Abbey Weitzeil’s NAG record time of 21.49.

Ivy Martin earned a second place finish with her time of 21.61, just nudging out Kelsi Worrell from Louisville’s with her third place time of 21.62. Worrell had the lead through the turn and was touched out at the wall.

California’s Farida Osman finished with a 21.68. Madeline Locus and Chantal Van Landegehem finished fifth and sixth for Georgia with their times of 21.80 and 21.97, respectively. Their third A finalist, Olivia Smoliga, finished eighth at 22.09.

Riki Bennema moved up a spot for NC State to finish seventh with her time of 22.03.

Penn State’s Carolyn Fittin won the B final of the 50 freestyle with her time of 22.07.  Texas A&M’s Beryl Gastaldello finished second in the heat with her time of 22.09.

1 Meter Diving – FINALS

Arizona’s Samantha Pickens earned first place points with the top score of 345.90. Stanford will get a 17 point bump from Kassidy Cook, with her second place score of 340.20.

Minnesota’s Yu Zhou finished third at 338, and Rebecca Hamperian from Kentucky was fourth a 326.65.

Purdue’s Mary-Beth Dunnichay was fifth at 323.20, Florida’s Kahlia Warner was sixth at 321.75, Illinois State’s Wenting Zheng was seventh at 314.10, and Florida State’s Katrina Young finished in 8th at 297.70.

Notre Dame’s Allison Casareto won the B final with her score of 325.20 and Miami (OH)’s Pei Lin was second in the B final at 321.40.

400 MEDLEY RELAY – FINALS

• NCAA – 3:27.51 – Stanford – 2014
• Championship – 3:27.51 – Stanford – 2014
• American – 3:27.51 – Stanford – 2014
• US Open – 3:27.51 – Stanford – 2014
• 2014 Champion: Stanford – 3:27.51

Virginia lead for 399.9 yards of the 400 medley relay before getting touched out at the last second by Stanford. Stanford’s Simone Manuel split a nasty 45.45 to touch out the Cavaliers with their final time of 3:26.41. Virginia had a significant lead into the freestyle, but Ellen Thomas didn’t have enough to hold off Manuel. The finished second at 3:26.42.

California finished third with a time of 3:27.17. All three of the top relays were under the NCAA, American, and US Open records. The relay will officially go to Stanford, but don’t expect it to stay around for too long. Three of the four swimmers from Stanford were freshman.

Stanford Splits: 3:26.41

• Howe – 52.00
• Olsen – 58.07
• Hu – 50.89
• Manuel – 45.45

Virginia Splits: 3:26.42

• Bartholomew – 50.19
• Simon – 57.52
• Williamson – 51.02
• Thomas – 47.69

California Splits: 3:27.27

• Bootsma – 50.84
• Garcia – 59.28
• Osman – 51.07
• Franklin – 45.98

Missouri dropped a half second to improve to fourth with their time of 3:30.70, moving up four positions. Tennessee finished fifth at 3:30.84, Louisville was sixth at 3:30.91, USC was seventh at 3:31.00, and Georgia rounded out the A final with their time of 3:31.91.

Texas won the B final with their time of 3:30.98.