NCAA Women’s Championships: Five Events on Deck Friday Morning (Heat Sheet)
After three individual swimming finals, one diving final and the 200 freestyle relay Thursday evening, the NCAA Women’s Championships will continue Friday morning in Federal Way, Wash., with action in the 400 IM, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke and 100 backstroke, with 3-meter diving and the 400 medley relay to follow later in the day.
Click here to view the Friday morning heat sheet.
In the medley event, the two favorites both won Olympic medals in the meters version of the event at the Paris Games, with top seed Katie Grimes winning silver and second seed Emma Weyant earning bronze to follow up her Tokyo silver. Weyant is coming off a disappointing 20th-place finish in the 500 free Thursday. They will each highlight a circle-seeded heat, with the up-and-coming Stanford duo of Caroline Bricker and Lucy Bell up one heat prior.
Gretchen Walsh is the heavy favorite for another NCAA title in the 100 fly, an event in which she ranks one second quicker than any other swimmer in history. Walsh swims in between Leah Shackley and Giulia Carvalho in the final heat while 100-meter fly Olympic champion Torri Huske and two-time 200 fly national champion Emma Sticklen are in lane for in the other circle-seeded heats.
In the 200 free, Olympian Erin Gemmell races in the first circle-seeded heat next to Minna Abraham, with Stephanie Balduccini and Camille Spink to follow. Top-seeded Anna Peplowski will god in the last heat alongside Aimee Canny, Brooklyn Douthwright and Aurora Roghair.
Tennessee freshman McKenzie Siroky swims in her first NCAA Championships individual event in the 100 breast, highlighting the third-to-last heat before Olympic medalist teammate Mona McSharry in the following heat. The final slate of racers includes the Virginia duo of Alex Walsh and Emma Weber plus past NCAA champion Kaitlyn Dobler of USC.
In the 100 back, Bella Sims tries to rebound from a 17th-place result in the 500 free. She is the top seed racing a final heat that also includes veterans Josephine Fuller, Isabelle Stadden and Kennedy Noble. Sims’ top competitor in this event is second-seeded Claire Curzan, who races one heat earlier.
