Brooke Forde Talks Training with Stanford 500 Group (Video)

2019 WOMEN’S DIVISION I NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, March 20th – Saturday, March 23rd
• Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center — Austin, Texas
• Prelims 9 a.m./Finals 5 p.m. (Central Time)
• Defending Champion: Stanford (2x) – 2018 results
• Championship Central
• Psych Sheet
• Live Results
• Full livestream schedule
• Day 2 Finals Heat Sheet

^{Reported by Lauren Neidigh.}

500 FREESTYLE

• NCAA Record: Katie Ledecky (Stanford), 4:24.06 – 2017
• American Record: Katie Ledecky (Stanford), 4:24.06 – 2017
• Meet Record: Katie Ledecky (Stanford), 4:24.06 – 2017

1. GOLD: Brooke Forde, Stanford, 4:31.34
2. SILVER: Paige Madden, Virginia, 4:32.98
3. BRONZE: Mackenzie Padington, Minnesota, 4:35.21

Virginia’s Paige Madden and Stanford’s Brooke Forde were neck-and-neck with 200 to go, but Forde started to pull away across the last 100. She had never broken 4:37 before today, but she’s now an NCAA champion and the 5th fastest performer in history after winning with a 4:31.34. Madden also made a huge drop today, dropping from a 4:38 coming into the meet to a 4:32.98 for 2nd place tonight.

Minnesota’s Mackenzie Padington ran down Cierra Runge (4:35.39) on the back half, clipping her best time from prelims with a 4:35.21. Padington’s time was a new Minnesota school record. The only other woman under 4:36 tonight was teammate Chantal Nack, who was just off her prelims swim in 4:35.88. Nack had also held the Minnesota school record for a short time as she set it in prelims.

Runge was formerly the 5th fastest in history with a 4:31.90 from 2015, and remains 6th all-time after tonight. The top 3 swimmers tonight were the only ones to improve from their prelims times, and are all currently sophomores at their respective schools.

Arizona’s Hannah Cox used her back-end speed to top the B-final field. Before prelims this morning, Cox hadn’t gone a best time in this event since 2015. She snapped her best time in prelims, but blew it away tonight with a drop of nearly 2 seconds in 4:36.04. Rose Bi of Michigan took it out with the lead and held on for 2nd with a 4:37.12. Stanford’s Katie Drabot and Arizona’s Kirsten Jacobsen, both A finalists in this race in 2018, tied for 3rd in the heat at 4:37.87.