Produced by Coleman Hodges.
Reported by Stephen Parsons.
200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – FINALS
NCAA Record: Caitlin Leverenz, California, 1:51.77American Record: Caitlin Leverenz, California, 1:51.77U.S. Open Record: Caitlin Leverenz, California, 1:51.77- 2015 NCAA Champion: Missy Franklin, California, 1:52.11
Kathleen Baker of California open the first half of the race at 52.00, but that couldn’t stop Ella Eastin from charging down the pool in the breast leg. The freshman from Stanford rocketed home in 32.52/26.94 to dismantle Caitlin Leverenz’s existing records with a new NCAA, American, U.S. Open Record, and Georgia Tech Pool Record of 1:51.65.
Ella Eastin: 24.81/27.38/32.52/26.94 = 1:51.65
Baker finished the race with new personal best of 1:52.95 for second and Kirsten Vose of USC snagged third in 1:54.27. The top three finishers in this event are also all freshmen and hail from the state of California. Top seedMadisyn Cox (1:54.80) finished fourth with Texas A&M’s Lisa Bratton (1:55.89), Cal’s Kelly Naze (1:55.89), Texas A&M’s Sydney Pickrem (1:56.13), and Cal’s Celina Li (1:56.16) closing the final.
Courtney Bartholomew (1:55.44) held a tight grip on the B final, but was eclipsed by Aggie swimmer and outside smoke, Bethany Galat (1:55.26), in the last 50 yards.
Many commenters on this website have negative things to say about college coaches when athletes leave their club teams and don’t swim quite as fast as expected in the NCAA, but I rarely read positive comments about coaches when their athletes exceed expectations. I know Ella Eastin was a top-level recruit, but I never thought we’d see her break the US National record in the 200 IM (albeit in SCY) leading into Olympic Trials! Congratulations to Miss. Eastin, Coach Meehan and the Stanford staff for doing such a tremendous job! I hope the confidence and momentum Ella gains from this competition will help her succeed throughout 2016!