2015 Women’s NCAAs Day 3 ACC Roundup: Kelsi Worrell, college swimming’s new butterfly queen

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
• Live stream: All prelims & Thursday finals (Other sessions will be on ESPN3)
• Live results

Standings:

5. Virginia – 229
6. Louisville – 197
17. NC State – 79
19. North Carolina – 56.5
21. Notre Dame – 55
24. Florida State – 45
25. Miami – 42
27. Virginia Tech – 36
44. Pittsburgh – 2

Louisville’s Worrell sweeps NCAA butterfly races

It’s been a meteoric rise for Louisville junior Kelsi Worrell, but the Cardinal officially reached the pinnacle of college swimming this week.

Not only did Worrell destroy the American, NCAA and US Open records in the 100 fly on day 2, Worrell stunned the field with a blowout 200 fly win on day 3.

Worrell was the top underclassman in the event last year, but was still somewhat of a wild card. New to the event, Worrell didn’t swim it much at all this year, focusing on the 100 free at ACCs instead.

But in hindsight, that might have just left Worrell with more time to drop in one single burst. Her race tonight was her lifetime-best by a whopping 2.5 seconds. A 1:53.6 last year, Worrell skipped the 1:52s entirely and nearly did the same with the 1:51s. Her time of 1:51.11 is the fourth-fastest 200 fly ever swum, behind just two swims each from American record-holder Elaine Breeden and Hungarian world champ Katinka Hosszu.

Worrell admitted yesterday that she was sick with mono last summer, and still finished top 6 in both butterfly races. Seeming to only get better with each passing meet, Worrell is starting to look like a potential breakout star for the US internationally, and she’ll get her first chance to represent the United States at this summer’s Pan American Games in Toronto.

Quick Hits:

• Virginia’s Leah Smith won her second title of the championships, putting her into elite company as a multi-event winner. The sophomore was 15:34.46 to win the 1650 by 12 seconds.
• That also capped off a 5th-place finish as a team for Virginia, the best finish in program history. The Cavs were 2 points away from fourth-place Texas A&M.
• Another great team story was Louisville, who came into the meet with a goal of making the top 10. The Cards obliterated that goal, finishing 6th as a team.
• 2014 NCAA champ Emma Reaney failed to repeat her national title tonight, fading to 4th in the 200 breast. Reaney, who lost her longtime coach Brian Barnes to a surprise resignation at the beginning of the year, was three full seconds off her American record.
• Virginia’s Courtney Bartholomew swam about as gutsy a race as one can in the 200 back, pushing out to a lead at the 100-mark against one of the most loaded field’s ever. Bartholomew couldn’t hold off world record-holder Missy Franklin, but her bold front-half did pay off in the form of a 2nd-place finish, ahead of lots of big names like short course American record-holder Liz Pelton.
• Virginia’s German breaststroker Laura Simon was also an NCAA runner-up, blasting by the defending champ Reaney for second in the 200 breaststroke.
• Miami diver Cheyenne Cousineau ended her senior season with a bronze medal in the platform diving event, scoring 318.05 points.
• NC State didn’t have any individual scorers on the final night, but made up for it with a monster 400 free relay that took 5th. That included a 48.1 leadoff form Alexia Zevnik and a 48.0 split from Riki Bonnema.
• Worrell didn’t swim the 100 free individuall, but was a wicked 47.66 on the Louisville team in the B final. That was tied for the 6th-best split overall.
• Louisville got huge points out of the 200 fly, pairing Worrell’s win with senior Tanja Kylliainen‘s 5th-place effort.

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