NCAA Women’s Championships: Virginia, Stanford Post Distinguished Performance in First Prelims (Thursday Finals Heat Sheet)
A perfect morning for a University of Virginia women’s squad hoping for a fifth consecutive NCAA title? Not quite, but no big deal for a team that arrived in Federal Way, Wash., considered a shoo-in to crush the competition. The team picked up six spots in A-finals on the first full day of the meet, two more than any other team.
Click here to view the heat sheet for Thursday’s finals.
Virginia will have Gretchen Walsh as the heavy favorite in the 50 free after Walsh came up just seven hundredths short of her own American, NCAA and U.S. Open records in prelims, and teammates Claire Curzan and Maxine Parker also reached the top heat. Alex Walsh might have a serious challenge in her hopes of winning a fourth national title in the 200 IM, but head coach Todd DeSorbo’s crew did well to get two top-eight finishes in the 500 free with Katie Grimes and Cavan Gormsen.
Sure, Leah Hayes ended up in the B-final of the 200 IM while Aimee Canny (500 free) and Anna Moesch (50 free) both missed qualifying for evening swims, but remember that Virginia also has 62 near-certain points with the 200 free relay coming at the end of the session Thursday evening. No drama expected at the top of the team race, and that’s what has happened so far.
However, the Texas Longhorns’ hopes to finish second for the fourth consecutive season took a hit with an extremely strong morning for Stanford. The Cardinal also picked up seven evening swims, tied with Virginia for most overall, and four of them are A-finalists: Aurora Roghair in the 50 free and then Torri Huske, Caroline Bricker and Lucy Bell in the 200 IM. Natalie Mannion (500 free) and the duo of Lillie Nordmann and Emily Thompson (200 IM) all swam season-best times to reach consolation heats.
Following a win in the 800 free relay plus a runnerup result in the 200 medley relay in the opening session, these prelims results prove that Stanford has arrived in peak form, leaving the Cardinal a real chance to chase the team’s highest finish since winning three national consecutive titles from 2017 to 2019.
As for the Longhorns, Jillian Cox and Emma Sticklen picked up their expected A-final spots in the 500 free and 200 IM, respectively, and Campbell Stoll and Campbell Chase reached the 200 IM B-final, but six swimmers considered potential scorers did not make it back. Olympian Erin Gemmell ended up 37th in the 500 free while fifth-years Grace Cooper and Ava Longi missed out in the 50 free. However, Texas is expected to have an edge in diving, with Hailey Hernandez among the favorite’s in Thursday’s 1-meter event.
Tennessee matched Texas with two up and two down, and A-final swims by the team’s two most valuable swimmers, Josephine Fuller and Camille Spink, bode well. Indiana and Louisville were the only other teams with multiple A-finalists, with two Hoosiers finishing top-eight in the 500 free and two Cardinals doing the same in the 50.
The biggest disappointment in Thursday’s prelims came from last year’s third-place team, the Florida Gators. Bella Sims and Emma Weyant sparked last year’s performance with a 1-2 finish to open individual racing in the 500 free, but this time, they ended up 17th and 20th, respectively.
The Gators did get Julie Brousseau and Mabel Zavaros into the consolation heat of that event, but that was it for the morning, with Zoe Dixon finishing nine hundredths out of the consolation heat of the 200 IM and Lainy Kruger missing her best time by more than two seconds. The good news for Florida is that 10 out of 13 individual events have not begun yet, with plenty of time to regain momentum.
Michigan got three B-finalists Thursday but would be disappointed that top-eight seeds Hannah Bellard and Rebecca Diaconsecu missed out entirely in the 500 free.
Day 2 Prelims Up-Downs
- Virginia: 6 up, 1 down
- Stanford: 4 up, 3 down
- Tennessee: 2 up, 2 down
- Texas: 2 up, 2 down
- Indiana: 2 up, 1 down
- Louisville: 2 up, 1 down
- Cal: 1 up, 2 down
- Georgia: 1 up, 1 down
- Alabama: 1 up, 0 down
- Ohio State: 1 up, 0 down
- Pittsburgh: 1 up, 0 down
- Wisconsin: 1 up, 0 down
- Michigan: 0 up, 3 down
- Florida: 0 up, 2 down
- USC: 0 up, 2 down
- Arizona State: 0 up, 1 down
- Miami (FL): 0 up, 1 down
- North Carolina: 0 up, 1 down
- NC State: 0 up, 1 down
