Georgia Takes Care of Business on Day 3 Prelims; Tosky Top Seed in 200 Fly

Lots of points are on the table in the final day of the 2013 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships. The events left on the schedule are:

• 1650 free (no prelims)
• 200 back
• 100 free
• 200 breast
• 200 fly
• Platform Diving
• 400 Free Relay

For a full narrative of how the day’s events are expected to go, see our scoring wrapup from after last night’s finals session.

Live meet results available here.

Women’s 200 Backstroke – Prelims

With the American Record holder Liz Pelton swimming well and in this final, the defending champion Elizabeth Beisel knew she’d have to be sharp to win this 200 backstroke.

First, though,s he had to worry about making finals, and both she and Stanford’s Maya DiRado underrated the depth in the event this year added by new freshman, and both were within a tenth of falling out of the top 8.

As it was, thoguh, 1:52.8’s got them in 7th and 8th.

Meanwhile, Pelton took the top seed in 1:49.62, about 1.3 seconds off of her American Record; knowing what Cal needs tonight, she was pushing the race fairly hard wall-to-wall this morning. She split 54.4-55.2.

Missouri’s Dominique Bouchard went out right with Pelton, but backed-off on the second 100 yards for a lifetime best of 1:50.94, and a second seed. Bouchard knows that if she can be close to anybody in finals, she’s the kind of back-half swimmer who can run them down.

This event is an even starker picture of youth. Four of the top five finishers were all freshmen, moving down to Florida’s Sinead Russell (1:51.80), USC’s Sinead Russell (151.80), and Indiana’s Brooklyn Snodgrass (1:52.52). In fact, out of the top 12 swimmers in the prelims, only one (Bouchard) was a senior, and HALF were freshmen.

The Georgia women got Kelsey Gaid into the final at 14th, with a 1:54.09, which is exactly what they needed to do. In addition to Pelton, Cal got Melanie Klaren (1:52.95) into the B-Final. That time would’ve easily made top 8 last year, showing how much better the backstrokes are getting each year.

Women’s 100 Freestyle – Prelims

Arizona’s Margo Geer has been remarkably consistent at this meet, and she did so once again: missing her seed time by .01 seconds in the prelims of this 100 free with a 47.17. She made the top seed (by half-a-second) look relatively easy in that swim.

Georgia’s Megan Romano is just behind her in 47.68; last year, there were six swimmers better than 48 seconds. This year, those were the only two. You can count on another 47-low from Geer in finals, so Romano will have to get down and chase her.

Georgia’s Allison Schmitt will be the 3rd seed in 48.04, tied with Florida freshman Natalie Hinds. Cal moved up a little in this race by getting Rachael Acker into the A-Final in a best time of 48.04, but so did Georgia by sneaking Shannon Vreeland up into the A for 3 top-8 finalists. Vreeland tied with Florida’s Ellese Zalewski for that 7th position; Tennessee’s Lindsay Gendron was 6th in 48.20.

Stanford’s Maddy Schaefer and Andie Murez tied for 9th with 49.21’s, and USC’s Kasey Carlson was 11th in 48.31. Texas A&M held serve as well by getting one into the B-Final.

Princeton’s Lisa Boyce will make another Ivy League top-16 finisher at this meet; she was 14th in 48.37 – a much better swim than she had in the 50. Florida State’s Kaitlyn Dressel also qualified 16th in 48.53, one spot ahead of her teammate Tiffany Oliver. Both are underclassmen.

Women’s 200 Breaststroke – Prelims

There were no shocking times in this morning’s prelims of the 200 breaststroke, and both of the former National Champions made it safely into the final: Minnesota’s Haley Spencer, who tied for 3rd in 2:07.61, and Cal’s Caitlin Leverenz just snuck in as the 8th seed in 2:08.24.

The top seed, though, is the favorite in the race and the fastest in history in this event Texas A&M’s Breeja Larson. She was a 2:06.32 in prelims, without any kind of a push on her second 100 yards: where she’s usually so good in this race.

Notre Dame’s Emma Reaney moved into the top-10 on the all-time list with a 2:07.00 for the 2nd seed. USC incoming transfer Andrea Kropp tied with Spencer in that 3rd seed. Georgia’s Annie Zhu had her best race of the weekend with a 2:08.09 for 5th, followed by A&M’s Ashley McGregor and Texas’ Laura Sogar in 2:08.23.

Columbia’s Katie Meili continues to improve in this 200 breaststroke, her weaker of the two events, and was a 2:08.63 for 9th overall. Tennessee’s Molly Hannis was 10th in 2:08.94, followed by U.S. Olympian Micah Lawrence (2:09.39).

Villanova senior Erin Malone gashed another two seconds off of her School Record in the 200 breaststroke with a 2:09.45 for the 12th seed.

All of the big teams pretty well held seed in this event.

Women’s 200 Fly – Prelims

Georgia in this 200 fly needed to slip two into the B-Final to hold their seeding against Cal’s powerful freshman Rachel Bootsma. They did even better than that, with sophomore Lauren Harrington knocking a second-and-a-half off of her best time to make the A-Final in 1:54.79. That moves her to second on the all-time Georgia rankings in the event behind only the great Mary DeScenza.

Georgia almost got a second into the top 8 with a 1:55.39 from Hali Flickinger who was 9th.

The ultimate A-Final lineup, though, has a solid diversity. USC’s Jasmine Tosky, after failing to make top 16 in each of her previous two swims, took the top seed in 1:54.03. Texas A&M’s Cammile Adams was just behind her in 1:54.18 – Adams was 2nd at NCAA’s last year, and is the highest returning swimmer.

Louisville’s Tanja Kylliainen sits 3rd in 1:54.33, followed by a pair of North Carolina Tar Heels. Meredith Hoover was a 1:54.47, and Cari Blalock making her third final (second A-Final) with a 1:54.75.

Bootsma, ultimately, did make top 8 with a 1:54.92, and West Virginia’s Maddie Nugent did as well in 1:55.23. This hasn’t been a great meet for West Virginia, but they will score at NCAA’s for the third time in the last four years after an 18-season dry spell.

Virginia, who continues to get better as this meet wears on, got Alison Haulsee into the B-Final in 1:56.40, as well as sophomore Sarah White in 1:56.54 (a big time drop for her).

A&M’s Caroline McElhany slid out of the finals, despite coming in as the second seed, with a 1:56.89. Tennessee’s Kelsey Floyd, who was 3rd in this race last year, also failed to final. That means that Adams is the only A-Finalist from last year’s meet to make the top 16 this year.

Women’s 400 Free Relay – Prelims

The Georgia women played the prelims of this 400 free relay smart: using their three big guns (Vreeland, Schmitt, and Romano) and taking very safe relay starts (freshman Van Landeghem and Schmitt were both about half-a-second on their reactions).

Still, even with a conservative approach to their exchanges, they took the top seed in 3:12.65, and tonight this race will be a battle both for the title in this event, and their 5th all-time team championship.

Stanford was close behind in 3:12.90 this morning, with Andie Murez continuing her big relay performances by anchoring in 47.35. Arizona is 3rd in 3:13.42, with Margo Geer anchoring for them (in her 5th relay swim) in 47.26.

The Florida women, using Natasha Fung as their 4th instead of Elizabeth Beisel (presumably to give Beisel some extra rest for the 200 back final) still got into the final 4th in 3:15.53. That was thanks in large part to the efforts of freshman Natalie Hinds, who split a 46.84 on their anchor – the fastest split of the field. Tennessee was 5th in 3:13.96, with a 47.73 anchor from Lindsay Gendron.

Texas was 7th in 3:14.88, and there was a tie for 8th between Texas A&M and Minnesota for the 8th spot in 3:15.48.

About 45 minutes later, the Aggies and Gophers would square off in a very rare relay swimoff. Teams  are allowed to switch lineups, and though strong consideration was given on the Minnesota side, neither did.

In the unique, and really fun, atmosphere of the swim-off, both teams actually got faster in the swim-off; instead of being ‘tired,’ they looked more like they were ‘warmed up’. The two teams were dead-even for almost the whole of the first 300 yards, but A&M’s Mexican Olympian Lili Ibanez picked the right time to catch fire at this meet. She split a 47.74 anchor for A&M to take them to a top seed of 3:13.85. Minnesota will swim in the B-Final after a 3:14.68.

That was a great way to end the morning session, and leave fans and swimmers alike with some energy headed into a difficult day 3 finals session.