By Chris Harrell
The best collegiate female swimmers and divers in the country will display their talents in the Hollywood of the South, Atlanta, Ga., starting on Wednesday, Mar. 16.
For the second time in as many years, the NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships will take place in a city that has never before hosted the big meet.
Though this is the first time the women’s meet will take place in Atlanta, it is no stranger to big-time swimming spectaculars. The competition pool was originally built for the biggest meet of them all, The Olympic Games, which took place exactly 20 years ago. The Coach Herb McAuley Aquatic Center, considered one of the fastest pools in the world, also played host to the 2006 Men’s NCAA Championships. One week after this year’s women’s meet, it will once again host the men’s meet, making it only the fourth time since the turn of the century that a pool has hosted both the men’s and women’s meets in back-to-back weeks (Minnesota, 2007; College Station, 2009; Indianapolis, 2013).
As has been the case for most of the last decade, the California women will be premier contenders for the team title. The Golden Bears are the defending champions and have won four of the last seven crowns since winning their first back in 2009 at Texas A&M.
Though only Cal or Georgia have won the team crown in each of the last five years (with the other finishing second in four of those five), this could be the year that the GB’s crosstown rival breaks up the party. Stanford may have finally reeled in enough top-end firepower to end their 18-year national title drought and send both the Bears and the Bulldogs home disappointed.
Georgia, who is coming off their first loss at SEC’s since 2009, will need an incredibly strong meet from their top-end talent to have a chance at contending with the Bay Area brawlers. Anything less will find them in what could be a very heated battle for the third spot against Virginia, USC and Texas A&M.
The Cavaliers and the Aggies are familiar with that battle as the two teams fought tooth and nail to the last event a year ago for which squad would take home the final team trophy. A&M won that battle by a mere two points but entering this year’s meet the Cavs hold a sizable advantage on the psych sheet. The Trojans, who should be riding a high after winning their first-ever PAC-12 title, will be looking for their first top four finish at NCAA’s since a third-place effort in 2012.
The next tier of schools, Indiana, Louisville, Michigan, N.C. State, Tennessee and Texas, should be in quite the battle with each other in the fight for the right to be called a top 10 program. It’s quite possible that diving will be a huge X-factor in how that plays out. Answers to all this and more coming soon…
Day 1:
800 Freestyle Relay
The NCAA meet (finally) extends to a fourth day with this event having the spotlight on Day 1. California dominated this race a season ago, recording the second-fastest time in NCAA history, however they are faced with replacing three of their four legs from last season. Despite the new faces, the Golden Bears (6:57.64) find themselves clearly in the mix as they enter Atlanta ranked third nationally. The team positioned to give them the biggest problem is a familiar one. USC dropped a nation-leading time of 6:55.17 at PAC-12’s which set the tone for the rest of the meet as the Trojans went on to capture their first conference team title. SEC champion Georgia looks to be the biggest threat at prevent a 1-2 PAC-12 finish in this race. The Bulldogs (6:55.56) cruised to a more than five second win over Texas A&M (7:01.00, 10th nationally) at their conference meet which makes one wonder how much better they can be when challenged. A very young Michigan team won the Big Ten title in 6:58.54 at home over Indiana (7:00.83, ninth). ACC champ Virginia (6:59.69) held off strong challenges from N.C. State (7:00.53, seventh) and Louisville (7:01.01, 11th) to win their conference meet. Texas (7:00.41, sixth) and Stanford (7:00.53, eighth) round out the list of top eight teams in this race entering Atlanta.
The Pick: Georgia. The first relay of the meet could very well be the hardest to pick a winner. We’ve seen what USC and Cal have done in this race when faced with a wire-to-wire challenge. That’s something we can’t necessarily say about Georgia yet they are less than half a second from leading the nation. This is also a very important event for a Bulldog team that does not rank in the top five in any other relays. They need to get it done here to be a contender in the team race. (Last year’s pick: California; last year’s champ: California).
Relay to Watch: Stanford. The Cardinal finished second in this event a season ago but they did it with Simone Manuel and Lia Neal swimming two of the legs. With Manuel sitting this season out and Neal likely swimming the other four relays, Stanford needs its depth to step up in a big way here. Their third place time of 7:00.53 at PAC-12’s is good enough to rank eighth nationally. Is it possible for the Cardinal, who rank no worse than fourth in any other relay, to move up in the rankings without their star sprinters? If they do, they might be on their way to winning the entire meet.
Day 2:
200 Free Relay – PAC-12 champ Cal not only is the defending NCAA champion but enters the meet with easily the nation’s top time (1:26.77). Only three other schools have made it under 1:28 so far this season, the fastest of which is SEC champ Tennessee (1:27.36). The Vols were seeded 10th a year ago and did indeed land in the consolation final where they held off USC for the win. The good news for Tennessee is they have replaced two of those legs, getting markedly faster in the trade-off. Both FGCU transfer Kira Toussaint and freshman Madeline Banic have paid immediate dividends, perhaps even enough to give the Lady Vols a legitimate chance against the defending champs. ACC champion N.C. State (1:27.50) made a big statement at their conference meet with a near full-second win over a Virginia squad that was unable to match their season-best. The Cavs (1:28.05) do however rank fifth entering the meet thanks to a school record performance at the Georgia Invite back on Dec. 4, an effort which leads one to believe they may have more in the tank than they showed at ACC’s. Once you get past the top three teams, Cal’s PAC-12 rivals Stanford (1:27.92) and Arizona (1:28.18), along with Virginia, lead a very tightly bunched pack. Six more teams sit within a half-second of sixth-ranked Arizona. Because of how tightly bunched many of these teams are in this race, the 200 free relay could be a very big indicator of which school has bottled up the lightning best from a team-wide standpoint.
The Pick: California. They entered last year’s meet as the top dog by an eyelash and more than lived up to that billing. Despite losing Missy Franklin off of this relay, they are probably even more talented here than a season ago. Expect the Bears to roll on in this one. (Last year’s pick: California; last year’s champ: California).
Team to Keep an Eye On: Virginia. The only team in the top five to record their season-best during invite season could have been playing possum at the conference meet. If so, they can catch several squads ahead of them.
500 Freestyle
Virginia’s Leah Smith laid down the gauntlet in prelims a season ago with an NCAA record time of 4:30.37. Though a tick slower in finals, she cruised to a multi-second win. She has toyed with her own record on multiple occasions this season and leads the rest of the country by nearly 2.5 seconds. The person right behind her is the only other swimmer in the field to own both the NCAA title in this event as well as the NCAA record, Brittany MacLean of Georgia. A dinged-up MacLean won SEC’s with a season-best time of 4:33.10. Not too shabby. Fellow Bulldog senior Hali Flickinger unleashed a huge personal best swim of 4:33.90 to earn silver behind MacLean at SEC’s. Flickinger, who finished 33rd in the 200 IM at NCAA’s just two short years ago, has been a HUGE beneficiary of the event change. Look for her to improve on sixth-place finish in the 500 free from a season ago. Big 10 champ Haley Lips of Indiana (4:35.19) has come a long way from a 19th-place finish here a season ago. Lips slashed more than two seconds off her personal best time to not only win Big 10’s but rank herself fourth in the country entering the meet. Lips beat out Michigan freshman Yirong Bi (4:35.69, fifth nationally) by exactly half a second in the best conference 500 free race between two swimmers from differing schools. Bi is not the only freshman that could be in the big girl final come Thursday. Louisville freshman Mallory Comerford (4:38.01) might have finished a distant second to Smith of Virginia at ACC’s but she did stay close enough to chop more than three second off her previous lifetime-best and rank herself sixth nationally. N.C. State’s Hannah Moore (4:38.02) dropped a prelim swim at ACC’s just .01 behind Comerford’s silver medal effort in the final to rank her seventh in the country. The Michigan transfer has dropped nearly two seconds from the time that ranked her 25th entering the meet a year ago (she also finished 25th). Shockingly, USC’s Chelsea Chenault (4:38.13) is the only PAC-12 swimmer ranked among the top 20 in the country in this race. The Trojan junior won her conference meet by close to four seconds
The Pick: Leah Smith, Virginia. In a battle of former NCAA champions and record holders, I’m going to give the nod to Smith. She’s been a model of consistent greatness going back to last year’s NCAA meet and there’s not a thing that makes you think that she won’t keep on churning out whatever it takes to get her hand to the wall first. (Last year’s pick: Leah Smith, Virginia; last year’s champ: Smith).
Swimmer to Watch: Brittany MacLean, Georgia. Both my pick and swimmer to watch are identical to a season ago. It seems like forever since we saw MacLean outduel a freshman Missy Franklin to win the 500 free in NCAA record time – but you do have to remember that she did it and she is absolutely capable of that type of performance again. Whether she is 100 percent or not, she is indeed markedly better than her forgettable junior campaign and, in my opinion, the only swimmer in this field with the potential to unseat Smith.
200 Individual Medley
Five of the top eight from a season ago return, however it may be a pair of freshmen that dictate how this race may end up. Stanford freshman Ella Eastin (1:52.77) came within exactly a second of Caitlin Leverenz’s NCAA record in winning the PAC-12 meet a few weeks ago. Cal freshman Kathleen Baker (1:52.80), who finished second to Eastin’s nation-leading time by a mere .03 in the conference finale, will give Eastin all she can handle. The fastest returner from a season ago is Baker’s Cal teammate Elizabeth Pelton. The now-senior finished second to teammate Missy Franklin a season ago in the same exact time as Baker’s best this season. Having said that, the two-time NCAA runner-up has been a little off her past performances, shown most recently by a sixth-place at PAC-12’s. Her conference prelim, and seasonal best, time of 1:55.98 currently ranks her 14th nationally. Last year’s bronze medalist, Madisyn Cox of Texas, ranks third nationally coming into the big meet with a time of 1:54.29 – a time faster than her bronze medal swim a season ago. A third freshman, Michigan’s Siobhan Haughey, enters Atlanta as the newly-minted Big Ten record holder in this event after winning the conference title in 1:54.97. That time was matched by Texas A&M sophomore Lisa Bratton who snatched the SEC title. The two underclassmen conference champions rank in a tie for fourth nationally. For the second straight year, Virginia’s Kaitlyn Jones (1:55.11, 6th) and Courtney Bartholomew (1:55.63, 8th) enter NCAA’s rank among the top eight. Bartholomew will be looking to improve on a fifth-place finish a season ago while Jones should be chomping at the bit to do better than a disappointing 37th-place finish. A second Texas A&M sophomore, Bethany Galat, grabbed the SEC silver and rounds out the top eight entering the meet thanks to a best time of 1:55.22. Last year’s sixth-place finisher Cal sophomore Celina Li (1:55.79, 10th) and last year’s eighth place finisher Georgia senior Annie Zhu (1:56.59, 21st) round out the list of big girl finalists from a season ago.
The Pick: Ella Eastin, Stanford. Two super-fast freshmen with virtually identical performances make this arguably the hardest race of the meet to pick a winner. Eastin’s two head-to-head wins over Baker are enough to make her the choice here. (Last year’s pick: Missy Franklin, California; last year’s champ: Franklin).
Swimmer to Watch: Kaitlyn Jones, Virginia. As previously mentioned, Jones had a forgettable NCAA meet a season ago. To further complicate things, Jones broke her hand during warm-ups in early December at the Georgia Invite which has hindered her attempt to prepare for redemption this season. Having said that, Jones rebounded impressively to earn a bronze medal finish at ACC’s, getting within 1.5 seconds of her seasonal best of 1:55.11. Will the additional month to get ready for NCAA’s allow her to come all the way back to her prior form? We shall soon see.
50 Freestyle
Cal junior Farida Osman (21.32) has taken a big step forward this season. Osman has clipped nearly a third of a second off her 2015 best, virtually the same amount she leads the rest of the country by. Georgia’s Olivia Smoliga (21.67), the 2014 NCAA champ, is among the top threats in Osman’s way of trying to capture a first 50 free title. Big Ten champ Zhesi Li (21.63) has made big strides from a 2015 season in which her best time wasn’t even inside of 22 seconds. Li enters Atlanta as the No. 2 seed. Last year’s bronze medalist, Kelsi Worrell of Louisville (21.85), had an all-around monster of an NCAA meet. Should the ACC champ have similar time drops between conference and NCAA’s like she did a season ago, she could pose a serious threat to Osman. N.C. State’s Riki Bonnema (21.92) is the last of the four returning finalists from a year ago (Worrell, Osman, Smoliga). The ACC silver medalist finished seventh in Greensboro and enters Atlanta ranked in a tie for the No. 8 seed. Others that will have better than average chances to earn a spot in the big girl final include 2015 consolation scorers Beryl Gastaldello (Texas A&M), Anika Apostalon (USC) and Faith Johnson (Tennessee) as well Stanford star Lia Neal.
The Pick: Farida Osman, California. Based on her NCAA-record-threatening performance at PAC-12’s, Osman appears to be a cut above the rest of the country in this race. The race here should be for second. (Last year’s pick: Simone Manuel, Stanford; last year’s champ: Manuel).
Swimmer to Watch: Kelsi Worrell, Louisville. Should Worrell somehow find a way to impact the NCAA meet as much or more than she did a season ago in Greensboro, she would be as much a threat as anyone in this race – Osman included.
One-Meter Diving
Despite a diving field that has been drained due to expired eligibility and Olympic training, half of the championship finalists return from a season ago. Last year’s bronze medalist, Yu Zhou of Minnesota, is the top returning diver from Greensboro and is on her game heading into Atlanta. The Big Ten champ won the always tough Zone D meet last Monday by an impressive 60 points. Kentucky junior Rebecca Hamperian grabbed fourth a year ago at NCAA’s but finished in that spot in the Zone C meet on Thursday. Hamperian was beaten by Purdue’s Mary Beth Dunnichay, also a returning championship finalist in 2016. Dunnichay, who was fifth in Greensboro, claimed the second spot on the one-meter at Zone C after dropping a tight battle with Pei Lin of Miami (OH). Florida’s Kahlia Warner, that last finalist from 2015 and the reigning SEC champ, will be coming in hot to Atlanta after capturing the Zone B title by nearly 40 points over Georgia’s Olivia Ball. Miami of Ohio’s Lin is the top returning diver from last year’s consolation final, where she grabbed second. N.C. State’s Rachel Mumma, who was 12th at 2015 NCAA’s, finished third behind Warner and Ball at Zone B. Hawai’I’s Aimee Harrison is the seventh and final scorer from 2015 that will be making a return trip to NCAA’s. She will need to improve greatly on her 11th place finish at Zone E last week. That Zone was run by the University of Nevada as Krysta Palmer and Sharae Zheng turned into a 1-2 finish. It will be very important to keep an eye on Stanford’s Gracia Leydon-Mahoney and Alex Clay. The duo both finished in the top four at PAC-12’s and could be factors in the team race. James Madison’s Olivia Lehman won the Zone A meet won a very tight battle with Addison Walkowiak and Alyssa Black of Rutgers.
The Pick: Yu Zhou, Minnesota. Look for last year’s three-meter champ to add the one-meter to her ever-expanding resume. (Last year’s pick: Samantha Pickens, Arizona; Last year’s champ: Pickens.)
Diver to Watch: Olivia Ball, Georgia. There are not many divers in the field that can affect the team championship race but Ball might be the top name on that list. Ball took second at the Zone B meet after grabbing third at SEC’s. Should she be able to qualify for the championship final, it would be a huge shot in the arm to Georgia’s championship aspirations.
400 Medley Relay
Stanford was a full second underdog a year ago yet proceeded to walk away with not only the NCAA title but the collegiate record as well. This year’s Cardinal squad has already tossed that record to the wayside and enters Atlanta with a full two second advantage over second-ranked Virginia (3:28.25). The ACC champs will have their hands full with a familiar foe in Louisville (3:28.32). The Cavs and Cards put on a quite a show at their conference meet with only .07 separating the two. Rounding out the top five, PAC-12 runner-up Cal (3:29.10) and SEC champ Texas A&M (3:29.86) enter the meet using add-ups to acquire their seed time. Big Ten champion Indiana (3:30.17), Big 12 champ Texas (3:30.43), USC (3:30.29), N.C. State (3:30.58) and Georgia (3:30.83) will all battle to earn a spot in the last big girl final of Thursday evening.
The Pick: Stanford. There will be a lot close races at this year’s NCAA meet. This will not be one of them. (Last year’s pick: Virginia; last year’s champ: Stanford).
Relay to Watch: Louisville. If the Cardinals turn in a meet like they did a season ago, they could easily take home the silver here. Improving on their sixth-place finish from a season ago seems a stone cold lock.
