Produced by Coleman Hodges.
Reported by Jared Anderson.
200 BACK – FINALS
- NCAA Record: Elizabeth Pelton, California, 1:47.84
- American Record: Elizabeth Pelton, California, 1:47.84
- U.S. Open Record: Elizabeth Pelton, California, 1:47.84
- Championship Record: Elizabeth Pelton, California, 1:47.84
Pool Record: Courtney Bartholomew, Virginia, 1:49.87- 2015 Champion: Missy Franklin, California, 1:47.91
Top 3:
- Danielle Galyer, Kentucky – 1:49.71
- Courtney Bartholomew, Virginia – 1:50.29
- Kennedy Goss, Indiana – 1:50.37
An incredible 200 backstroke battle came right down to the wire, with Kentucky junior Danielle Galyer and Virginia senior Courtney Bartholomew swimming to a tie at the 150-mark.
Galyer roared home, though, for Kentucky’s first NCAA swimming title of all-time, going 1:49.71 and becoming just the 10th woman ever under 1:50 in the event. Galyer now sits 6th all-time.
Bartholomew was 1:50.29 for second place, off her lifetime-best 1:49.35 from last spring. She did hold off a surging Kennedy Goss of Indiana, though – Goss had the field’s second-best closing split and came within a tenth of silver, finishing third in 1:50.37.
The only better closer than Goss was fourth-place Lisa Bratton, who was 27.74 on the final 50 but was too far out of the top pack to jump into the top three. Bratton would finish in 1:50.80, just ahead of Cal’s Amy Bilquist (1:50.88), who was the top seed coming into this meet after winning Pac-12s.
Michigan sophomore Clara Smiddy was 6th in 1:51.01, followed by NC State’s Alexia Zevnik (1:51.06) and Georgia’s Kylie Stewart (1:51.20).
Texas’s Tasija Karosas won the B final, some redemption after a disappointing meet so far. She was a declared false start in the 100 back Friday while coming in with a time that would have scored. Then she gained two seconds in prelims of this event to fade to 15th. Her finals swim was great, though, just off a season-best in 1:50.89.