2017 WOMEN’S NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, March 15 – Saturday, March 18
- IUPUI Natatorium – Indianapolis, IN
- Prelims 10AM/Finals 6PM (Eastern Time)
- Defending Champion: Georgia (results)
- Championship Central
- Psych Sheet
- Event Previews
- Live Stream: Wednesday/Thursday Prelims & Finals, Friday/Saturday Prelims / Friday/Saturday finals on ESPN3
- Live Results
Kathleen Baker gave Cal its second upset over Stanford this evening, courtesy of a 1:51.69 that gave her in the win the 200 IM over a field that included Stanford sophomore Ella Eastin, the fastest women ever in the event.
Baker led from wire to wire, storming out during the fly leg and holding the lead the rest of the way. Baker, the 2016 Rio silver medalist in the 100 back and part of the USA’s gold medal-wining 4×100 medley relay, seems to have taken the momentum from last summer into this year’s college season. Tonight’s swim was the 2nd fastest performance ever, with only Eastin’s 1:51.65 from last year’s NCAAs faster.
Top 5 Performances/Perfomers Ever:
1:51.65 Ella Eastin USA Atlanta 03/17/2016
1:51.69 Kathleen Baker USA Indianapolis 03/16/2017
1:51.77 Caitlin Leverenz USA Auburn 03/15/2012
1:51.80 Katinka Hosszu HUN Auburn 03/15/2012
1:52.11 Missy Franklin USA Greensboro 03/19/2015
Moving ahead of former California swimmer Caitlin Leverenz also gives Baker the Cal record, although Eastin still has the Pac-12 record, along with the U.S. Open, NCAA, championship meet, and American Records.
After the race, Baker credited her Golden Bears’ relay upset in the 200 free relay earlier this evening with inspiring her to win this event. Baker will compete tomorrow in the 100 back, where Stanford’s Ally Howe is the top seed, and the 200 back, where Baker is the top seed.
I remember thinking after that Leverenz/Hosszu battle that those times would stand for a while, but we’ve already got so many girls creeping up on them or past them. Swimming’s so fast these days!
I just can’t trust “Live Results”. It shows the #2 swimmer from Stanford Kim Williams as an early takeoff, -0.62. On another race, the 200 Free, it shows Stanford as setting the pool record 1:26.15 (which they did in prelims) but lists the Cal relay. Cal obviously set the pool record with the win and the NCAA record. I like the idea of leaving the old record up so I can see for myself how much they broke it by, but either do it for all the ‘old records’ or don’t do it for any. Anyway, my statement stands: I can’t trust “Live Results” and these are just some examples of why. I’ll keep going to Meet Mobile (which itself… Read more »
so Thleen
So happy for Kathleen! I was afraid she was always gonna be under Ella Eastin’s shadow in the 200 IM, after finishing second to Eastin in their past three championship meetings (2 Pac-12s and 2016 NCAA). This is gonna be a great rivalry, hopefully they push each other to make this event to become faster and faster!