2015 Women’s NCAA DI Championships: Day 3 Finals Live Recap

2015 WOMEN’S NCAA DI CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Thursday, March 19 – Saturday, March 21
• Greensboro Aquatic Center – Greensboro, NC
• Prelims 11AM/Finals 7PM (Eastern Time)
• Defending Champion: Georgia (2x) – results
• NCAA Championship Central
• Live stream: ESPN 3
• Live results

After a big morning, the California Golden Bears have nearly secured their national championship team title. As of yesterday, California lead by 84 points over Georgia with 383.5 points. Georgia ended day 2 with 299.5 points. If all of the swimmers finish exactly as they finished this morning, Cal is expected to earn 133 points and Georgia is expected to earn 159 points.

Stanford will be locked into third place as a team, and the most competitive team battle will be for fourth.

Virginia is currently in fourth with 168 points and Texas A&M in fifth at 153.5. Again, if everyone finishes exactly as they did this morning, Virginia will earn 61 points and Texas A&M will earn 68. We know that swimmers will shift around today, so every point will matter for both teams if they want to finish in fourth as a team.

Tonight will also be Missy Franklin’s final races as an NCAA athlete. She is planning on turning pro after this meet and ending her college career.

1650 FREESTYLE – TIMED FINAL

• NCAA – 15:27.84 – Brittany MacLean, Georgia – 2014
• Championship – 15:27.84 – Brittany MacLean, Georgia – 2014
• American – 15:13.30 – Katie Ledecky – 2014
• US Open – 15:13.30 – Katie Ledecky – 2014
• 2014 Champion – Brittany MacLean, Georgia – 15:27.84

Virginia’s Leah Smith completes the distance sweep, winning the 1650 freestyle with a time of 15:34.46. That time moves her to 6th on the list of top all-time performers.

California’s Cierra Runge held off charging swimmers from Florida and Texas A&M to finish second at 15:46.46. Forida’s Jessica Thielmann almost ran her down but fell just short with her third place time of  15:46.48. Texas A&M’s Sarah Henry had the fastest final 50 in the field and almost ran down Runge and Thielmann but ran out of room, finishing fourth at 15:46.83.

Georgia’s Amber McDermott finished fifth with her time of 15:53.19 and her teammate, Rachel Zilinskas, earned All-American honors from the early heats with a sixth place finish of 15:55.69.

The seventh place finisher also came from the early heats. Oregon State’s Sammy Harrison finished second in the early heats and seventh overall with her time of 15:56.01.

Arizona’s Bonnie Brandon finished 8th with her time of 15:56.60.

Top 5 Times From Early Heats

1. 15:55.22 – Rachel Zilinskas, Georgia
2. 15:56.01 – Sammy Harrison, Oregon St
3. 15:59.31 – Gillian Ryan, Michigan
4. 15:59.59 – Becky Stoughton, Iowa
5. 16:00.22 – Kaitlin Pawlowicz, Texas

200 BACKSTROKE – FINALS

• NCAA – 1:47.84 – Liz Pelton, California – 2013
• Championship – 1:47.84 – Liz Pelton, California – 2013
• American – 1:47.84 – Liz Pelton, California – 2013
• US Open – 1:47.84 – Liz Pelton, California – 2013
• 2014 Champion – Brooklynn Snodgrass, Indiana – 1:50.52

Missy Franklin posted the second fastest time in history to win her third NCAA championship of the meet and final individual race as an NCAA athlete with her time of 1:47.91.

Virginia’s Courtney Bartholomew broke 1:50 to finish second with her time of 1:49.35, dropping two seconds from her morning swim. She had the most dominant under-waters of the swimmers in the A final, which helped her carry her momentum. Denver’s Sam Corea picked up a third place finish with her time of 1:50.87.

Danielle Galyer from Kentucky finished fourth with her time of 1:51.68, and Kylie Stewart for Georgia was just behind her at 1:51.70.

California’s Melanie Klaren and Liz Pelton finished sixth and seventh at 1:51.83 and 1:52.08, respectively.

Brooklynn Snodgrass from Indiana rounded out the A final with her time of 1:52.23.

Michigan’s Clara Smiddy dropped a second and a half from her morning swim to win the B final of the 200 back with her time of 1:51.88. Florida’s Ashlee Linn finished second in the heat at 1:52.01.

100 FREESTYLE – FINALS

• NCAA – 46.61 – Simone Manuel, Texas A&M – 2014
• Championship – 46.69 – Simone Manuel, Texas A&M – 2015
• American – 46.29 – Abbey Weitzeil – 2014
• US Open – 46.29 – Abbey Weitzeil – 2014
• 2014 Champion – Margo Geer, Arizona – 47.10

With a new American, US Open, 17-18 NAG record, and NCAA record, Simone Manuel reached in for the wall to win her second individual race of the meet with her time of 46.09. Her teammate, Lia Neal, finished second with a 47.13.

Florida’s Natalie Hinds finished third with a 47.19, just ahead of Wisconsin’s Ivy Martin at 47.24.

Georgia’s Chantal Van Landeghem finished fifth at 47.48 and Texas A&M’s Beryl Gastaldello was sixth at 47.73.

There was tie for seventh between Georgia’s Olivia Smoliga and Cal’s Farida Osman at 47.88.

Georgia’s Olivia Smoliga snuck in to win the B final with her time of 48.23, just ahead of USC’s Kasia Wilk at 48.24.

200 BREASTSTROKE – FINALS

• NCAA – 2:04.06 – Emma Reaney, Notre Dame – 2014
• Championship – 2:04.06 – Emma Reaney, Notre Dame – 2014
• American – 2:04.06 – Emma Reaney, Notre Dame – 2014
• US Open – 2:04.06 – Emma Reaney, Notre Dame – 2014
• 2014 Champion – Emma Reaney, Notre Dame – 2:04.06

Minnesota’s Kierra Smith won the 200 breaststroke, becoming the third fastest performer of all time with a 2:04.56. She cleared more than a body length between herself and the second place finisher from Virginia, Laura Simon. Simon finished with a 2:06.65.

Stanford’s Katie Olsen moved into third with a small drop to 2:07.06. Notre Dame’s Emma Reaney finished fourth with her time of 2:07.10.

Alabama’s Kaylin Burchell picked up a fifth place finish at 2:07.75, dropping close to a second from her prelim swim. Molly Hannis was the final swimmer under 2:08 with a 2:07.90 for sixth.

Ashley McGregor finished seventh for Texas A&M at 2:08.67 and Weronika Paluszek rounded out the A final with a 2:08.95.

Another B final goes to Michigan with a 2:07.88 from Emily Kopas. Auburn’s Annie Lazor finished second in the heat at 2:08.41.

200 BUTTERFLY – FINALS

• NCAA – 1:49.92 – Elaine Breeden, Stanford – 2009
• Championship – 1:49.92 – Elaine Breeden, Stanford – 2009
• American – 1:49.92 – Elaine Breeden, Stanford – 2009
• US Open – 1:49.92 – Elaine Breeden, Stanford – 2009
• 2014 Champion – Cammile Adams, Texas A&M – 1:52.25

Louisville’s Kelsi Worrell swept the butterfly events, winning the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:51.11. She was out .6 slower than she was this morning during prelims, but it paid off. She dropped more than 2 seconds to win the final tonight.

Kentucky’s Christina Bechtel picked up a second place finish with a 1:52.08, dropping close to a second and a half from her morning swim.

Georgia teammates Hali Flickinger and Lauren Harrington finished third and fourth at 1:52.73 and 1:53.92, respectively.

Worrell’s teammate from Louisville, Tanja Kylliainen, finished fifth at 1:54.62 barely touching out Indiana’s sixth place finisher Gia Dalesandro with a 1:54.66.

Cal’s Noemie Thomas finished seventh with a 1:54.94 and Florida State’s Chelsea Britt rounded out the top 8 with a 1:55.98.

USC’s Chelsea Chenault dropped more than two seconds to win the B final of the 200 butterfly with a 1:53.17. UCLA’s Noelle Tarazona finished second in the heat at 1:54.65, dropping close to a half second.

Platform Diving – FINALS

Indiana’s Jessica Parratto posted the highest score of the day to win platform diving with a score of 367.00 earning 20 points for the Hoosiers. USC’s Haley Ishimatsu was second with 339.65 points.

Miami (FL) added 16 points with a third place finish from Cheyenne Cousineau at 318.05. Arizona State’s Mara Aiacoboae was fourth with 313.5, Minnesota’s Yu Zhou was fifth at 301.70, and Samantha Bromberg was sixth for Texas at 297.55.

Rebecca Hamperian picked up seventh place points with 296.40, and Carey Chen was 8th for Michigan at 251.05.

Virginia Tech’s Kaylea Arnett won the b final with 296.25.

400 FREESTYLE RELAY – FINALS

• NCAA – 3:09.40 – Georgia – 2013
• Championship – 3:09.40 – Georgia – 2013
• American – 3:10.63 – Arizona – 2013
• US Open – 3:09.40 – Georgia – 2013
• 2014 Champion – Stanford – 3:10.83

With a new American, US Open, and NCAA record, Stanford wins the final event of the day with a 3:08.54. Lia Neal lead off with a 46.84, followed by a 47.98 from Janet Hu, a 47.93 from Lindsey Engel, and a 45.79 anchor split from Simone Manuel. California was also under the previous record with a 3:09.76. Missy Franklin lead off with a 46.66 100 freestyle.

Georgia was third with a 3:12.08 and Texas A&M finsihed fourth at 3:13.20. They needed a fourth place relay finish to pass Virginia in the team race for fouth place overall. A fifth place finish in the relay would have resulted in a tie for fourth place.

NC State finished fifth at 3:13.21, Wisconsin was sixth at 3:13.84, Florida finished seventh at 3:14.27, and Auburn was eighth at 3:15.49.

FINAL TEAM SCORES

1. California  – 513
2. Georgia – 452
3. Stanford – 363
4. Texas A&M – 231
5. Virginia – 229
6. Louisville – 197
7. Texas – 164
8. USC – 163
9. Florida – 129
10. Indiana – 126

Congrats to the California Golden Bears!