After day 2 of women’s NCAAs, the Georgia Bulldogs have expanded a 50-point lead to 72, and seem to be closing in on a repeat NCAA title. The big story thus far is Stanford, who still sit ahead of Cal with one day to go, though the margin is still razor-thin at 12 points. The Cardinal continues to grab big points in the relay events, where they’ve won three times and finished third once.
Texas A&M passed up USC for fourth place tonight after the Trojans lost some major points in prelims. The Aggies now hold a large 37-point advantage over Southern Cal for the 4-spot.
Tennessee seems to be holding steady just outside the top 5, but they’ve now got Florida hot on their heels. The Gators shot up the rankings tonight and sit seventh.
Texas moved into the top 10 tonight while Arizona fell off some, dropping from 7th to 10th, but that’s somewhat to be expected – neither of the Wildcat’s two studs had a signature event tonight, but Bonnie Brandon has her 20 back and Margo Geer the 100 free tomorrow, so watch for Arizona to start putting points on the board again in a big way.
Minnesota continues to stick in the top 10, overcoming a shaky morning with a big 6th place finish in the 800 free relay. The Golden Gophers are 7 points up on Arizona, who are tied with Virginia for the 10th spot.
Top 10 Teams
1. Georgia 369
2. Stanford 297
3. Cal 285
4. Texas A&M 226
5. USC 189
6. Tennessee 155
7. Florida 154
8. Texas 119
9. Minnesota 91
10. Arizona 84
10. Virginia 84
All-in-all, here’s a breakdown of some of the teams near the top who are outperforming our pre-meet predictions, plus some teams falling a bit short of our expectations:
Floaters
- Stanford: 5th pre-meet, running 2nd
- USC: 6th pre-meet, running 5th
- Tennessee: 9th pre-meet, running 6th
- Minnesota: 11th pre-meet, running 9th
Sinkers
- Cal: 2nd pre-meet, running 3rd
- Florida: 3rd pre-meet, running 7th
- Virginia: 7th pre-meet, running 10th
So far, our prediction of a Georgia victory is looking spot-on, as the Bulldogs have seemingly done everything right so far. We also had Texas A&M running 4th, Texas 8th and Arizona 10th. Four hits in the top 10 is a pretty good batting average, but don’t worry, SwimSwam fans, we won’t let it go to our heads.
Geogia is showing it is a team sport and not an individual one. Not winning a lot of events but everyone is contributing…diving included. Cal DQ didn’t cost them the championship, but it might have cost them 2nd place Stanford has done a great job.
Laura Ryan has put georgia on her back with her amazing performance. A great diver and even better patriot. Go dogs and God bless America.