Ella Eastin Breaks, American, U.S. Open, NCAA Records in 200 IM

2016 WOMEN’S NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, March 16 – Saturday, March 19
• McAuley Aquatic Center – Atlanta, GA
• Prelims 10AM/Finals 6PM (Eastern Time)
• Defending Champion: Cal – Results
• Championships Central
• SwimSwam Link Sheet
• Live stream: All prelims, Wednesday finals, & Thursday finals (Other sessions will be on ESPN3)
• Live results

Stanford freshman Ella Eastin has broken the U.S. Open, NCAA, and American Records in the 200 IM on day 2 of the 2016 NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships.

In her first crack at an individual NCAA final, Eastin swam a 1:51.65 – the fastest 200 yard IM in history. It broke the NCAA, American, and U.S. Open Records done by former Cal Bear Caitin Leverenz at the 2012 NCAA Championships.

Comparative Splits:

• Eastin ’16: 24.81/27.38/32.52/26.95 = 1:51.65
• Leverenz ’12: 24.75/28.47/31.12/27.43 = 1:51.77

Leverenz has one of the best breaststroke legs of any IMer in the history of swimming, long course or short course, but Eastin is good enough to have had the fastest split of the field on Thursday. She was even with Leverenz’s split on the fly leg and blew her away on the backstroke and freestyle legs to sneak under the record.

Top 10 swims all-time (any level):

1. Ella Eastin, 2016 – 1:51.65
2. Caitlin Leverenz, 2012 – 1:51.77
3. Katinka Hosszu, 2012 – 1:51.80
4. Missy Franklin, 2015 – 1:52.11
5. Julia Smit, 2010 – 1:52.31
6. Katinka Hosszu, 2012 – 1:52.37
7. Caitlin Leverenz, 2012 – 1:52.43
8. Maya DiRado, 2014 – 1:52.50
9. Melanie Margalis, 2014 – 1:52.64
10. Katinka Hosszu, 2011 – 1:52.71

Ironically, Eastin bumped her own swim from the Pac-12 Championships out of the top 10 list.

The runner-up in the race, Cal freshman Kathleen Baker, is now the 10th-fastest performer of all-time.

Day 2 Finals Full Recap.