200 Backstroke 100 back champion Paige Miller of Texas A&M has the lead in heat 1, going 55.06 at the 100. Miller chops nearly three seconds off her seed time to win in 1:53.71 while Notre Dame freshman Katie Miller (1:54.76) is second with a big time drop of her own.
UNC's Carly Smith comes through the 100 in the lead at 55.26 in heat 2. The top four swimmers all drop time in this heat led by UCLA's Madison White (1:53.49). Tennessee sophomore Amanda Carner (1:54.38) grabs second ahead of Smith (1:55.06).
Cal's Cindy Tran jumps out to the lead at the 100 in 55.86 in heat three. Tran is the only swimmer in the heat to record a season best, winning in 1:55.07. Florida International's Johanna Gustafsdottir (1:55.33) came in right behind Tran for second.
Cal is hot for two heats in a row as sophomore Kelly Naze come through the 100 in the lead at 55.35. Virginia's Ellen Williamson (1:54.17) catches Naze (1:54.29) at the wall while Sophia Batchelor of Cal takes third in 1:54.46. All three swimmers record season-best times.
Auburn's Jillian Vitarius throws up the best 100 split so far at 54.69 with Elizabeth Beisel of Florida right behind her. Beisel (1:52.27) wins the heat followed by her teammate Sinead Russell (1:52.37) with Vitarius third (1:52.83).
In heat six of seven, Indiana's Brooklyn Snodgrass (54.79) leads Virginia's Courtney Bartholomew at the 100. Bartholomew (1:51.84) closes well, topping Snodgrass (1:52.48) and Denver's Sam Corea (1:52.96).
Stanford's Annemarie Thayer leads at the 100 in the final heat (54.98). Arizona's Bonnie Brandon is a scratch. Cal's Elizabeth Pelton (1:51.92) turns it on on the back half to top Thayer (1:53.35) and Texas A&M Melanie McClure (1:53.36) who throws down a big lifetime-best to make it back for a night swim.
Florida's gets two big spots in the big girl final as does Cal with defending champion Pelton qualifying second behind only Virginia's Bartholomew.
100 Freestyle
Two scratches make Duke swimmer Lauren Weaver swim heat 1 all by herself. The crowd roars for her all the way through as she torches her seasonal best of 49.75 to the tune of 49.32.
In heat two, Florida Gulf Coast's Emma Svensson leads at the 50 (23.28) and she indeed wins in 49.13, just ahead of SMU's Nina Rangelova (49.33).
UCLA freshman Lauren Mack leads at the 50 (23.35) in heat three but gives way to Cal's Camille Cheng (49.11) in the end. Mack des take second in 49.38.
In heat four, Florida State's Kaitlyn Dressel leads at the 50 (23.31) and finishes strong to become the first swimmer under 49 (48.67). Auburn's Emily Bos (48.84) joins her there in finishing second.
Arizona's Grace Finnegan goes out in 23.44 in heat five but Texas A&M's Erica Dittmer takes the win in 48.86. Finnegan's teammate, Alana Pazevic (49.01) is second.
Heat six sees Kaylan Bing of Cal lay down the fastest first 50 yet at 23.16 but for the second heat in a row, a Texas A&M swimmer comes back to win. Sammie Bosma (48.32) catches Bing (48.56) on the back half to take over the top spot in qualifying.
Arizona's Margo Geer smokes a 22.48 at the 50 and punishes heat seven all the way thorough, clocking a 47 flat, well ahead of Stanford's Maddie Schaefer (47.75) and Georgia's Shannon Vreeland (47.88).
USC's Kasey Carlson comes through the 50 in 22.98 in heat eight, but gets clipped at the end by Tennessee's Lindsay Gendron (47.66). Carlson takes second in 47.69 followed by Georgia's Olivia Smoliga (47.96).
In the final heat, Florida's Natalie Hinds jumps out to a lead at the 50 (22.55) but gives way to both Stanford's Lia Neal (47.42) and Cal's Missy Franklin (47.62). Hinds finishes thisclose to Franklin for third (47.63).
Geer looks terrific heading into the big girl final but I'd imagine both Franklin and Neal will have something to say before handing her a repeat title. Stanford gets two big berths in the 'A' final while Georgia gets one up and one down.
200 Breaststroke
In heat 1, Notre Dame's Christen McDonough takes the lead at the halfway point in 1:02.47 but its all Stanford's Sarah Haase on the back half as she crushes her season best by nearly three seconds to finish in 2:11.50. Lili Alvarez of UC-Davis takes second in 2:12.97.
Cal freshman Celina Li grabs the lead at the 100 in heat two in 1:02.09 but A&M's Frankie Jonker (2:10.70) comes out of nowhere on the final 25 to win over Missouri freshman Katharine Ross (2:10.80) and Li (2:10.83).
Louisville freshman Andrea Cottrell grabs a lead right at the 100 wall in 1:02.05 over Texas A&M's Sycerika McMahon but McMahon (2:09.43) explodes on the final 25 to take the win over Cottrell (2:10.29) and Cal's Marina Garcia (2:11.55).
SMU freshman surprise Tara-Lynn Nicholas proved yesterday was no fluke, coming through the 100 in 1:01.08 but perhaps went out too fast, ceding the lead to Duke's Christine Wixted who won in 2:09.11. South Carolina senior Amanda Rutqvist (2:09.64) and another SMU swimmer, Rachel Nicol, was third (2:10.13).
Virginia freshman Laura Simon blows the 100 in heat five in 1:00.86 but gives way to Georgia's Melanie Margalis (2:07.44) and Annie Zhu (2:08.12) with Arizona's Emma Schoettmer third (2:08.36).
Texas A&M's Breeja Larson goes through the 100 in under meet record pace at 1:00.12 with Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Emily McClellan in tow. Larson hammers her way home in 2:05.03 followed by teammate Ashley McGregor (2:06.99) and McClellan (2:07.33).
Notre Dame's Emma Reaney matches Larson's pace from the previous heat, coming through in 1:00.07, and goes on to crush the final heat in 2:05.29. Stanford's Katie Olsen grabs second in 2:07.08 followed by Minnesota's Kierra Smith (2:07.58).
The stage is set for a big showdown between Larson and Reaney while Larson's teammate McGregor grabs the third qualifying spot for the Aggies. Georgia's Annie Zhu grabs the eight slot in the big girl final in 2:08.12 while A&M's McMahon is 16th in 2:09.43. Georgia grabs two big girl slots to further pad their huge potential team final total.
200 Butterfly
Auburn's Sarah Peterson comes through the 100 in 56.33 in heat 1 and goes on to win in 1:58.83.
Ting Wen Quah of UCLA, a 2013 finalist, come through the 100 in 54.77, but gives the lead up to Cal's Sophia Batchelor (1:56.46) in the end. Quah takes second in 1:56.73. Both ladies drop significant time from where they were seeded.
North Carolina sophomore Emma Nunn leads at the halfway point of heat 3 in 55.69 but gives way to Kentucky junior Abby Myers (1:56.23). Nunn grabs second in 1:56.72).
Georgia junior Lauren Harrington takes control of heat four with a 54.86 split at the 100 and goes on to win easily in 1:54.63. Towson's Melanie Rowland 1:56.76) edges out Stanford's Mackenzie Stein (1:56.77) by the slimmest of margins.
In heat five Indiana senior Brenna Maclean come through in 54.57 but fades on the back half, giving way to Georgia's Hali Flickinger (1:54.43), UNC's Meredith Hoover (1:54.55) and Carolyn Blalock (1:54.98) however Blalock is later disqualified.
Tennessee senior Lindsay Gendron crushes the first half of the race in 54.45 and leads a super fast heat to wall in 1:53.36. Kentucky's Tina Bechtel (1:53.72), Stanford's Maya DiRado (1:53.83) and Texas A&M's Caroline McElhaney (1:53.91) all follow her lead.
Defending champion Cammile Adams of Texas A&M opens up with a 53.86 over the first 100, gives way to Louisville sophomore Kelsi Worrell at the 75 then absolutely punishes the last 50 to win the final heat in 1:52.62. Worrell takes second in 1:53.98 whie UCLA's Noelle Tarazona is third (1:55.03).
Texas A&M earns one-quarter of the big girl final for the second straight race while Georgia, Kentucky and Louisville all manage to get one up and one down. Also, a white-hot Maya DiRado of Stanford lurks looking for a third straight NCAA title in the big girl final.
400 Freestyle Relay --
Purdue (49.25) grabs the early lead in heat one ahead of Missouri (49.31). Michigan (1:38.31) takes the lead on heat two with Missouri still second (1:38.98). The Wolverines (2:27.64) continue to lead with Boise State (2:28.62) now second. Michigan grabs the heat one win in 4:17.03 with the Broncos second (4:18.10).
Louisville (48.18) open with the lead over Texas A&M (48.34) after the first leg in heat two. Arizona (1:35.76) takes over the lead on the second leg while the Aggies (1:37.11) remain in second. The Wildcats (2:23.66) maintain the lead after the third leg while Florida (2:24.92) jumps into second. Arizona wins in a solid time of 3:11.35 with Florida (3:13.85) second and Texas A&M third (3:14.72).
Florida State (48.36) opens with a heat three lead while Cal (48.58) is in hot pursuit. The two teams switch spots after the second leg with Cal at 1:37.37 and the Seminoles at 1:37.80. Cal (2:25.72) with one leg to go but Tennessee moves up into the second spot (2:26.71). Cal wins in 3:13.50 ahead of a charging Tennessee (3:13.88) squad while Texas takes third (3:16.31).
Wisconsin takes an early lead in 48.17 with Georgia right behind in 48.27. A complete changeover takes place on the second leg with USC (1:36.32) now in the lead followed by Stanford (1:36.47). The Trojans (2:24.57) continue to lead heading into the final leg with Stanford (2:25.33) and Wisconsin (2:25.35) third. USC wins it in 3:12.84 followed by Stanford (3:13.09), Georgia (3:13.15) and Wisconsin (3:13.85). Each of those four teams all qualify for the big girl final.
Arizona closes the session with the top effort of 3:11.35 while a streaking Tennessee team takes eight in 3:13.88, bumping Texas A&M (3:14.72) out of its' first relay championship final of the meet. UCLA grabs the final qualifying spot in 3:16.84.
Platform Diving -
Round 1
Defending champ Haley Ishimatsu of USC (76.50) jumps out to the early lead while dun-dun-dun Laura Ryan of Georgia, Cal's Kahley Rowell, and Tennessee's Tori Lamp sit in a tie for second with 72 points. Fresno State's Hannah Prigge (69.60) is fifth followed by Indiana's Kate Hillman (67.50), Florida State's Katrina Young (67.20) and The U's Cheyenne Cousineau (66).
Round 2 -
Ishimatsu (147.80) maintains her lead over Rowell (142.40) who emerged from the three-way tie in the first round. Lamp (135) leads Ryan (133.50) for third while Taylor Olanski of Hawai'i (129.80) appears in the top eight for the first time at fifth. Young (125.70) climbs a spot to sixth while Emma Ivory-Ganja of Texas (124.80) enters the top eight at seventh and Prigge (124.20) slides three spots to eighth.
Round 3 -
Ishimatsu (223) continues to lead however Ryan (212.70) has climed from fourth to second. Rowell (203.90) slides a spot to third while Ivory-Ganja (187.80) jumps from seventh to fourth. The U's Kara McCormack (185) makes her first top eight appearance at fifth while Lamp (184.60) slips from third to sixth. LSU's Cassie Weil (184.10) also appears in the top eight for the first time, sitting seventh, while Prigge (183.60) maintains her hold on the all-important eighth slot.
Round 4 -
Laura Ryan (278.30) jumps into the lead with Rowell (272.75) moving back into second. Ivory-Ganja (259.80) continues her climb, bumping up another spot. Ishimatsu (259.30) slides from first to fourth while Weil (250.80) jumps two spots into fifth. Lamp (249.85) maintains her hold on sixth with McCormack slides from fifth to seventh while Hillman (245.20) pops back into the top eight for the first time since round one.
Round 5 -
USC's Haley Ishimatsu (340.90)regains the lead in the final round ahead of Georgia's Laura Ryan (335.90). Tennessee's Tori Lamp (334.65) jumps from sixth to third in the final round.while Cal's Kahley Rowell (330.35) slides two spots to fourth. Emma Ivory-Ganja of Texas (323.80) slips two spots to fifth while Miami's Kara McCormack (312.40) jumps from seventh to sixth. LSU's Cassie Weil (311.55) slides two places to seventh while Purdue's Mackenzie Tweardy (307.80) picks an opportune time to make her first appearance in the top eight.
Consolation finalist include Kate Hillman, Indiana; Hannah Prigge, Fresno State; Christa Cabot, Kentucky; Meg Keefer, Minnesota; Kersten Merry, Utah; Kaylea Arnett, Virginia Tech; Taylor Olanski, Hawai'i; and Nicole Scott, Rutgers.