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 (ESPN3): Swimming / Diving
During Friday morning’s prelims session at the Women’s NCAA Division 1 Swimming and Diving Championships, freshman Ellen Walshe of Tennessee competed in the 400 IM (4:03.60) and 100 butterfly (50.65) with just 23 minutes in between each race. Heading into finals, Walshe is seeded 3rd in both events.
During Friday’s finals session, Walshe will have roughly the same amount of time between events between the walk-out/lane assignments and the awards ceremony. She will also likely appear on Tennessee’s 400 medley relay at the end of the session.
Although we can’t be certain, we don’t think that anyone has done this double at a high level meet before because of the close proximity between the events.
At the SEC Championships last month, Walshe won the 400 IM (4:01.53) and 100 butterfly (50.34) double on day three of the meet.
Earlier in the meet, Walshe swam the 2nd leg on Tennessee’s 800 freestyle relay that finished in 8th place. She split a 1:43.48, which was .54 seconds faster than her split from the SEC Championships where she also swam the 2nd leg (1:44.06) on Tennessee’s winning relay.
On Thursday, Walshe competed in the 200 IM, where she was seeded 3rd on the psych sheet (1:52.97), but finished 16th (1:56.89), which was 3.92 seconds off from her seed time. She was seeded with her winning time from the SEC Championships.
Walshe has made an impressive bounce back this morning, especially as a freshman international swimmer from Ireland who isn’t as accustomed to swimming yards.
Walshe is an Irish Olympian, competing in the 100 fly and 200 IM at the Tokyo Olympics. At the 2021 Short Course World Championships (25m), Walshe won a silver medal in the 400 IM.
still in awe of Ellen Walshe killing it in both the 400 IM & 100 Fl back-to-back!!! she is the ultimate iron woman, I only ever knew of one other person (at the DIII level mind you) that took on that event load plus the 200 fly the next day lol
also s/o to the amazing Taylor Ruck for also having a tough back-to-back schedule tonight with the 200 FR & 100 BK!!! I know it might no seem that hard, but to change from mid-distance to sprint gears that quick is hard af too
Impressive.
Would be curious to know why she doesn’t pick one of these and the swim the 200 fly instead. If you are great at 400 IM and 100 fly, seems like you should be pretty good at 200 fly. On the other hand, 200 fly hurts.
But does it hurt more than the 400 IM? I have a hard time deciding which one is worse 😆
200fl is so much worse
I swam both and respectfully disagree. The pain from the 3rd 50 on in the 200 fly hits during the 4th 50 of the 400 IM, but instead of just having one 50 to gut through, you still have a 200. Plus, most 400 IMers take the 400 IM out at basically the same pace as the first 100 of their 200 fly. It also takes a lot longer to recover from the 400 IM than the 200 fly.
I think the difference for Walshe is between the 100 and 200 fly. The 100 is about rhythm and strength where the 200 is rhythm, strength, breath control, and endurance. My guess is she can muscle her way through the… Read more »
What about 2 back 2 fly
Yeah, I would argue that one is a little worse.
I would disagree that this logic always works. You can be great at a back half 400 im and a great sprint 100 flyer and still not be able to pull off a decent 200 fly or the 200 fly may take you a week to recover from. I would pick the 200 fly over the 100 fly any day since i never had the power to do well in the 100 fly. Just like I would pick the 400 im over the 200 im all day long.
They grow them different in Ireland, I guess.
“Erin go bragh”
Sick earlier in the meet?
Maybe: Certainly her 200 IM was well below her standard. Seemingly all of the Tennessee women were below
par in the first 2+ days of this meet, as if they’ve not fully recovered mentally from the SEC meet at which there were all so good. Of course everybody has had to recover from conference meets, so not an excuse just a guess.
Trying to figure out if Huske is yawning or screaming in the background of that there picture.
Or releasing a demon from her soul??