Jack Bauerle can almost taste an NCAA Team Title, but he can’t taste it enough right now…at the end of day two.
2013 Women’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships – 800 Free Relay as reported by Braden Keith
This video was captured by Garrett McCaffrey.
Georgia left their 800 free relay stacked, and though they were well off of the time they swam at SEC’s (likely the difference between it being a day-1-of-5 event at SEC’s and a day-2-of-3 event at NCAA’s) they still won easily in 6:54.43. Megan Romano and Allison Schmitt were both 1:43.0′s on rolling starts for the Bulldogs.
The question stil remains if they shouldn’t have used Romano on the 200 medley earlier in the meet. Looking back, nearly a three second victory still would’ve left them lots of cushion to put one of their other 6 finalists in her place. Hindsight, as they say, is 20/20, and with Georgia having a lead going into the meet’s final day (and seeded to be the high scorers), they are in a good position.
Arizona took 2nd in 6:57.26. Margo Geer was also a 1;43.01, and Monica Drake anchored for the Wildcats in 1:44.06. Drake has been a big relay contributor throughout this meet.
Arizona was in an earlier heat, meaning that Cal didn’t have anything to look at in the final (except Georgia, a few body lengths ahead). Cal ended up 3rd in 6:57.44. Liz Pelton had the best split of the field in 1:42.16. That swim epitomized what we’ve seen from this talented Cal freshman class: the ability to bounce back with many good swims in the same.
Stanford was 4th in 6:59.16. A&M took 5th in 7:02.03; that’s slower than seed, but after not even swimming this relay at NCAA’s last year, that’s a big step up.
USC was 6th in 7:02.49; that was a tight finish ahead of Florida (7:02.54) and Minnesota (7:02.77).
Team Standings After Day 2
More analysis on the team scoring later….(you know we will).
1. Georgia 300
2. California 285
3. Tennessee 263.5
4. Arizona 246
5. Texas A&M 216
6. Southern Cal 194
7. Stanford 189.5
8. Florida 189
9. Texas 115
10. Minnesota 99
Am I the only one who thinks he looks like Bruce Willis? It’s very funny.