In a wild three-way race for the national title on Saturday at the 2016 NCAA Championships, the Georgia women's swimming and diving team claimed the program's seventh national title. The Lady Bulldogs finished the newly configured four-day national meet with 414 points to fight off Stanford (395). California came in third with 358 points, followed by Texas A&M (309) and Virginia (264).
Georgia's Jack Bauerle was chosen as the National Women's Coach of the Year for the seventh time. Indiana's Lilly King was named CSCAA Swimmer of the Year, becoming the first Hoosier to ever win the prestigious award.
After finishing third and losing their six-year grip on the Southeastern Conference title last month, it was unclear how the Lady Bulldogs would fare at the national meet. Many pundits had Georgia finishing as low as fourth or fifth 100 points out of first in pre-NCAAs evaluations. But it seemed as if every button the Georgia coaches pushed this week paid off with critical points from the swimmers and the diver.
"Winning the national championship is a feeling that never gets old," Bauerle said. "But this one ranks right up there in terms of pure satisfaction. We knew coming in that it was going to be a rugged meet and that it was going to take a near-perfect effort. Our ladies stood up and competed hard. They did everything we asked of them and this is truly a team championship.
"The kids came together in a magnificent way since October. We were not this team then. Not even close. ... This one was special because it was very unexpected."
California's Teri McKeever, who led her team through a rash of injuries throughout the season focused on her team's consistency. “It speaks volumes to a number of classes, an institution, a program, a culture where young women have come in and been successful in the classroom and in the pool. To be able to have a trophy at the end of it is just really, really special.”
“There are more than a couple of times where we could have just said this isn’t our year, that things aren’t going our way,” McKeever said. “We just kind of found a way to keep getting knocked down and keep getting back up. This team has been resilient all year. They stuck together. I’m really proud. We worked hard for this one.”
The Lady Bulldogs now have won seven NCAA titles, including the 2013, 2014 and 2016 crowns. In the last 18 seasons, Georgia has been first or second at the NCAAs 15 times. Since the inception of the NCAAs in 1982 for women's swimming and diving, Stanford leads with eight titles, followed by Georgia and Texas with seven each.
Bauerle is now tied with Richard Quick for the most NCAA titles at one school. Quick won a total of 12 women's championships, but did so between Stanford (seven) and Texas (five).
1650 Freestyle
Virginia junior swimmer Leah Smith captured the 1,650-yard freestyle for the second-consecutive year. Smith jumped out in front by over a second after the first 100 yards and gradually grew the lead over the entire race, finishing over six seconds faster than Georgia’s Brittany MacLean (15:39.29). It is Smith’s fourth NCAA title after she also defended her national crown in the 500 free on Thursday.
“I think it is one of my strengths to take it out fast and after that I was trying to respond to any move she (MacLean) was making so that I could touch that wall first and gain as many points as possible for my teammates,” Smith said.
200 Backstroke
In the 200 backstroke, Kentucky junior Danielle Galyer became the first swimmer in the history of the program to win a national championship title. Galyer broke her own UK record in the 200 back, winning by a margin of more than half a second. Overall, the Wildcats finished 22nd with 40 points. Galyer and UVA senior Courtney Bartholomew did battle throughout the race with both touching at the 150 in 1:21.61. Galyer bested Bartholomew by .58 seconds to take the victory in a school-record time of 1:49.71.
When asked about her success, Galyer remained humble and thankful of her support system, saying, “It’s just our team. We’re on the rise. We have amazing recruiting and amazing coaches, and I wouldn’t be here without my teammates pushing me every day.”
200 Breaststroke
After setting the swimming world on fire Friday night with the fastest 100 breaststroke swim in history, Lilly King did it again on Saturday, winning the NCAA Championship with the fastest 200 breaststroke performance of all-time at 2:03.59.
The freshman broke every record in the event with her historic swim – the American, NCAA, NCAA Meet, U.S. Open, Indiana school, Big Ten and Georgia Tech Pool records – and now owns all of the aforementioned records in both the 100 and 200 breast. In total, King recorded an impressive four All-America honors at her first NCAA Championships.
With her second NCAA title in as many nights, King becomes the first woman – and fourth in the Big Ten – to win multiple national championships in one year. King is the first Hoosier – man or woman – to win multiple NCAA crowns in one year since Jim Montgomery in 1976.
100 Freestyle
Olivia Smoliga set the pace on Saturday as she claimed the 100 freestyle title with a time of 46.70. That broke the school record of 47.01 set by Megan Romano in 2012. Smoliga, who won the 50 freestyle as well, was the first Lady Bulldog since Kara Lynn Joyce in 2007 to win the 100. Georgia is now tied with Stanford for the most 100 freestyle titles with eight (four by Joyce).
"The win was huge for our team and that's all mattered to me," Smoliga said. "It's such an honor to swim for this program and to have this opportunity. You get such an adrenaline rush when you're swimming for your team."
200 Butterfly
Louisville's Kelsi Worrell gutted out a win in the 200 fly, barely holding off Stanford's Ella Eastin. Worrell, trying to defend her 2015 NCAA title in this event, had almost a full second margin at the halfway mark. Worrell, out well under American and NCAA record pace at the 150 had to contend with a determined Eastin, who won the 200 free and 400 individual medley at the this meet. The Stanford freshman cut into Worrell's lead in the final lap, but the ACC Most Valuable Swimmer touched in 1:50.96 just 0.08 ahead of Eastin's 1:51.04.
Platform Diving
It was Stanford's last individual national championship that set up a dramatic final event with the team title at stake.
Stanford, which suffered a disqualification after winning the 200-yard freestyle relay on Thursday, had stormed back to tie California heading into the diving event on Saturday night. But Stanford still trailed Georgia by 48 points.
Enter sophomore Gracia Leydon-Mahoney, who made up most of that deficit as the first Cardinal diver to win the national title on the platform since 2001. The Newton, Mass., native capped off a sweep of All-America accolades in the three diving events with a score of 346.15. In addition, she was joined on the podium by senior teammate Lilly Hinrichs, who finished sixth with a score of 275.10 and capped her career with back-to-back All-America honors in the event.
That duo pulled Stanford within 15 points of Georgia, and within striking distance entering the 400-yard freestyle relay.
400 Free Relay
The team of Kasia Wilk, Kirsten Vose, Chelsea Chenault and Anika Apostalon took the win, recording USC's first-ever NCAA title in the 400 free relay. The title came on the heels of the Trojan's first Pac-12 title in February, finished sixth with 244.5 points.
"In January that relay was 3:21 against Wisconsin. Obviously we weren't suited up or rested, but we've come a long way with the same four women," USC Coach Dave Salo said. "I don't think anyone thought we'd be faster tonight (than prelims). But we just made an amazing swim -- 3:09 is amazing. This whole meet, and the year, the theme has been about the team. We had some missteps on some individual events, but we never failed on any of the relays. The relays were awesome. That was the final piece of the whole team focus, coming together and winning it."
Quotable
Texas A&M Head Coach Steve Bultman, which finished fourth for the fourth-straight year: "We had some great swims," Bultman said. "We'd love to be higher than fourth, but fourth brings home a trophy and there are three great teams in front of us…and we weren't that far behind. We had some big swims and got some diving points, which was awesome. We were seeded to finish sixth coming into the meet so to be a solid fourth was really good. We broke a bunch of school records and came close in some others so that's always exciting too."
Virginia Head Coach Augie Bush: “While it is not all we wanted, which was a top-four finish, a top-five finish at NCAAs shows that we are a premier program in the country,” UVA head coach Augie Busch said. “There are hundreds of programs that want to be where we are, so to do it back-to-back years is nothing short of phenomenal. We feel like we are just getting started with what we can do here and I am very proud of these women.”
Kentucky Head Coach Lars Jorgensen on Kentucky's first NCAA swimming champion: “She’s executed the game plan; she’s worked so hard all year. On top of that, she won the academic award for the NCAA (Elite 90). We’re so proud of her, our first national champion. Hopefully there will be some more down the road. She just kind of proves that you can do it at Kentucky. She’s a great leader, a great member of the team, and I’m so proud of her.”
Louisville Head Coach Arthur Albiero: "I am very proud of this group of ladies," said Albiero. "I am very proud of this group of ladies. We are grateful for the leadership from our seniors Andrea Kneppers and Kelsi Worrell. They have played a major role in our program growth into the national elite."
North Carolina Head Coach: “This UNC women’s team, led by our fantastic seniors, accomplished a number of positive things at the 2016 NCAA’s,” said UNC head coach Rich DeSelm. “We moved up in the team standings from our finishes the past two years, we scored points in all five relays, Elissa Dawson’s accomplishments were, arguably, the best NCAA performances in history by a Tar Heel diver, Hellen Moffitt placed fifth in the 100 butterfly, and we had nine NCAA All-Americas. Our seniors, the five at NCAA’s and those at home, have made incredibly positive contributions to our team in many ways – academics, athletics, leadership and service.”
