Women’s 400 IM – FINALS – Reported by Braden Keith
Maya DiRado snagged her third final in tonight’s 200 butterfly on her run at 3 individual NCAA titles.
Stanford head coach Greg Meehan hammers his swimmers on their walls, on their turns, on their underwaters. It’s been obvious all weekend in Felicia Lee’s swims, and coming off of the final turn of the women’s 400 IM, it was obvious for Maya DiRado. The senior DiRado swam a 3:58.12 in the 400 IM, just three-tenths shy of the American Record, and won her second individual NCAA title of this meet.
This race was a battle the whole way between DiRado, Florida’s Elizabeth Beisel, and Georgia’s Melanie Margalis. Beisel came out of the breaststroke first, but it was her and DiRado nose-to-nose for the first 75 yards of freestyle. But then, coming off of the final wall, DiRado just bounced like it was a trampoline. It wasn’t even her streamline that was so particularly great, but she was in and off of that turn in an instant, and by the time her feet hit the wall she had about a yard on Beisel, and wouldn’t relinquish it.
Beisel took 2nd in 3:58.54, and Margalis was 3rd in 4:00.30.
Texas A&M’s Sarah Henry and Cammile Adams, both National Teamers, were 5th and 6th respectively in 4:02.88 and 4:03.16.
Georgia’s Amber McDermott was 6th in 4:05.16, USC’s Stina Gardell was 7th in 4:07.34, and Celina Li was 8th in 4:08.02.
Georgia continued to move up, with Nicole Vernon winning the B-Final in 4:05.88, and Hali Flickinger finishing 10th in 4:06.18.