2019 TENNESSEE INVITATIONAL
- November 21st-24th, 2019
- Alan Jones Aquatic Center, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee
- SCY, Prelims/Finals
- Meet Details
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
- Results on MeetMobile: 2019 UT Invite
Virginia freshman Kate Douglass swam a 1:52.84 in the 200 IM on Thursday at the Tennessee Invitational. That ranks her as the 3rd-fastest freshman in NCAA history in that event, and the 16th-fastest swimmer of any age.
Her swim also broke the Virginia school record which had been a 1:54.05 set by Kaitlyn Jones in 2016. Jones’ swim was also the old ACC Conference Record.
The only swimmers who have been faster in the 200 IM in their first year of college are Stanford’s Ella Eastin, who swam 1:51.65 as a rookie in 2016 (and was NCAA Champion that season), and Cal’s Kathleen Breaker, who swam a 1:52.80 at the Pac-12 Championships that season, where she finished 2nd behind Eastin.
That year at Pac-12s, the top 3 finishers were actually all freshman, with USC’s Kirsten Vose taking 3rd.
What particularly stands out about Douglass’ swim is that coming out of high school, she was only 1:56.29. By comparison, Baker was a 1:54.50 in high school, and Eastin was a 1:53.90, meaning Baker has had a much steeper improvement curve to this point in her career. Douglass came out of high school with big sprint credentials, but has really expanded her versatility midway through her freshman season at UVA.
Eastin and Baker are now 2 of the 3 fastest 200 yard IMers in history.
Comparative Splits:
| Fly Split | Back Split | Breast Split | Free Split | Total Time | |
| Baker’s Freshman Best | 24.50 | 27.54 | 33.22 | 27.54 | 1:52.80 |
| Eastin’s Freshman Best | 24.81 | 27.38 | 32.52 | 26.94 | 1:51.65 |
| Douglass’ Freshman Best | 24.02 | 28.53 | 33.20 | 27.09 | 1:52.84 |
Douglas so far is a better breaststroker than either Baker or Eastin, though she’s got some work to do on her backstroke – the one stroke where she hasn’t really had a breakthrough so far in her freshman season.
Georgia Freshman Zoie Hartman was 2nd in the race in 1:53.69, which is also one of the best all-time swims by a freshman in this event.
Top 8 Freshmen in NCAA History, Women’s 200 Yard IM
- Ella Eastin, Stanford – 1:51.65
- Kathleen Baker, Cal – 1:52.80
- Kate Douglass, Virginia – 1:52.84
- Meghan Small, Tennessee – 1:53.31
- Kathleen Hersey, Texas – 1:53.33
- Liz Pelton, Cal – 1:53.39
- Zoie Hartman, Georgia – 1:53.69
- Louise Hansson, USC – 1:53.72
Her progression on fly has been amazing in 2019.
Douglass then went :49 fly on the relay. Wow. Her 21.6 in HS was incredible but she’s showing massive versatility now. Even with her being the #1 recruit in her class bu
But she is far exceeding expectations. I think she might go 2:03-2:04 2 breast later in the meet.
I mean, Douglass has now gone 2:14 -> 2:07 in breast. 1:56 -> 1:52 in IM. In the first 3 months of her college career. It’s not like she was slow coming to college!
I’ll bring up the topic here… and be realistic about it…. she is improving at a very rapid rate. Desorbo is clearly doing right by her, but I can’t give him 100% credit. If she stayed home this year or went to Stanford or Berkeley she probably would be doing close to these times still. I do think uva turned out to be the best choice for her and the coaches are just beginning to scratch the surface of her potential, and I am confident Desorbo is one of a few coaches who can maximize her potential
Douglass crazy exploding @ Hooville tells y’all that Meehan & McKeever can sure learn a few things from DeSorbo!
All eyes on Virginia now!
Our Hype is REAL!
If anything it is like an NBA/Olympic Coach or MLB Manager… emphasis on that word “manager”… she is clearly an elite talent… “coaching” her is almost one of those “just dont screw it up” type of situations, at least right now. That might change once she finally hits her plateau. But right now, her improvements have shown that she is not at that stage in her career yet.
Not that other programs don’t but DeSorbo & staff excel at making swimming fun, which translates to happy swimmers, who swim fast. Seems simple but not always the norm. Go Hoos!
Haha, it is crazy and it’s not like it’s just in 1 stroke either.
Wouldn’t Zoie Hartman be 7th now?
She sure would.
Braden, not wanting to add to all you guys do on the articles, but would it be possible Monday-ish to have a recap of all the invites this weekend? Possibly a top 5 in each event/relays?
Keep up the great work!
KD is unreal, love watching her perform.
Sure, we could probably do that.
Can we get an analysis of where each freshmen’s swim rank in history via separate article?
Great googly moogly