NCAA Ladies’s Championships: Gretchen Walsh Splits 20.23 as Virginia Wins 200 Free Relay, Builds Workforce Lead
The workforce contest took an sudden flip on the NCAA Ladies’s Championships Wednesday night as Virginia positioned fourth within the 800 freestyle relay, snapping a streak of 9 consecutive relay wins on the nationwide meet that dated to 2022. The Cavaliers, aiming for a fourth consecutive workforce title, sat two factors behind Florida within the workforce competitors, albeit fairly early within the contest. May this maybe be a real contest for the general win relatively than the runaway many anticipated?
Not so quick. Virginia has shortly and successfully restored order on day two.
“We talked rather a lot as a workforce on the resort afterward,” Virginia head coach Todd DeSorbo stated. “They will transfer on fairly shortly. Personally, I’ve a superhero and an Achilles heel that’s the identical factor, and that’s with the ability to transfer on from one thing, whether or not it’s actually, actually good, I can transfer on to the subsequent factor, and if it’s actually, actually unhealthy, I can transfer on. It doesn’t matter. The following race is an important one”
After Florida’s Bella Sims took first within the 500 freestyle, the Cavaliers picked up a pair of wins as Alex Walsh swam the second-fastest time ever within the 200 IM and Gretchen Walsh broke the NCAA report within the 50 free for the fifth time this season, and now Virginia has once more comfortably received a relay, blasting the sphere within the 200 free relay. None of these wins have been surprises, however they’ve put Virginia 47.5 factors up on the Gators getting into day three.
Within the dash freestyle relay, the Cavaliers swam barely off the NCAA report of 1:23.63 they set on the ACC Championships, however the consequence was an admirable time of 1:24.05, taking nearly a half-second off the meet report Virginia set final 12 months when Kate Douglass was on the squad. Jasmine Nocentini, third within the 50 free earlier within the night time, led off in 21.26 to provide Virginia a six-hundredth lead on NC State’s Katharine Berkoff, after which Gretchen Walsh took over.
On the ACC Championships final month, the youthful Walsh sister cut up 19.95 for the first-ever sub-20 50 free cut up. This time, she was simply off that mark in 20.23, the third-quickest cut up ever however faster than some other swimmer has ever notched. Her older sister Alex then cut up 21.23 earlier than Maxine Parker, additionally a finalist within the 50 free, got here house in 21.33.
Because the story of this NCAA Championships is written over the approaching days, maybe the momentary setback from Wednesday would be the turning level that galvanizes the Cavaliers in one other title run.
“Having one thing go not good is sweet once in a while,” DeSorbo stated. “It simply supplies somewhat extra motivation and will get them somewhat extra amped up. Not that we’re going to attempt more durable, however they’re going to attempt more durable. They do nicely beneath strain, so I feel having extra strain is an efficient factor.”
Whereas Virginia’s stars once more dominated the race, Louisville produced a robust second-place end with the Cardinals bringing again three swimmers who completed fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively, within the particular person 50 free. Gabi Albiero, Christiana Regenauer, Julia Dennis and Ella Welch mixed for a time of 1:25.47, with each Regenauer and Dennis splitting 21.1s.
Texas positioned third in 1:26.17 with a workforce of Grace Cooper, Ava Longi, Emma Sticklen and Kelly Pash. 5 different groups broke 1:27, with USC main the way in which at 1:26.47. Additional again within the pack, Michigan’s Lindsay Flynn cut up 21.27 on the Wolverines’ fifth-place squad whereas Tennessee’s Camille Spink (21.24) and Indiana’s Ashley Turak (21.28) have been additionally among the many race’s quickest performers. Florida took tenth in 1:27.23 with 500 free champion Bella Sims main off in 21.94 and 200 IM runnerup Isabel Ivey splitting 21.33.
Within the workforce contest, Virginia now leads the way in which with 210.5 factors, adopted by Florida at 163 and Texas at 141. Stanford and Tennessee are tied for fourth at 104.
Occasion 7 Ladies 200 Yard Freestyle Relay
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NCAA: N 1:23.63 2/21/2024 Virginia
J Nocentini, G Walsh, A Walsh, M Parker
Meet: M 1:24.51 3/16/2023 Virginia
Ok Douglass, G Walsh, A Cuomo, M Parker
American: A 1:23.87 2/15/2023 Virginia
Ok Douglass, G Walsh, A Cuomo, A Walsh
US Open: O 1:23.63 2/21/2024 Virginia
J Nocentini, G Walsh, A Walsh, M Parker
Pool: P 1:26.31 12/2/2016 California
Weitzel, Bilquist, Hull, Osman
College Seed Finals Factors
==================================================================================
1 Virginia 1:23.63 1:24.05M 40
1) Nocentini, Jasmine SR 2) r:0.25 Walsh, Gretchen JR
3) r:0.35 Walsh, Alex SR 4) r:0.22 Parker, Maxine SR
r:+0.61 10.17 21.26 (21.26)
30.93 (9.67) 41.49 (20.23)
51.66 (10.17) 1:02.72 (21.23)
1:12.88 (10.16) 1:24.05 (21.33)
2 Louisville 1:25.39 1:25.47P 34
1) Albiero, Gabi SR 2) r:0.23 Regenauer, Chriiana 5Y
3) r:0.11 Dennis, Julia SO 4) r:0.05 Welch, Ella SO
r:+0.62 10.48 21.77 (21.77)
31.76 (9.99) 42.88 (21.11)
52.66 (9.78) 1:04.05 (21.17)
1:13.94 (9.89) 1:25.47 (21.42)
3 Texas 1:26.31 1:26.17P 32
1) Cooper, Grace SR 2) r:0.18 Longi, Ava SR
3) r:0.24 Sticklen, Emma SR 4) r:0.22 Pash, Kelly 5Y
r:+0.64 10.57 21.92 (21.92)
31.92 (10.00) 43.23 (21.31)
53.26 (10.03) 1:04.58 (21.35)
1:14.86 (10.28) 1:26.17 (21.59)
4 USC 1:27.07 1:26.47 30
1) Well-known, Caroline SR 2) r:0.18 Abraham, Minna FR
3) r:0.25 Delgado, Anicka SR 4) r:0.22 Buinaia, Vasilissa 5Y
r:+0.69 10.58 21.71 (21.71)
31.95 (10.24) 43.30 (21.59)
53.50 (10.20) 1:04.92 (21.62)
1:14.97 (10.05) 1:26.47 (21.55)
5 Michigan 1:26.75 1:26.55 28
1) Kendall, Brady SO 2) r:0.24 Flynn, Lindsay JR
3) r:0.26 Balduccini, Steanie FR 4) r:0.13 Newman, Claire SR
r:+0.65 10.51 21.82 (21.82)
31.76 (9.94) 43.09 (21.27)
53.47 (10.38) 1:04.89 (21.80)
1:15.00 (10.11) 1:26.55 (21.66)
6 Tennessee 1:26.87 1:26.65 26
1) McSharry, Mona SR 2) r:0.16 Spink, Camille FR
3) r:0.15 Rumley, Jasmine SR 4) r:0.03 Myers, Amber JR
r:+0.68 10.50 21.99 (21.99)
31.99 (10.00) 43.23 (21.24)
53.51 (10.28) 1:05.09 (21.86)
1:15.10 (10.01) 1:26.65 (21.56)
7 NC State 1:26.24 1:26.75 24
1) Berkoff, Katharine 5Y 2) r:0.33 Arens, Abby SR
3) r:0.22 Donald, Meghan SO 4) r:0.02 Sheehan, Miriam FR
r:+0.70 10.35 21.32 (21.32)
31.49 (10.17) 42.86 (21.54)
53.24 (10.38) 1:04.84 (21.98)
1:15.12 (10.28) 1:26.75 (21.91)
8 Indiana 1:26.66 1:26.84 22
1) Peplowski, Anna JR 2) r:0.08 Turak, Ashley 5Y
3) r:0.31 McKenna, Kacey JR 4) r:0.24 Paegle, Kristina SO
r:+0.70 10.61 21.91 (21.91)
31.93 (10.02) 43.19 (21.28)
53.79 (10.60) 1:05.47 (22.28)
1:15.60 (10.13) 1:26.84 (21.37)
Ladies – Workforce Rankings – By Occasion 7
1. Virginia 210.5 2. Florida 163
3. Texas 141 4. Stanford 105
5. Tennessee 104 6. Louisville 99
7. Southern California 94 8. Indiana 87
9. Michigan 80.5 10. Georgia 75
11. Ohio St 61 12. California 59
13. NC State 50 14. Wisconsin 40
15. UNC 34 16. Duke 33
17. Texas A&M 26 18. Utah 14
19. Minnesota 13 20. Auburn 12
20. Alabama 12 22. Arizona St 11
23. Rutgers 6 23. Virginia Tech 6
23. Lsu 6 26. Northwestern 4
27. Kansas 3 28. Akron 1
