NCAA Women’s Championships: Thursday Champions Poised for Friday Follow Up (Prelims Heat Sheets)
Individual titles at the NCAA Women’s Championships Thursday night went to Florida’s Bella Sims in the 500 freestyle, Virginia’s Alex Walsh in the 200 IM and Virginia’s Gretchen Walsh in the 50 free. All three will be in action Friday as the top seed in further individual events, with Sims leading the way in the 200 free while Alex Walsh is the favorite in the 400 IM and Gretchen in the 100 fly.
Click here to view the full heat sheet for Friday morning.
Alex Walsh will be in the final heat of the 400 IM next to Stanford’s Lucy Bell, whose phenomenal breaststroke vaulted her to fourth in the 200 IM Thursday. Florida’s Emma Weyant, already the runnerup in the 500 free, and Bell’s Stanford teammate Caroline Bricker top the other two seeded heats. As for the younger Walsh sister, Gretchen will be the heavy favorite in the 100 fly, having clocked an NCAA record of 48.25 already this season. Texas swimmers Emma Sticklen, Kelly Pash and Olivia Bray occupy the next three seeds.
Sims and Indiana’s Anna Peplowski, teammates on the U.S. World Championships team last year, will swim in adjacent lanes in the 200 free. USC’s Minna Abraham is seeded second while Isabel Ivey, the runnerup in the 200 IM, is seeded third.
A deep field in the 100 breaststroke will feature Virginia’s Jasmine Nocentini swimming in between Ohio State’s Hannah Bach and Josie Panitz in the first seeded heat. USC’s Kaitlyn Dobler and Texas’ Anna Elendt are in the next heat before Mona McSharry and defending champion Lydia Jacoby of Texas highlight the final grouping. In the last event of the morning, NC State’s Katharine Berkoff is the big favorite in the 100 backstroke, as the only swimmer to break both 49 and 50 all season.
