2022 NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- March 16–19, 2022
- McAuley Aquatic Center, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, Georgia (Eastern Daylight Time)
- Prelims 10AM /Finals 6PM
- Short Course Yards (25 yards)
- Championship Central
- Official Psych Sheets
- Live Results
- Live Video (ESPN+)
- Wednesday night heat sheets
Despite just consisting of two relays, the first night of the 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships played host to a huge amount of fast swimming. Among the top performers of the night was Stanford’s Taylor Ruck, who swam on the Cardinal 800 free relay. Ruck swam the 2nd leg of the race, splitting a 1:40.49, which was the fastest split of anyone in the field tonight, and the fastest 200 free we’ve seen in the NCAA this season.
Ruck immediately became a star in the NCAA during her freshman season at Stanford, back in 2018-2019. She would go on to take 2nd in the 200 free and 200 back at the 2019 NCAA Championships, as well as 3rd in the 100 back. Following her freshman season, Ruck took a redshirt year to prepare for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, moving to Canada to train at the High Performance Centre in Toronto.
The world was then rocked by the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, postponing the Olympics, and shutting nearly everything down for a period of time. After resuming training, Ruck experienced bouts of injury and illness, and was well off her personal bests as a result. She would go on to compete for Canada in Tokyo, racing on prelims of the 400 free and 400 medley relays, and making the semifinal of the 100 backstroke.
After returning to Stanford, Ruck was swimming well all season to be certain, but was still off the lofty standards she set in her freshman year. Given all that, there was uncertainty as to whether Ruck would ever return to her top form. Well, she appeared to answer that tonight, swimming her 2nd-fastest 200 free of her career of a rolling start, and her 3rd-fastest performance overall.
Ruck’s fastest 200 free split of her career came at the 2019 NCAAs, where she posted a blazing 1:39.83 on the 3rd leg. She would go on to take 2nd in the individual 200 free two days later, swimming her personal best of 1:40.37. Those are the only two instances of Ruck swimming faster than the 1:40.49 she split tonight.
Here is the split comparison between Ruck’s relay split tonight, her 2019 relay split, and her 2019 NCAAs individual performance.
| Split | 2022 NCAA Relay Split (Relay Start) | 2019 NCAA Relay Split (Relay Start) | 2019 NCAA Finals (Flat Start) |
| 1st 50 | 22.69 | 22.07 | 23.06 |
| 2nd 50 | 25.31 | 25.30 | 25.19 |
| 3rd 50 | 25.82 | 25.98 | 25.79 |
| 4th 50 | 26.67 | 26.48 | 26.33 |
| Final Time | 1:40.49 | 1:39.83 | 1:40.37 |
Notably, in all 3 instances, the middle of her races have stayed essentially the same. Tonight, the difference was that she was a bit slower on the first and last 50s than she was in 2019.
Super happy for Taylor! Great to see her back in form. I have always admired her courage for coming forward and sharing her struggles with eating disorder. No doubt that has inspired as many young women as her swimming! Lets also highlight that she made the final of the 200bk in Tokyo (and, of course, is a bronze medalist from the 800 FR relay 2016.) Wishing her great success for the remainder of the meet.
I don’t know why Elizabeth Beisel was so unprepared. Ruck was clearly the star of that relay yet she was allowed to stand there like a dope in the post race interview, without a question posed to her. I thought for sure Beisel was going to rave about Ruck’s return to form and ask her about it. Why were they so brief with those interviews to begin with? Tonight of all nights offered plenty of time. I thought all 4 swimmers would field a question after both relays.
What’s the fastest 800 relay split?
It look like her 1:40 split was the fastest in the field.
Mallory Comerford (2018): 1:39.14
For all the hate Meehan gets in these comments he clearly is doing something right with Ruck. She’s really turned it around since the start of the school year. So happy for her.
As a Canadian (and of course a swim fan in general) it’s great to see Taylor back on form. Now we just need her to be at her best for an Olympic year, and she can challenge for an individual medal or two.
👍🇨🇦👍
As well a return to anything close to her 2018 form (51.7 & 1:54 free splits) relaunches Canada into the 🥇 conversation in the Freestyle relays, especially now with Summer doing ‘Summer’ things…
1:54 flat start
Also Ruck looks to move up in her seedings. Big boost in the team race.
Congrats to Taylor and Stanford women’s swimming!
Wheal and Goeders splits were fast also on the medley. I thought they should have swapped Nordmann in on this relay and took out Reagan.