2015 WOMEN’S NCAA DI CHAMPIONSHIPS: ACC Round-up
What you need to know:
- Thursday, March 19 – Saturday, March 21
- Greensboro Aquatic Center – Greensboro, NC
- Prelims 11AM/Finals 7 PM (Eastern Time)
- Defending Champion: Georgia (2x) – results
- NCAA Championship Central
- Live stream: All prelims & Thursday finals (Other sessions will be on ESPN3)
- Live results
- Finals Recap
ACC Standings After Day 1:
- 5th place – Virginia
- 6th place – Louisville
- 12th place – NC State
- 16th place – University of North Carolina
- 16th place – Notre Dame
- 23rd place – Florida State
- 27th place – University of Miami (FL)
Leah Smith Wows on Day 1 with NCAA Record
Leah Smith of Virginia threw down a phenomenal 4:30.37 in prelims of the 500 yard freestyle to clock a new NCAA record. Smith’s prelims swim broke the relatively new time of 4:31.90 registered by Cal’s Cierra Runge at this year’s Pac-12 Championships and now ranks Smith as the second-fastest swimmer in history in the event.
Smith would go on to ultimately win the 500 yard NCAA title in finals although in a slightly slower time of 4:31.54, earning some vindication of sorts for the Cavalier sophomore. Going into last year’s NCAA championships, Smith was entered as the top seed, but swam herself to the B-Final with her prelims outing. She did blast a swift 4:33.75 to win the 2014 B-Final, and ultimately log the 3rd-fastest time overall at last year’s championship meet, but Smith has got to be feeling some personal satisfaction tonight blowing her 2014 performance out of the water.
More ACC Action:
- Louisville junior Kelsi Worrell put the entire butterfly field on notice, throwing down some dangerous splits in the 400 medley relay. In prelims, Worrell cranked out a 49.56 and followed that up with a finals fly leg of 50.09 towards Louisville’s 6th-place relay finish. Worrell will be swimming both the 100 and 200 butterfly individual events, with her ACC-Championships performances already putting the 100 fly American Record on notice.
- Worrell also did some damage in the 50 freestyle event, where her 21.62 earned the Cardinal 3rd place, vastly improving upon the 20th spot she wound up in at last year’s NCAAs. NC State’s Riki Bonnema also scored in the 50 free contest, coming in 7th in a time of 22.03.
- Virginia’s Courtney Bartholomew finished 5th in the 2o0 IM event in a time of 1:55.71, while Louisville’s Tanja Kylliainen touched in 1:56.40 for 7th place overall in the same race.
- Bartholomew was also part of Virginia’s monster 400 medley relay that touched in 2nd place tonight in a time of 3:26.42, but was still among the total of 3 squads that all blew past the previous NCAA record of 3:27.51 set by Stanford last year. Bartholomew led the Cavaliers off with a stunning 50.19 split, the fastest of the field, and then turned it over to Laura Simon and Ellen Williamson who continued to extend the Virginia lead with splits of 57.52 and 51.02, respectively. Just when it looked like Ellen Thomas (47.69) had the anchor in the bag, Stanford freshman Simone Manuel’s other-worldly 45.45 final leg simply gobbled up any real estate between the Cavaliers and the Cardinal, and Manuel ultimately touched the wall just .01 ahead of the Virginia foursome.
- Louisville’s 400 medley relay finished in 6th place tonight.
Photo Gallery
Virginia’s Leah Smith
Louisville’s Andrea Kneppers
Courtney Bartholomew (Virginia)
Tanja Kylliainen from Louisville
Leah Smith, Virginia
Leah Smith, Virginia
Leah Smith, Virginia
Virginia’s Ellen Williamson
Lauren Poli, NC State