Day 1 of the 2012 Women’s NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships in Auburn, Alabama was a day of high’s and low’s. The high was Cal finishing the session with an NCAA (and U.S. Open Record) with a twist, and the low was Florida’s Elizabeth Beisel missing a chance at an NCAA Title with an untimely 200 IM DQ. Overall, it was a pretty even session. A few teams moved up and down at various spots in the rankings, but overall neither Cal or Georgia won (or lost) the title on day 1. Georgia may have seen a small chink, after both relays placed in the B-Finals, but relays were never going to be the Bulldogs’ strong suit.
This writeup was originally updated live as the events happened.
200 Free Relay
The Cal women wasted no time in this first day’s prelims in reminding the country why they were the favorites for this title coming into the 2011-2012 season, as they took the top seed in the 200 free in a speedy 1:27.11, which would end the day as a new Pool Record. They got off to a bit of a slow start with freshman Kaylin Bing splitting a 22.32 leadoff that was one of the slower splits of the race. But a 21.3 split from Liv Jensen got them right back into it, and they held off a strong late charge from 3-seeds Texas (1:27.65) to hold on for a first heat win and the fastest time of the prelim.
In between them was Stanford in 1:28.66. Arizona (1:27.79) and Auburn (1:27.86) qualified 4th and 5th, with Auburn’s Anna Vanderpool-Wallace coasting to a 21.58 leadoff – clearly saving her energy thus far for the individual 50. Auburn’s anchor Emily Bos notably had a great first 25 to burst the Tigers to a lead. She ended up splitting 22.00, but with a better turn could be a key for them in the final.
Missouri (1:28.14), Tennessee (1:28.37), and SMU (1:28.48) also snuck into the A-final. SMU beat their seed time by about 8-tenths, which is awesome for a squad that nobody was really sure if they had much left in their tanks.
4th-seeds Wisconsin had a big fall to finish 9th, and head to a B-Final (1:28.63), and Georgia was really hurt – though they improved their time – to finish 10th in 1:28.66. LSU, not surprisingly with Amanda Kendall’s scratch, finished last, though the four swimmers did perform well. A&M was a pleasant surprise by taking the 11th seed in 1:29.03, despite struggling big with their sprinters and not earning a single free relay invite. They could be top-6 if they keep that up.
Anna Vanderpool-Wallace (Left) and Margo Geer (Right) lead off the 200 free relay. Photo Courtesy: ©Tim Binning/TheSwimPictures.com
Women’s 500 Free
This women’s 500 free prelim was sort of a tale of two races. At the top of the field – Shannon Vreeland of Georgia (4:34.49), UNC’s Stephanie Peacock ((4:35.06), and a heap of 4:36’s (McDermott and Trott from Georgia, Steenvoorden from Minnesota) set up for a very fast top 5 in tonight’s final. The Bulldogs come out pleased with their seedings that should more than make up for their stumble in the 200 free relay – especially Vreeland on a 5-second season drop. Amber McDermott, the top seed coming in, seems to have something left too, as she went out very hard in this race and backed off a lot in the final 200 yards.
At the bottom end, however, the cut time was much slower than it was last year. Virginia Tech’s Erija Hajnal was the 16th seed in 4:41.16, which is well off of the 4:39 it took to final last season.
Cal did well to get one into the final in what is not a primary event for them. Shelley Harper will be 7th in 4:37.58. Catherine Breed, a freshman, added time, but still made the B-Final. There were a few surprising misses in this race – Tennessee’s Lindsay Gendron, and Indiana’s Margaux Farrell weren’t even close (Farrell must be very worried as she heads straight to French Olympic Trials from this meet). Also shockingly missing was A&M’s Cammile Adams, who swam a 4:44. She won the B-Final as a freshman last year in 4:37 – and that time should worry Aggie fans.
USC had two finalists – Haley Anderson in 6th and Amanda Smith into a tie with Breed for the B-Final, but all of there swimmers raced extremely well. Watch out for them on the second day, where they’re really good.
Shannon Vreeland looks at the scoreboard after clocking the top time in prelims of the women's 500 free. Photo Courtesy: ©Tim Binning/TheSwimPictures.com
Women’s 200 IM
Caitlin Leverenz was scary in the 7th out of 8 heats in this 200 IM. She wasn’t racing her main competition in the race (Katinka Hosszu and Elizabeth Beisel), but she came into the breaststroke leg of her heat in unfamiliar territory – she was leading at the start of the breaststroke leg. She then preceded to put a huge gap between her and her competitors, and didn’t back down much en route to a top-seeded 1:53.31.
But the real shock came in the final heat, when Florida’s Elizabeth Beisel was DQ’ed after touching 2nd to Hosszu in the final heat. The officials got her for a false-start, saying that she moved her head on the start. The call was a bit confusing for the crowd as false-starts are no longer recalled if they don’t affect other swimmers. This is out of character for Beisel, as she hasn’t DQ’ed since she was 12 – incidentally, the last time she DQ’ed, she actually was under the National Age Group Record in the 200 back before the officials nullified her time.
The crowd was in shocked silence after the swim. This brings reminders of last year’s meet, where Beisel struggled on day 1 as well. The swim, however, looked very good (1:53.8), so consider it just a minor bump in the road. Hosszu ended up with the 2nd overall in 1:53.43.
USC ended up with three in the A-Final (told you they were swimming well), including Stina Gardell and Meghan Hawthorne. The A&M women also looked spectacular with four swimmers in the B-Final (they were seeded to have only one) – including Kim Pavlin (1:56.81), Paige Miller (1:56.95), and Erica Dittmer (1:57.07), who are now 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in program history. That should help make up for the loss of counted-on points from Adams in the 500.
The biggest miss outside of Beisel was Georgia’s Jana Mangimelli in 22nd (added three seconds to go 1:58.41).
Cal's Caitlin Leverenz removing her cap after taking the top seed in the women's 200 IM Photo Courtesy: ©Tim Binning/TheSwimPictures.com
Women’s 50 Free
Anna Vanderpool-Wallace turned on the jets just a hair more in the individual 50 than she did in the relay and swam a 21.46 in the final heat to take the top overall seed. That’s the 9th-fastest swim in history, though she’ll be chasing number-one (Lara Jackson’s 21.27) in finals. Last year, she dropped 6-tenths between prelims and finals, so a 20-point is still in play. The key will all be in the first 15 yards tonight – if Vanderpool-Wallace has half-a-body on Jensen and Geer by that point of the race, it’s game-on.
Margo Geer of Arizona (21.66) and Liv Jensen of Cal (21.71) are looking to set up the expected great battle for 2nd in prelims (skipping a step?). Those top three were a mile ahead of where they were at last year’s NCAA’s in prelims, where the same three held the top spots. Stanford’s Betsy Webb is not far behind in a 21.8.
There are rarely “surprises” in a race as bang-bang as this, but Tennessee’s Caroline Simmons continued to be a huge difference-maker for the Vols this year, as she made 8th in 22.05. UNLV’s Rachel Dixon, who only made the meet after half-a-dozen scratches, took big-time advantage and qualified for the B-Final in 15th in 22.37.
Texas’ top sprinter in this race, Kelsey Amundsen, made the B-Final in 22.19, which is an outstanding mark (half-a-second better than at Big 12’s). The Longhorn sprinters look like they’re going to carry the team at this year’s meet. Sara Bateman of Florida tied for 10th in prelims in 22.18, which is a bit slower than she was leading off of Florida’s 200 free relay (her 21.95 there is a new school record).
USC’s Kasey Carlson, who was 5th last season, placed 17th in 22.39. Georgia’s Maddie Locus also missed the final, as the 10th seed (finished 19th in 22.44). No major point implications in this race in the battle for the title.
Cal's Liv Jensen took the 2nd seed headed into finals of the 50 free. Photo Courtesy: ©Tim Binning/TheSwimPictures.com
400 Medley Relay
Cal took their second top-seeded relay, and this one was in an NCAA Record. The group of Cindy Tran, Caitlin Leverenz, Sara Isakovic, and Katherine Raatz swam to a 3:28.14 that broke their 3:28.26 from the Pac-12 Championships just two weeks ago. (For a full breakdown of the record, click here). They’ve now got a big decision as whether to put Jensen back on the relay for finals, or save her for the other four.
The Auburn women were also impressive in 3:30.32 for the 3rdd seed. The most exciting leg for them was a 59,45 breaststroke split from Lauren Norberg to put them in control of the race ahead of heat-mates Arizona (3:32.33). Vanderpool-Wallace then coasted her way to a 46.77 for the Tigers to make it a no-doubter. She literally appeared to go into a cool-down about 13 yards out from the closing touch, and still put up an amazing time.
Meanwhile Arizona held back their top sprinter Margo Geer, instead using Kaitlyn Flederbach as their anchor. They got lucky and still made finals in 3:32.33, which made them the 8th (and last) A-Final qualifier. Geer anchored the relay at Pac 12’s, but it will be interesting to see if they put her back in finals or save her for the other three relays. The best guess is that she’s sitting out the 200 medley instead, and will be back on the closing leg for Arizona in finals.
The A&M women, swimming in the same heat as Cal, took the 2nd overall seed in 3:29.42. That included a very exciting 48.1 anchor from Kim Pavlin. Cal wasn’t the only team with a best-time-ever in that heat; in addition to a school record, A&M’s Breeja Larson split 57.2 on the breaststroke, which is the fastest split ever. That’s a relay made up of four sophomores.
Their big rivals the Texas women had another very good relay swim to qualify for the A-Final as well in 3:32.16 for the 7th seed.
Georgia again fell to the B-Final, as their relay swam a 3:32.53 for 9th-place. Stanford is also in the B – they were hoping for a big breaststroke swim from freshman Katie Olsen, but after she struggled with injuries the first half of the year it just didn’t happen.
The Virgina medley was DQ’ed, but wouldn’t have finaled.
Results for Thursday’s prelims session are available here.
Finals will begin at 8 PM Eastern (local time) this evening. For a full video and live results schedule, click here.
Full diving results here.
Funny: I watched Beilsel’s race: swimmers were ready and then stood up….then they re-started. Did she false-start the 1st time? That’s why the told athletes to stand up?? Did she false-start the 2nd time around? What are the rules??
Since there was a “double” start, I watched it very carefully, and couldn’t see a thing..but, of course, I was watching from home..
Way to go Bears! They will continue to get better as the meet goes on. Pretty crazy about UGA in bottom 8 for both relays. Ouch.
FYI Jensen was actually not on this record-breaking relay. Looks like she will swim 3 individuals and the other 4 relays. Cal’s depth is quite amazing.
We were told she moved her head on the start….how would that give her an advantage?
Updated with official explanation of Beisel’s DQ. Check out when the last time she was DQ’ed was…
They are saying it was a false start
Why did Beisel get dqed?
Cammile adams also didnt final! She won consuls last year 4:37, and went a 4:44 this morning
Good catch. That hurts. 200 IM will go a long way to balancing that out for them.