2017 U.S. WINTER NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
- November 29th-December 2nd
- Bill and Mae McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion, Columbus, OH
- Short Course Yards
- Meet Central
- Omega Results
- NCAA Qualifying
- Live stream (USA Swimming Homepage)
- Saturday Finals Heat Sheet
Drexel University sophomore Alexa Kutch both broke the Drexel University record and swam the fastest time in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) history in the 200 yard backstroke on Saturday at the 2017 U.S. Winter National Championships.
Kutch finished 4th in the event in 1:54.56. That knocks 6-tenths of a second off her own school record, and puts her more than 5 seconds ahead of any other swimmer in school history in the event. The second-best swimmer in school history that event is another sophomore Alicia Diaz. Kutch’s time, while the fastest in school history, is still about half-a-second from the 1:54.00 that it took to be invited to NCAAs last season.
“My main focus for the race was to better my time from prelims and go for a lifetime best,” Kutch said. “I felt really good during warm ups which gave me a confidence boost. Seeing I was never in the A final at a big meet like this, it was such a cool experience. As for my race, I felt really good and by the last 100 I knew I had enough energy to finish strong. When I finished and looked at my time and place, I could do nothing but smile. Of course, there are always things to improve on and my coach and I know what to focus on for the rest of the season.”
Last year, Kutch swam at Winter Nationals and finished in 1:56.00. At the CAA Championships, she was able to drop almost 9-tenths to a 1:55.12, so that NCAA qualification might still be within her grasp at season’s end.
“Very proud of how Alexa responded to being in her first A final at a National meet,” Drexel head coach Adam Braun said. “Our women’s team mantra this season is ‘Show Up’ and she certainly did that tonight. I am excited to see what she can accomplish the rest of the season.”
If she did earn an invite, she wouldn’t be the first Dragon to do so: Rachel Bernhardt qualified for the last 2 NCAA Championship meets, and earned Honorable Mention All-American honors last season with a 16th-place finish in the 100 breaststroke.
Drexel has broken women’s swimming school records in 16 of a possible 19 events in the last 2 years, including all 5 relay records in 2017 alone. The team finished 4th out of 7 teams at last year’s CAA Championship meet, 306.5 points behind champions William and Mary.