2018 WOMEN’S NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, March 14th – Saturday, March 17th
- McCorkle Aquatic Pavillion — Columbus, OH
- Prelims 9AM/Finals 5PM (Eastern Time)
- Defending Champion: Stanford (results)
- Live stream: Wednesday/Thursday Prelims & Finals, Friday/Saturday Prelims / Friday/Saturday finals on ESPNU
- Championship Central
- Event-by-Event Previews
- Psych Sheet
- Live Results
The Stanford Cardinal fulfilled all expectations at the 2018 Women’s NCAA DI Championships tonight, winning the team title by a monster 220 points. They took the title with 593 points to second-place Cal’s 373 points. With that result, the Cardinal defended their 160.5-point win over Cal in Indy last season.
Much like last season, this performance was mind-bendingly historic. The team, coached by Greg Meehan in his sixth season, came away with five NCAA records, five American/U.S. Open records, thirteen gold medals, three silver medals, and two bronze medals.
Leading the way for the Cardinal were sophomore Katie Ledecky, senior (in her final season) Simone Manuel, senior Ally Howe, and junior Ella Eastin.
Ledecky picked up three gold medals (800 free relay, 500 free, 1650 free) and a silver (400 IM). Manuel grabbed three American/NCAA/U.S. Open records (200 free relay, 400 medley relay, 200 medley relay), six gold medals (200 free relay, 50 free, 400 medley relay, 200 medley relay, 100 free, and 400 free relay), and a bronze medal (200 free). Howe took three American/U.S. Open/NCAA records (200 free relay, 400 medley relay, 200 medley relay), and four gold medals (200 free relay, 400 medley relay, 200 medley relay, 100 back). And Eastin put up the most-decorated individual performance of the meet with two American/NCAA/U.S. Open records (200 IM, 400 IM), and five gold medals (800 free relay, 200 IM, 400 IM, 200 fly, 400 free relay).
Highlights of the weekend for Stanford included American and NCAA records in prelims and finals of the 200 free relay, Eastin’s American record-shattering performance in the 200 IM, Manuel’s .01 away from her own NCAA record 50 free win, American and NCAA records in the 400 medley relay, Eastin’s 400 IM American record finish over her teammate Ledecky, Howe’s .01 from her own American record 100 back, an American record in the 200 medley relay, Ledecky’s huge wins in the 500 and 1650 free, and the 400 free relay’s come-from-behind victory to close out the meet.
The full team roster for the 2017-2018 Stanford national champions is below:
- Megan Byrnes, sophomore
- Kassidy Cook, senior (diving)
- Katie Drabot, sophomore
- Ella Eastin, junior
- Lindsey Engel, senior
- Haley Farnsworth, sophomore
- Brooke Forde, freshman
- Lauren Green, freshman
- Ally Howe, senior
- Janet Hu, senior
- Hannah Kukurugya, freshman
- Katie Ledecky, sophomore
- Simone Manuel, senior
- Lauren Pitzer, freshman
- Leah Stevens, junior
- Allie Szekely, sophomore
- Erin Voss, sophomore
- Kim Williams, junior
- Grace Zhao, freshman
This is Stanford‘s tenth team win in history, following up their win last year. Last year’s win was a full 19 years after their previous national title in 1998.
With this win, Stanford extends their lead as the winningest team in history with 10 NCAA title wins added to 1 in the AIAW (an NCAA predecessor for women’s athletics). Texas and Georgia have seven team titles apiece, and Auburn has five. Here are all the times Stanford has won the team title:
- 1983 (George Haines): 505 points
- 1989 (Richard Quick): 610.5 points
- 1992 (Richard Quick): 735.5 points
- 1993 (Richard Quick): 649.5 points
- 1994 (Richard Quick): 512 points
- 1995 (Richard Quick): 497.5 points
- 1996 (Richard Quick): 478 points
- 1998 (Richard Quick: 422 points
- 2017 (Greg Meehan): 526.5 points
- 2018 (Greg Meehan): 593 points
You can see this weekend’s final team scores below:
1. Stanford 593 2. California 373 3. Texas A&M 299 4. Michigan 267 5. Louisville 232 6. Texas 221.5 7. Tennessee 180.5 8. Indiana 169 9. Virginia 161 10. Minnesota 157 11. Georgia 135 12. Southern Cal 127 13. Ohio St 123 14. Kentucky 97 15. Missouri 86 16. Auburn 82.5 17. Wisconsin 78 18. NC State 70 19. Purdue 51 20. Arizona 46 20. South Carolina 46 22. Northwestern 40 23. Arizona St 34 24. University of Nevada 33 25. UNC 32 26. UCLA 31 27. Arkansas 30 28. Hawaii 29.5 29. Penn St 26 30. Alabama 23 31. Denver 20 32. Eastern Mich 18 33. Virginia Tech 14 33. Miami University 14 35. Nebraska 11 35. Florida 11 37. Wyoming 9 38. Louisiana State University 8 39. Akron 6 39. Rutgers 6 41. Notre Dame 4 42. Duke 3 42. Florida St 3 44. West Virginia 2 44. University of Miami 2
It was a well earned and deserved win. Most athletes hit their taper right and appeared to peak at the biggest meet. Stanford swept the relays. They had the most finalists overall. Also, showed incredible depth. Correct me if I’m wrong, I think the only event they didn’t score was the 200 breaststroke (and 2 diving events). Despite the win last year, Cal was almost more impressive at the biggest meet by having most of the team peaking at NCAAs. This year there was absolutely no doubt about the most impressive team. Congrats to Stanford and their coaches/support staff.
I think Grace Zhao scored in the 200 Breast?
Yea, you’re right. She scored a point. That’s incredible that they scored in every swimming event as a team. Talk about depth.
Your scores aren’t right… corrected now, good looks!
Congratulations Stanford Women’s Swimming and Diving!! I have noticed, from videos, that coach Greg Meehan does a little bit more one on one talk with his athletes after they race. I also noticed more eye contact between Greg Meehan and his athletes which develop more assertiveness it also gave his swimmers more strength to push through. The combination of great swimmers and good coaching contributed to another national championship.
Let me get this straight, Greg’s eye contact somehow gave his swimmers the strength to push through (and assertiveness)? That’s some rad coaching.
Great wrap up article. Need to update the final total points for this year…593!
Was scoring different in the early 90s? I remember the article a while back talking about how if Texas scores 600 points it would make them one of the all-time most dominant teams. How in the world did Stanford score over 700 points back in the day?!!