2024 Women’s Division 1 NCAA Championships: Day 1 Relay Analysis

2024 WOMEN’S NCAA SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• March 20-23, 2024
• Gabrielsen Natatorium, Athens, Georgia
• Short Course Yards (25 yards)
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheets
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Live Results
• Live Stream
• SwimSwam Pick ’em Contest
• Day 1 Finals Recap

WOMEN’S 200 MEDLEY RELAY

• NCAA Record: 1:31.51 – Virginia (G. Walsh, A. Walsh, L. Cuomo, K. Douglass), 2023
• Meet Record: 1:31.51 — Virginia (G. Walsh, A. Walsh, L. Cuomo, K. Douglass), 2023
• American Record: 1:31.51 – Virginia (G. Walsh, A. Walsh, L. Cuomo, K. Douglass), 2023
• U.S. Open Record: 1:31.51 – Virginia (G. Walsh, A. Walsh, L. Cuomo, K. Douglass), 2023
• 2023 NCAA Champion: 1:31.51 – Virginia (G. Walsh, A. Walsh, L. Cuomo, K. Douglass)

Top 8:

1. Virginia (G. Walsh, Nocentini, Novelline, Parker) — 1:31.58
2. Ohio State (Funderburke, Bach, Zenick, Ivan) — 1:33.09
3. Florida (Runnels, Mayne, Peoples, Cronk) — 1:34.30
4. Cal — 1:34.55
5. Tennessee — 1:34.64
6. Texas — 1:34.74
7. USC — 1:34.81
8. Stanford — 1:35.10

Welp! Gretchen Walsh did it again, breaking another record and leading her Virginia Cavaliers to another relay victory. You can read more about that swim here. As you peruse these splits, you’ll note the absence of NC State and Princeton, as both teams were disqualified. You can read about that here.

Before we get into the leg-by-leg analysis a couple of notes:

• Virginia smashed the pool record of 1:34.18, which was set by Florida back in November. Virginia cleared that margin by over 2.5 seconds.
• As far as I can tell This was the first time in the last 20 years across both Men’s and Women’s 200 Medley Relays where the winning time had a faster backstroke split than butterfly. This takes nothing away from Carly Novelline‘s split of 22.38 (she was 3rd fastest) but rather just highlights the impressive performance by Walsh.
  • Closest women’s differential: 2015 Cal – Rachel Bootsma (BK – 23.39) and Noemie Thomas (FL – 23.21)
  • Closest Men’s differential: 2015 Cal – Ryan Murphy (BK – 20.64) and Justin Lynch (FL – 20.63)
• The 200 Medley often sees swimmers jump into holes where the team needs, with coaches hoping that their swimmers can muscle through a 50 of their secondary or tertiary stroke.
  • Michigan’s Natalie Kan swam fly last year on their relay but took over the breaststroke duties for red-shirting Letitia Sim.
  • Throughout the course of much of the season, NC State has had to giggle their line-up around. Katharine Berkoff took on the freestyle duties this year as opposed to her normal backstroke role, and Abby Arens shifted from free to breast.

Backstroke Leg

Enough has been said and written about G. Walsh’s swim, but the difference between her split and the next fastest is almost equal to that of the second fastest to the last. After finishing 3rd at Big-10s, Indiana’s Kacey McKenna clipped .22 from her time to tie for the 3rd fastest split, with Cal’s Isabelle Stadden, who also dropped time from her conference swim of 23.64.

Perhaps moving her team up the most was Wisconsin’s Mackenzie McConagha who was just 24.62 at Big-Tens but managed to swim 24.25 here, just .01 off her PB from the 2022 NCAA.

Breastroke Leg

Hannah Bach had an impressive 50 breast, tying for the fastest split of the night at 25.68.  Bach was 25.92 at Big-Tens and 26.22 last year at NCAAs, showing an impressive drop. Bach has been as fast as 25.51, a time that made her the 2nd fastest performer ever, after Lily King.

Sharing top honors with Bach was Mona McSharry. Like Bach, McSharry dropped time from both her conference split (25.80) and her time from last year (26.01) and now ranks among the top performers.

Two of the fastest breaststrokers in the meet seemed to have middling results. Kaitlyn Dobler and Anna Elendt ranked just 7th and 8th, respectively, with splits of 26.45 and 26.53.

Butterfly Leg

While G. Walsh certainly made up for a lot of the difference between Virginia’s seed time of 1:33.84  and the winning time of 1:31.58, Carly Novelline made an impact too. The sophomore stepped up and threw down a 22.38 (3rd fastest among the field) and .42 faster than her split from ACCs. At ACCs, FSU’s Jenny Halden swam 22.92, but tonight crushed the 3rd leg of the relay, swimming 22.35, just .02 behind Kit Kat Zennick, who herself improved upon her split from Big-10s.

Stanford’s Gigi Johnson‘s 22.63 ranks 7th on the list, but is a marked improvement upon the 22.91, that Lucy Bell swam on their DQed relay from Pac-12s.

Freestyle Leg

Despite throwing down the fastest legal split in the field, Louisville’s Gabi Albiero‘s 21.16 wasn’t enough to move her team back into the top eight. Last year, Albiero closed in 20.88 to finish in 4th, but her team had to settle for 11th.  Stanford Amy Tang popped off, surging her team into a podium position. Last year, Tang was 21.94 on Stanford’s 9th place relay, and last month was 21.65 at PAC-12s but casually dropped a 21.23 split to rank second.

NC State’s Katharine Berkoff split 20.35 on the relay and would easily have topped the field but nabbed with a -.17 reaction time, causing the relay to be disqualified. Duke’s Tatum Wall posted the 4th fastest split of the field at 21.36 and appears to have gotten away with a reaction time of -.03.

WOMEN’S 800 FREESTYLE RELAY

• NCAA Record: 6:45.91 — Stanford (S. Manuel, L. Neal, E. Eastin, K. Ledecky), 2017
• Meet Record: 6:45.91 — Stanford (S. Manuel, L. Neal, E. Eastin, K. Ledecky), 2017
• American Record: 6:45.91 — Stanford (S. Manuel, L. Neal, E. Eastin, K. Ledecky), 2017
• U.S. Open Record: 6:45.91 – Stanford (S. Manuel, L. Neal, E. Eastin, K. Ledecky), 2017
• 2023 NCAA Champion: 6:49.82 – Virginia (A. Canny, A. Walsh, R. Tiltmnn, E. Nelson)

1. Florida (Sims, Ivey, Weyant, Cronk) — 6:48.59
2. Tennessee (Douthwright, Spink, Mrozinski, Fuller) — 6:50.82
3. Stanford (Roghair, Nordmann, Mannion, Wilson) — 6:51.17
4. Virginia — 6:51.41
5. Indiana — 6:54.03
6. Georgia — 6:54.67
7. Texas — 6:54.68
8. Michigan — 6:54.70

With the knowledge that Gretchen Walsh would not be swimming this relay, the confidence in Virginia winning this relay slid from almost certain to a toss-up if not leaning towards Virginia. Florida winning certainly wouldn’t be considered an upset, based on their prowess across mid-distance free, but two other teams passing Virginia to finish ahead of the defending champions on the podium was a little shocking.

Florida’s winning time of 6:48.59, marks not only a new school record but also a new pool record, overtaking the previous time of 6:53.04. This is the first time since 1989 that the Gators have won this relay.

LEADOFF LEGS  

Bella Sims started out fast but was slowly reeled back in by Indiana’s Anna Peplowski. Sims, who was 1:40.90 at SECs was a tad slower, but still fast enough to give Florida the lead at the first exchange. On the other hand, Peplowski blew by her conference’s swim and personal best of 1:42.04 to nearly break 1:41. Her 1:41.16 would move her from the 4th seed in the 200 to the 2nd and, just based on how close she was to Sims, could be in contention for the title.

Moving in the opposite direction is USC freshman Minna Abraham. Abraham, a native of Hungry, is entered in the individual 200 as the #2 seed with an entry time of 1:41.38 but barely managed to break 1:43, leading off in 1:42.98.

Michigan’s Katie Crom split of 1:43.55 may not jump off the page but stands as a marked difference, improving nearly a full second over her lead-off of 1:44.38 from last month.

Second Leg

Sims handed off to teammate Isabel Ivey, who only extended the Gator lead, posting the fastest 2nd leg and fastest flying split of the field (1:41.64). Ivey is the #3 seed in the 200 and will look to go 1-2 with Sims but will have some ground to make up on the aforementioned Peplowski. Freshman Camille Spink did well to bring Tennessee up into 2nd place, but was a little slower than her SEC split of 1:41.56.

Primarily known as a backstroker, Wisconsin senior Phoebe Bacon put in a strong leg for the Badgers, splitting 1:42.99. Last year, the 2021 Olympian was just 1:44.00, and was 1:43.21 last month at Big-Tens.

Third Leg

The third leg saw the firm establishment of the top four. Ella Nelson gained some ground on Florida, but she only cut half a second off Florida’s lead of over two seconds. Nelson, who anchored last year’s relay, was faster tonight by about .6 of a second. Brazilian Olympian and Michigan Wolverine Stephanie Balduccini gave her team the lead in the penultimate heat and did enough to help ultimately move Michigan onto the podium.

Cal and USC, both seeded among the top eight, fell off on the third leg, with both swimmers recording the slowest splits of their entire squad.

Fourth Leg

Josephine Fuller, a new addition to the relay from last year, brought her Tennessee Lady Vols home in a fast 1:42.08, a massive improvement from her SEC anchor of 1:43.67. Tennessee, who had been sitting in 3rd behind Virginia, would go on to take 2nd as a result. Like Tennessee, jumping up one spot Stanford’s Kayla Wilson threw down a fast split to also pass Virginia in the closing yards. Wilson, who touched in 1:42.28, was faster than her split from PAC-12s and just off her split from last year (1:42.22).

Georgia’s Zoie Hartman was slower than her split from last year (1:42.50), but still managed to anchor her team to a 6th place overall finish, finishing nearly 5 seconds faster than last year and two spots higher. Michigan, like Georgia, jumped onto the podium despite being seeded outside of the top 8. Sophomore Christey Liang‘s 1:44.00 was .60 faster her time from Big-10s and was enough of an improvement to hold off Lea Polonsky‘s 1:42.49 for Cal, who ultimately finished 9th.

Virginia’s Reilly Tiltmann recorded the 1oth fastest split on the last leg, recording a time of 1:44.33, nearly a full second slower than her time from last year’s winning relay (1:43.38). That being said, Virginia’s disappointing finish should not be placed squarely on her shoulders alone, as only Ella Nelson was faster this year than at NCAAs last year