“This was really a team effort and there was no room for error,” head coach Gregg Troy said. “When Gemma took second in the 200 back, we had other performances that made up for it, like Teresa Crippen’s third-place back finish and then fifth in the 200 fly. We had tremendous efforts all around and our divers were outstanding under Donnie. Our coaching staff has done a tremendous job. Not only Martyn (Wilby), Donnie (Craine) and Leah (Stancil) here, but Pete (Knox) and Anthony (Nesty) who are with our men right now, all played a big part in what happened this week.”
"I am disappointed in the result, but not in my team," Georgia head coach Jack Bauerle said. "I am real happy with the character of our team. We had some slip-ups that took us out of contention, and at the highest level you can't afford to make mistakes. But this group fought as hard as they could all the way to the end, and I have so much respect for them."
“It was a really, really awesome evening,” Cal head coach Teri McKeever said. “I’m very, very proud of the group. They really dug deep, showedcharacter and kept battling. It had to go down to the last relay. It was awesome to be part of definitely the closest and most exciting NCAA championship that I can ever remember. It was great. It was a total team effort.
“This was a Cinderella weekend for us. I just can’t say enough,” Troy added. “We kept focus on what we wanted to do. It feels great. In the final relay, we wanted to make sure we had solid starts and raced fast. We have been knocking on the door for a few years now and we’ve always had a big desire to excel.”
Here is how the night played out:
1650 Freestyle
In the A heat, Georgia's Wendy Trott took the bull by the horns after the first 50 and stormed her way towards her second NCAA 1,650 title, finishing in 15:48.87. Haley Anderson of USC, Ashley Steenvorden of Minnesota, and Alicia Aemisegger of Princeton held a terrific battle for second with Aemisegger coming out ahead of the trio in the end in 15:57.02 while Boyle’s earlier time got her third. Anderson was the fourth and final swimmer under 16 minutes (and by .01 I might add) taking fourth in 15:59.99. Brueneman and Budner out of heat 4 took fifth and sixth, Melanie Costa-Schmidt of Florida, the heat two winner, was seventh with Caitlin Hamilton of the hometown Boilermakers eighth (16:02.01).
Georgia 282.5, California 272, Arizona 266.5, Stanford 266.5, Florida 248
200 Back
Kate Fesenko took control from the get-go and used her marvelous underwaters to hold off three-time champion Gemma Spofforth in a time of 1:49.92. Spofforth challenged valiantly the last 50 but those tremendous underwaters by Fesenko proved just to much for the defending champ to handle.
“I was so disappointed with my backstroke finish because I swam her race (winner, Kateryna Fesenko, Indiana) and not my race," explained Spofforth. "There were lots of tears, but I have put them all behind me because to win this title with all of my teammates is much more amazing and important to me than an individual title.”
Teresa Crippen contributed 16 big points to the Gator Nation cause taking third in 1:50.99 while former Hoosier Presley Bard of USC grabbed fourth for the Trojans in 1:51.82. Fesenko came through the 100 at 53.90 and had nearly a body length on Spofforth at the 125 but did a terrific job on holding off the Spofforth challenge. Mei Christensen of Virginia, who was right there with Fesenko and Spofforth through the first 100, took fifth in 1:52.75, Kristen Heiss of Texas A&M was sixth in 1:53.67, Caitlin Iversen of Arizona was seventh in 1:54.14 while Ana Agy of Arizona was eighth in 1:54.54.
Arizona 303.5, Georgia 289.5, Florida 281, California 272,
Stanford 266.5
100 Free
Liv Jensen of California came out on the first 50 like a ball of fire and looked to have a lead that she wouldn’t relinquish. Julia Wilkinson of Texas A&M thought differently. Emerging from the pack in the last 10-15 meters, the Aggies’ star would not be denied, winning the A&M their first-ever national title of any kind in swimming and diving in 47.61.
Morgan Scroggy of Georgia turned in a solid last 50 coming in right behind Wilkinson in 47.72 with Jensen third in 47.77. Shara Stafford of Florida was fourth in 47.81, followed by Ariana Vanderpool-Wallace of Auburn (47.94), Julia Smit of Stanford sixth in 48.15, Kate Dwelley of Stanford seventh (48.49) and Michelle King of Tennessee eighth in 48.79.
Georgia 310.5, Arizona 313.5, Stanford 303.5, California 299, Florida 296
200 Breast
One event after Texas A&M won its first event, it won its second, but not before Annie Chandler of Arizona pushed the pace the first 50 going out in 28.69 then clearing the 100 in 1:00.97, aiming to do the breaststroke double. Stanford’s Elizabeth Smith was right there with her the whole time waiting to make a move. Behind those two, last year’s runner-up, Alia Atkinson of Texas A&M bided her time and her move on the last 50 slowly put surely pushing her way past the field like tortoise catching up to the hare, grabbing the lead on the last 25 and holding off Smith of Stanford for her first and only NCAA title, A&M’s second in as many events, in 2:07.38. Smith was oh so close to the win, finishing second in 2:07.50 with Chandler right behind her in 2:07.68. Yi-Ting Siow of Arkansas became the fourth swimmer to hit the wall in under 2:08, placing fourth in 2:07.73 while Haley Spencer of Minnesota also did so getting fifth in 2:07.88. Ashley Danner represented the mid-majors well taking sixth in 2:08.95 for George Mason, with Caitlin Leverenz seventh in 2:10.59 and Laura Moriarty of UNC eighth in 2:10.82.
Arizona 326.5, Stanford 319.5, California 318, Georgia 310.5, Florida 296
200 Fly
After two races of early swimmers pushing the pace and getting caught from behind, Stanford’s Elaine Breeden changed the trend with a wire-to-wire finish. Breeden came through at the 100 in 53.32 and the 150 at 1:22.14. She did not go unchallenged as Katinka Hosszu finished like a freight train almost nipping Breeden at the wall. Breeden managed to stave off Hosszu, 1:52.39 – 1:52.52. Lyndsay DePaul of USC made it a 2-3 Trojan finish taking third in 1:53.19 while Texas’ Kathleen Hersey earned her second straight top four finish in the 200 fly in 1:53.65. Fifth was Teresa Crippen of Florida 1:53.90, sixth was Jenna Lowe of Florida, 1:54.05, seventh was Bianca Casciari of UCLA 1:54.87, and eighth Sara Isakovic of California (1:55.52).
Stanford 339.5, Arizona 335.5, California 329, Georgia 323.5, Florida 323
Platform Diving
Chen Ni of IUPUI (325.50) didn’t come in with the most difficult list of dives but boy oh boy can she really nail the ones she does do. Ni moved from third to first in the second round and never looked back, racking up scores as high as 9.5 along the way. Carrie Dragland of Alabama was a consistent second all the way through every round of the competition, almost catching Ni, but taking that second spot with a total of 323.05. Elina Eggers of Arizona State moved up one spot in each of the first three rounds, eventually settling in at fourth with a score of 302.40. With the team title in the balance, Gator diver Kara Salamone and Monica Dodson earned perhaps the meet-clinching points for Florida taking third, 307.45, and 8th; 219.65, respectively. Rounding out the top tower divers were Amy Korthauer of Indiana, 287.75 (5th) and Auburn’s Vennie Dantin, 286.75 (6th), and Lacey Truelove of Houston 256.45 (7th).
Florida 350,Stanford 339.5, Arizona 335.5, California 329, Georgia 323.5, 
400 Free Relay
With the Gators basically just needing safe exchanges and a top four finish, Stanford did all they could grabbing the title in the 400 free relay. The group of Kate Dwelley, Samantha Woodard, Elizabeth Webb and Julia Smit won thanks to a lead-changing anchor leg of 47.60 by the IM queen Smit. The Gators tried valiantly to put a final stamp on the meet by winning the relay (they were tied for first at the 200 and held the lead all alone at the 300) but Smit’s anchor as well as a 47.41 split by Cal’s Liv Jensen propelled the Cardinal and Bears into first and second at 3:12.32 and 3:12.67 respectively. The Gators capped their overall NCAA Championships run by taking third in 3:13.43. Georgia, who was in first at the 100 thanks to a 47.88 leadoff by Morgan Scroggy, was fourth in 3:13.70. Auburn closed out their meet on a high note with a fifth place finish in 3:15.05 while 100 free champ Julia Wilkinson’s lightning-fast 47.34 split on the A&M anchor got the Aggies into fifth at 3:15.46. Arizona fell from fifth to seventh on the final leg, ending in a time of 3:15.62 while Virginia came in eighth at 3:17.52.
Florida 382,Stanford 379.5, California 363, Arizona 359.5, Georgia 342.5, 
Final Standings:
At the end of the day, the Gators captured a 2.5 point win over Stanford, 382-379.5. Defending champion Cal turned in a great meet finishing third in 363 while Arizona claimed the final team trophy with 359.5 points. Georgia finished fifth with 342.5 points while A&M earned its’ second best finish in school history with 311. USC came in 60 points behind the Aggies for seventh at 251 while Auburn was 98 points behind them for eighth. The Tigers scraped by Virginia, 153-151, while Indiana closed out the top 10 with 133 points. Stanford’s Julia Smit was named Swimmer of the Meet while Gregg Troy of Florida was a no-brainer for Coach of the Meet. The University of Houston swept the diving awards with Anastasia Pozdniakova taking Diver of the Meet honors and Jane Figuerido claiming Diving Coach of the Meet.
