[Spiny_Norman]

The NCAA women's swimming championship meet begins on Wednesday.

Reviewing the psych sheet, Stanford has some strong seedings among Forde Huske, Smith and Ruck. But probably lacks the depth to unseat Virginia. Stanford also lacks a strong breaststroker that will hurt it in medley relays. Stanford instead may be battling North Carolina State for 2nd.

https://swimswam.com/wp-content/uploads/...-sheet.pdf

Among top 16 seeds:
500 Free - Forde 4th, Tankersley 12th
200 IM - Huske 2nd
50 Free - no one
400 IM - Forde 1st
100 Fly - Huske 1st
200 Free - no one (Tankersley 17th, Ruck 19th)
100 Breast - no one
100 Back - Smith 1st, Ruck 8th
1650 Free - Roghair 14th
200 Back - Smith 1st, Ruck 4th, Nordmann 10th
100 Free - Huske 3rd
200 Breast - no one
200 Fly - Smith 1st, Nordmann 11th

Meet results will be available here - https://swimmeetresults.tech/NCAA-Divisi...omen-2022/

[Spiny_Norman]

The NCAA women's swimming championship meet begins on Wednesday.

Reviewing the psych sheet, Stanford has some strong seedings among Forde Huske, Smith and Ruck. But probably lacks the depth to unseat Virginia. Stanford also lacks a strong breaststroker that will hurt it in medley relays. Stanford instead may be battling North Carolina State for 2nd.

https://swimswam.com/wp-content/uploads/...-sheet.pdf

Among top 16 seeds:
500 Free - Forde 4th, Tankersley 12th
200 IM - Huske 2nd
50 Free - no one
400 IM - Forde 1st
100 Fly - Huske 1st
200 Free - no one (Tankersley 17th, Ruck 19th)
100 Breast - no one
100 Back - Smith 1st, Ruck 8th
1650 Free - Roghair 14th
200 Back - Smith 1st, Ruck 4th, Nordmann 10th
100 Free - Huske 3rd
200 Breast - no one
200 Fly - Smith 1st, Nordmann 11th

Meet results will be available here - https://swimmeetresults.tech/NCAA-Divisi...omen-2022/

[EBSteve]

Thanks, Spiny, for the NCAA swimming update. Fyi, Anya Goeders is seeded 17th in the 50 free, and since she finished tied for first at the Pac-12 championships, I think she has a good chance to finish in the top 16 at NCAAs.
One last thing for those who don't follow our team that closely: we have two Nordmanns. Lucie is a junior and finished 3rd at the Pac-12s in the 200 back. Lillie, her sister, is a frosh and also had a third-place finish in the 200 fly at Pac-12s. 
Don't miss the 800 free relay (we are seeded first!). There will be a LOT of records broken throughout the four-day event.

[EBSteve]

Thanks, Spiny, for the NCAA swimming update. Fyi, Anya Goeders is seeded 17th in the 50 free, and since she finished tied for first at the Pac-12 championships, I think she has a good chance to finish in the top 16 at NCAAs.
One last thing for those who don't follow our team that closely: we have two Nordmanns. Lucie is a junior and finished 3rd at the Pac-12s in the 200 back. Lillie, her sister, is a frosh and also had a third-place finish in the 200 fly at Pac-12s. 
Don't miss the 800 free relay (we are seeded first!). There will be a LOT of records broken throughout the four-day event.

[Canalejas]

Looks like swimswam agrees that we should finish 2nd.  

https://swimswam.com/2021-22-ncaa-womens...l-edition/

[Canalejas]

Looks like swimswam agrees that we should finish 2nd.  

https://swimswam.com/2021-22-ncaa-womens...l-edition/

[DC 86]

ESPN3 (on the ESPN app for cable subscribers) is going to broadcast all preliminary and finals sessions.

[DC 86]

ESPN3 (on the ESPN app for cable subscribers) is going to broadcast all preliminary and finals sessions.

[Spiny_Norman]

Looks like swimswam agrees that we should finish 2nd.  

https://swimswam.com/2021-22-ncaa-womens...l-edition/

Swimswam says that Stanford is one superstar shy of challenging Virginia this year. That one superstar is on her way to Stanford next fall - https://swimswam.com/claire-curzan-break...5-at-cary/

[Spiny_Norman]

Looks like swimswam agrees that we should finish 2nd.  

https://swimswam.com/2021-22-ncaa-womens...l-edition/

Swimswam says that Stanford is one superstar shy of challenging Virginia this year. That one superstar is on her way to Stanford next fall - https://swimswam.com/claire-curzan-break...5-at-cary/

[BostonCard]

Doesn’t Forde graduate after this year, though?

BC

[BostonCard]

Doesn’t Forde graduate after this year, though?

BC

[Sakibomb25]

Doesn’t Forde graduate after this year, though?

BC

Forde does, but Curzan is much more valuable from a team perspective because she can impact so many events. She’s basically a rockstar in the back, fly and free and will be a main cog in all relays. Forde’s strengths play well individually, but she’s limited somewhat in terms of her relay versatility.

[Sakibomb25]

Doesn’t Forde graduate after this year, though?

BC

Forde does, but Curzan is much more valuable from a team perspective because she can impact so many events. She’s basically a rockstar in the back, fly and free and will be a main cog in all relays. Forde’s strengths play well individually, but she’s limited somewhat in terms of her relay versatility.

[fullmetal]

Speaking of Virginia, has this link been posted yet?

https://www.npr.org/2022/03/12/108554242...ath-faster

Ono begins his analysis by sticking small sensors to athletes' backs to see when they speed up and when they slow down.

"Those sensors give indications of where and when and how an athlete generates force, and more importantly where they're inefficient," says UVA's head swimming coach Todd DeSorbo. "The sensors can detect inefficiencies that we can't see."

[fullmetal]

Speaking of Virginia, has this link been posted yet?

https://www.npr.org/2022/03/12/108554242...ath-faster

Ono begins his analysis by sticking small sensors to athletes' backs to see when they speed up and when they slow down.

"Those sensors give indications of where and when and how an athlete generates force, and more importantly where they're inefficient," says UVA's head swimming coach Todd DeSorbo. "The sensors can detect inefficiencies that we can't see."

[cardfan77]

Huske and Curzan will be fun to watch in the fly events and Smith and Curzan in backstroke events.

Even with the addition of Curzan, Hook and Bell, I feel like the team will still lack of sprinters and breaststrokers.

Hopefully I am wrong

[cardfan77]

Huske and Curzan will be fun to watch in the fly events and Smith and Curzan in backstroke events.

Even with the addition of Curzan, Hook and Bell, I feel like the team will still lack of sprinters and breaststrokers.

Hopefully I am wrong

[oldalum]

 I feel like the team will still lack of sprinters and breaststrokers.

These recruiting holes might suggest Meehan has been spending too much time in Shaw's office.

[just doing my part to include the obligatory Shaw critical reference in every thread! :)   ]

[oldalum]

 I feel like the team will still lack of sprinters and breaststrokers.

These recruiting holes might suggest Meehan has been spending too much time in Shaw's office.

[just doing my part to include the obligatory Shaw critical reference in every thread! :)   ]

[old spanish trail]

 I feel like the team will still lack of sprinters and breaststrokers.

These recruiting holes might suggest Meehan has been spending too much time in Shaw's office.

[just doing my part to include the obligatory Shaw critical reference in every thread! :)   ]

Lol

[old spanish trail]

 I feel like the team will still lack of sprinters and breaststrokers.

These recruiting holes might suggest Meehan has been spending too much time in Shaw's office.

[just doing my part to include the obligatory Shaw critical reference in every thread! :)   ]

Lol

[BobK]

Stanford 10th in the 200 Medley

[BobK]

Stanford 10th in the 200 Medley

[BobK]

Stanford wins the 800 free relay Virginia 2nd

[BobK]

Stanford wins the 800 free relay Virginia 2nd

[DC 86]

Virginia 74, Texas 58, Cal 56, Stanford 54 at the end of day one.

Results of the two races today matched SwimSwam's predictions.

[DC 86]

Virginia 74, Texas 58, Cal 56, Stanford 54 at the end of day one.

Results of the two races today matched SwimSwam's predictions.

[M T]

Stanford 10th in the 200 Medley

Ouch, not good. 
10 Stanford                            1:34.68    1:34.97  14 
    1) Smith, Regan FR              2) r:0.09 Raab, Allie SR       
    3) r:0.08 Wheal, Emma JR        4) r:0.22 Goeders, Anya SR     
    r:+0.53  24.31        51.17 (26.86)
        1:13.64 (22.47)    1:34.97 (21.33)
Pac-12 meet (same swimmers) 23.18, 27.13, 22.71, 21.66
What happened to Regan Smith???
She was 1.13!!! seconds slower on a 50 than at the Pac-12 meet??
If she'd only been 0.6 seconds slower, Stanford would have had 5th for an extra 14 points.

Compare to the winners (American record)
1 Virginia                            1:31.81    1:32.16M  40 
    1) Walsh, Gretchen FR            2) r:0.18 Wenger, Alexis SR   
    3) r:0.27 Cuomo, Lexi JR        4) r:0.26 Douglass, Kate JR   
    r:+0.58  22.81        48.89 (26.08)
        1:11.61 (22.72)    1:32.16 (20.55)

---

Stanford wins the 800 free relay Virginia 2nd

Great.  
A 5 second win!  Still, 2.4 seconds behind American Record (2017 Manuel, Neal, Eastin, Ledecky)
Great lead leg by Torri Huske (but Cal's Isabel Ivey swam 0.6 faster)

Note that Regan Smith swam both events (the 200MR was the earlier event).

1 Stanford                            6:50.21    6:48.30P  40 
    1) Huske, Torri FR              2) r:0.29 Ruck, Taylor JR     
    3) r:0.16 Smith, Regan FR        4) r:0.22 Forde, Brooke 5Y     
    r:+0.59  23.41        49.10 (49.10)
      1:14.89 (1:14.89)  1:41.93 (1:41.93)
        2:04.62 (22.69)    2:29.93 (48.00)
      2:55.75 (1:13.82)  3:22.42 (1:40.49)
        3:46.12 (23.70)    4:12.61 (50.19)
      4:38.99 (1:16.57)  5:05.77 (1:43.35)
        5:29.84 (24.07)    5:55.72 (49.95)
      6:21.89 (1:16.12)  6:48.30 (1:42.53)

Note:  The PAC-12 site is badly maintained.  If you are looking at their 2022 Women's Swimming & Diving schedule, the "Championship Info" points to 2020, not 2022.  It doesn't help that they have 5 calendar entries for each day for the one event.  It seems each entry shows one  schools news items  (none for Stanford, it seems).  And every day has a "Final" between UCLA and USC.   As I said: badly maintained.
I finally found their page on the P12 championships.

Same swimmers at P12:  1:42.51, 1:42.07, 1:43.19, 1:42.44  = 6:50.21

[M T]

Stanford 10th in the 200 Medley

Ouch, not good. 
10 Stanford                            1:34.68    1:34.97  14 
    1) Smith, Regan FR              2) r:0.09 Raab, Allie SR       
    3) r:0.08 Wheal, Emma JR        4) r:0.22 Goeders, Anya SR     
    r:+0.53  24.31        51.17 (26.86)
        1:13.64 (22.47)    1:34.97 (21.33)
Pac-12 meet (same swimmers) 23.18, 27.13, 22.71, 21.66
What happened to Regan Smith???
She was 1.13!!! seconds slower on a 50 than at the Pac-12 meet??
If she'd only been 0.6 seconds slower, Stanford would have had 5th for an extra 14 points.

Compare to the winners (American record)
1 Virginia                            1:31.81    1:32.16M  40 
    1) Walsh, Gretchen FR            2) r:0.18 Wenger, Alexis SR   
    3) r:0.27 Cuomo, Lexi JR        4) r:0.26 Douglass, Kate JR   
    r:+0.58  22.81        48.89 (26.08)
        1:11.61 (22.72)    1:32.16 (20.55)

---

Stanford wins the 800 free relay Virginia 2nd

Great.  
A 5 second win!  Still, 2.4 seconds behind American Record (2017 Manuel, Neal, Eastin, Ledecky)
Great lead leg by Torri Huske (but Cal's Isabel Ivey swam 0.6 faster)

Note that Regan Smith swam both events (the 200MR was the earlier event).

1 Stanford                            6:50.21    6:48.30P  40 
    1) Huske, Torri FR              2) r:0.29 Ruck, Taylor JR     
    3) r:0.16 Smith, Regan FR        4) r:0.22 Forde, Brooke 5Y     
    r:+0.59  23.41        49.10 (49.10)
      1:14.89 (1:14.89)  1:41.93 (1:41.93)
        2:04.62 (22.69)    2:29.93 (48.00)
      2:55.75 (1:13.82)  3:22.42 (1:40.49)
        3:46.12 (23.70)    4:12.61 (50.19)
      4:38.99 (1:16.57)  5:05.77 (1:43.35)
        5:29.84 (24.07)    5:55.72 (49.95)
      6:21.89 (1:16.12)  6:48.30 (1:42.53)

Note:  The PAC-12 site is badly maintained.  If you are looking at their 2022 Women's Swimming & Diving schedule, the "Championship Info" points to 2020, not 2022.  It doesn't help that they have 5 calendar entries for each day for the one event.  It seems each entry shows one  schools news items  (none for Stanford, it seems).  And every day has a "Final" between UCLA and USC.   As I said: badly maintained.
I finally found their page on the P12 championships.

Same swimmers at P12:  1:42.51, 1:42.07, 1:43.19, 1:42.44  = 6:50.21

[Sakibomb25]

Couple of responses to questions above:

• Regan Smith had an off-swim in her portion of the 200 medley relay. She was third heading into the first turn, mistimed her turn and ended up in seventh coming out of the turn. Rookie mistake which I am sure she won’t make again (nerves, who knows). She’ll be fine the rest of the meet. If there was any relay for her to mess up on, it was this one. We were seeded 7th and we placed 10th. We just don’t have the guns to compete for a national title in this race.
  
• Sprinting-wise, we will be stacked next year. Curzan is a monster in the sprint free (and fly… and backstroke) so she’ll be a brobdingnagian asset. Tori Huske isn’t chopped liver either in that department. Though we lose Goeders, we also have Emma Wheal and Amy Tang returning who will give us depth in the sprints.
  
• Breaststroke is our only weakness next year. Don’t see any recruits in the pipeline, unfortunately, and I don’t know if Allie Raab is staying an extra year (I don’t think so…). However, with the addition of Curzan, we’ll have the guns to seriously challenge Virginia.
  
• Losing Forde will hurt because we will have a brobdingnagian gap in the 400IM and 500 that I don’t see a successor. However, when push comes to shove, from a scoring perspective, I’d still choose Curzan any day of the week because of her versatility.
  
• As for next year, I don’t know if Taylor Ruck will return, but if she does, that will be brobdingnagian for the Cardinal. She’s another versatile swimmer who gives us more ammunition against Virginia. So awesome to have a great start to the meet after s a few challenging years for her.
  
• As for this year, despite what happened in the 200 medley relay, we are still on track to finish second to Virginia (they are predicted to win by a landslide, so this would be a great finish for Stanford).
  

[Sakibomb25]

Couple of responses to questions above:

• Regan Smith had an off-swim in her portion of the 200 medley relay. She was third heading into the first turn, mistimed her turn and ended up in seventh coming out of the turn. Rookie mistake which I am sure she won’t make again (nerves, who knows). She’ll be fine the rest of the meet. If there was any relay for her to mess up on, it was this one. We were seeded 7th and we placed 10th. We just don’t have the guns to compete for a national title in this race.
  
• Sprinting-wise, we will be stacked next year. Curzan is a monster in the sprint free (and fly… and backstroke) so she’ll be a brobdingnagian asset. Tori Huske isn’t chopped liver either in that department. Though we lose Goeders, we also have Emma Wheal and Amy Tang returning who will give us depth in the sprints.
  
• Breaststroke is our only weakness next year. Don’t see any recruits in the pipeline, unfortunately, and I don’t know if Allie Raab is staying an extra year (I don’t think so…). However, with the addition of Curzan, we’ll have the guns to seriously challenge Virginia.
  
• Losing Forde will hurt because we will have a brobdingnagian gap in the 400IM and 500 that I don’t see a successor. However, when push comes to shove, from a scoring perspective, I’d still choose Curzan any day of the week because of her versatility.
  
• As for next year, I don’t know if Taylor Ruck will return, but if she does, that will be brobdingnagian for the Cardinal. She’s another versatile swimmer who gives us more ammunition against Virginia. So awesome to have a great start to the meet after s a few challenging years for her.
  
• As for this year, despite what happened in the 200 medley relay, we are still on track to finish second to Virginia (they are predicted to win by a landslide, so this would be a great finish for Stanford).
  

[BostonCard]

Regan Smith won the 200 backstroke.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/pac12/status/1505317933827780609?s=21[/tweet]

BC

---

Virginia won going away, Texas narrowly edged out Stanford for second, pushing us to third.

https://swimswam.com/virginia-women-win-...ing-title/

BC

[BostonCard]

Regan Smith won the 200 backstroke.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/pac12/status/1505317933827780609?s=21[/tweet]

BC

---

Virginia won going away, Texas narrowly edged out Stanford for second, pushing us to third.

https://swimswam.com/virginia-women-win-...ing-title/

BC

[DenverCard]

Virginia was a juggernaut this year.   They competed to win in just about every event-- and often did -- led by Kate Douglass, who set records in three disparate events: 50 free, 100 fly, and 200 breast.  Her range is simply amazing.  Virginia also has the Walsh sisters, who took 4 first places and 2 second places in their six races.  And along with other top-flight swimmers, they had a lot of "depth swimmers" who scored in the top eight or in the consolation finals.  They return almost everyone next year, and will therefore be the favorites.  But women's swimming skews young, and Stanford has recruits #1, #2, #5, and other top-20's coming in, so there's reason to believe Stanford might challenge them next year, as strong as they are.  Provided Stanford finds a good breaststroker.

As for this year, Stanford was top-heavy, with a big four (Regan Smith, Torri Huske, Taylor Ruck, and Brooke Forde) who scored the vast majority of their points.  There was also a second tier of Allie Raab, their breaststroker, who did well enough to keep the medley relays competitive and who was top eight in the 200 breaststroke; the Nordmann sisters who each made a final; and Carolina Sculti, who made the final in the 3-meter diving.

I would judge the performance of the rest of the team to be disappointing, as I believe only one other swimmer scored: freshman Aurora Roghair in the 1650 (15th).  Many of those swimmers were highly regarded recruits, and so far have not achieved what was hoped of them (and which they no doubt hoped for themselves).  On the other hand, given the myriad variables that affect a swimmer's career, and the razor-thin differences in results in races that last less than a minute (100s) or two minutes (200s), it's probably unfair to place expectations and make judgments based on them.  [So put an asterisk next to the earlier-noted outlook for next year.]

Today's last day of the meet turned out to be exciting, as it emerged that the pursuit of second place among the teams would be highly contested between Stanford and Texas, making each race (including the consolation finals) quite captivating.  Both the prelims and the finals are critical, as qualifying among the top eight guarantees scoring 11-20 points, and qualifying 9-16 scores 1-9 points, regardless of one's time in the final.  Qualifying 9th is especially tough, insofar as you have to beat everyone else in the heat to merely retain your on-paper scoring, whereas you're playing with house money if you qualify, say, 7th or 8th.

Unfortunately, in addition to not qualifying any potential "depth" scorers except Roghair, in today's last day of the meet, Taylor Ruck qualified 9th in the 200 back, Lillie Nordmann qualified 9th in the 200 fly, and Torri Huske qualified 15th in the 100 free.  Very much to their credit, Ruck and Nordmann won their consolation finals, as did Torri Huske, who moved up from 15th.  Ruck would have finished 7th overall, and Huske 4th overall, if they had made the championship final.  So potential points were lost in the morning preliminaries.  Someone on Swimswam.com raised the possible effects of jetlag, given  that the preliminaries started at 10:00 am Eastern Time, and I think the idea has merit.

By extracting as much as they did in today finals, Stanford built up a lead on Texas going into the last two individual events -- 200 fly and platform diving -- in large part because of Regan Smith's heroics (below).  But Texas had 3 swimmers in the fly final, and 3 divers in the platform final, and with that volume of high scorers, took a 22.5 point lead into the last event of the meet, the 400 free relay.  Texas swam in the penultimate heat of the timed-finals relay and ensured a finish of no worse than 10th overall in the relay (worth 14 points).  This meant that Stanford would have to win the relay to have a chance to finish higher than Texas.  And once again, squeezing as much juice from the orange as was reasonably possible, they came in second, in the course of which Torri Huske essentially raced Kate Douglass to a tie.  (Turns out even if they won the relay, Stanford would have fallen half a point behind of Texas, which was faster than one team in the final heat, and therefore finished 9th in the relay.)

Finally, kudos to Regan Smith.  On day one of the meet, she missed her turn on the medley relay, which caused a lower-than-deserved finish for the relay.  In the 100 backstroke, she qualified first, but finished third (with both 1st and 2nd place going faster than the American record), and she was maligned in the comments section of Swimswam for being a head case/choker).  Today, she swam a grueling double of 200 back and 200 fly, meaning twice in prelims and twice again in the finals, with the races in the finals separated by about 45 minutes. She came from behind to win the 200 back in a loaded field. Then, with the team race for 2nd place in the balance, she had the 200 fly.  And she was in 8th place at the 150, looking simply exhausted and unable to do more than stagger in. But she roared back, almost entirely on the last length, to tie for 2nd, prompting the commentator, Rowdy Gaines, to say that she'd have won if the race were 5 yards longer.  Tremendous heart, and total vindication, for Regan.

Addendum: I forgot about Morgan Tankersley, who finished eighth in the 200 Free. So a significant contribution in that. Also, Anya Goeders and Emma Wheal were on the 7th place Medley Relay that could have finished higher. As such, I understated the contributions of these swimmers, not to mention those who qualified for NCAAs and hence contributed significantly to team spirt. And how could I forget that, given it was my primary function on many a team on which I played back in the day.

[DenverCard]

Virginia was a juggernaut this year.   They competed to win in just about every event-- and often did -- led by Kate Douglass, who set records in three disparate events: 50 free, 100 fly, and 200 breast.  Her range is simply amazing.  Virginia also has the Walsh sisters, who took 4 first places and 2 second places in their six races.  And along with other top-flight swimmers, they had a lot of "depth swimmers" who scored in the top eight or in the consolation finals.  They return almost everyone next year, and will therefore be the favorites.  But women's swimming skews young, and Stanford has recruits #1, #2, #5, and other top-20's coming in, so there's reason to believe Stanford might challenge them next year, as strong as they are.  Provided Stanford finds a good breaststroker.

As for this year, Stanford was top-heavy, with a big four (Regan Smith, Torri Huske, Taylor Ruck, and Brooke Forde) who scored the vast majority of their points.  There was also a second tier of Allie Raab, their breaststroker, who did well enough to keep the medley relays competitive and who was top eight in the 200 breaststroke; the Nordmann sisters who each made a final; and Carolina Sculti, who made the final in the 3-meter diving.

I would judge the performance of the rest of the team to be disappointing, as I believe only one other swimmer scored: freshman Aurora Roghair in the 1650 (15th).  Many of those swimmers were highly regarded recruits, and so far have not achieved what was hoped of them (and which they no doubt hoped for themselves).  On the other hand, given the myriad variables that affect a swimmer's career, and the razor-thin differences in results in races that last less than a minute (100s) or two minutes (200s), it's probably unfair to place expectations and make judgments based on them.  [So put an asterisk next to the earlier-noted outlook for next year.]

Today's last day of the meet turned out to be exciting, as it emerged that the pursuit of second place among the teams would be highly contested between Stanford and Texas, making each race (including the consolation finals) quite captivating.  Both the prelims and the finals are critical, as qualifying among the top eight guarantees scoring 11-20 points, and qualifying 9-16 scores 1-9 points, regardless of one's time in the final.  Qualifying 9th is especially tough, insofar as you have to beat everyone else in the heat to merely retain your on-paper scoring, whereas you're playing with house money if you qualify, say, 7th or 8th.

Unfortunately, in addition to not qualifying any potential "depth" scorers except Roghair, in today's last day of the meet, Taylor Ruck qualified 9th in the 200 back, Lillie Nordmann qualified 9th in the 200 fly, and Torri Huske qualified 15th in the 100 free.  Very much to their credit, Ruck and Nordmann won their consolation finals, as did Torri Huske, who moved up from 15th.  Ruck would have finished 7th overall, and Huske 4th overall, if they had made the championship final.  So potential points were lost in the morning preliminaries.  Someone on Swimswam.com raised the possible effects of jetlag, given  that the preliminaries started at 10:00 am Eastern Time, and I think the idea has merit.

By extracting as much as they did in today finals, Stanford built up a lead on Texas going into the last two individual events -- 200 fly and platform diving -- in large part because of Regan Smith's heroics (below).  But Texas had 3 swimmers in the fly final, and 3 divers in the platform final, and with that volume of high scorers, took a 22.5 point lead into the last event of the meet, the 400 free relay.  Texas swam in the penultimate heat of the timed-finals relay and ensured a finish of no worse than 10th overall in the relay (worth 14 points).  This meant that Stanford would have to win the relay to have a chance to finish higher than Texas.  And once again, squeezing as much juice from the orange as was reasonably possible, they came in second, in the course of which Torri Huske essentially raced Kate Douglass to a tie.  (Turns out even if they won the relay, Stanford would have fallen half a point behind of Texas, which was faster than one team in the final heat, and therefore finished 9th in the relay.)

Finally, kudos to Regan Smith.  On day one of the meet, she missed her turn on the medley relay, which caused a lower-than-deserved finish for the relay.  In the 100 backstroke, she qualified first, but finished third (with both 1st and 2nd place going faster than the American record), and she was maligned in the comments section of Swimswam for being a head case/choker).  Today, she swam a grueling double of 200 back and 200 fly, meaning twice in prelims and twice again in the finals, with the races in the finals separated by about 45 minutes. She came from behind to win the 200 back in a loaded field. Then, with the team race for 2nd place in the balance, she had the 200 fly.  And she was in 8th place at the 150, looking simply exhausted and unable to do more than stagger in. But she roared back, almost entirely on the last length, to tie for 2nd, prompting the commentator, Rowdy Gaines, to say that she'd have won if the race were 5 yards longer.  Tremendous heart, and total vindication, for Regan.

Addendum: I forgot about Morgan Tankersley, who finished eighth in the 200 Free. So a significant contribution in that. Also, Anya Goeders and Emma Wheal were on the 7th place Medley Relay that could have finished higher. As such, I understated the contributions of these swimmers, not to mention those who qualified for NCAAs and hence contributed significantly to team spirt. And how could I forget that, given it was my primary function on many a team on which I played back in the day.

[BobK]

Awesome summary. Thank you

[BobK]

Awesome summary. Thank you

[M T]

Reviewing the psych sheet, Stanford has some strong seedings among Forde Huske, Smith and Ruck. 
https://swimswam.com/wp-content/uploads/...-sheet.pdf

Among top 16 seeds:
...
200 Free - no one (Tankersley 17th, Ruck 19th)  [But see below]
...
Meet results will be available here - https://swimmeetresults.tech/NCAA-Divisi...omen-2022/

Day 2  and 3 results weren't mentioned here.

Day 2:
500 Free:  Forde was 4th; Tankersley was 8th
200 IM: Huske was 2nd.
200 Free Relay: 6th

Day 3:
200 Free: Taylor Ruck won,  Lillie Nordham got 4th, Morgan Tankersley got 8th.
  Good comments by her after the race.
100 Fly: Torri Huske was 2nd
400IM Brooke Forde was 2nd
100 Back: Regan Smith was 3rd, Taylor Ruck was 10th, Lucie Nordham was 11th
3M diving: Sculti was 7th
400 Med Relay: 3rd

It is somewhat disturbing to me that if you combined the formerly great Stanford and Cal WSwim teams, Virginia still would have won.

[M T]

Reviewing the psych sheet, Stanford has some strong seedings among Forde Huske, Smith and Ruck. 
https://swimswam.com/wp-content/uploads/...-sheet.pdf

Among top 16 seeds:
...
200 Free - no one (Tankersley 17th, Ruck 19th)  [But see below]
...
Meet results will be available here - https://swimmeetresults.tech/NCAA-Divisi...omen-2022/

Day 2  and 3 results weren't mentioned here.

Day 2:
500 Free:  Forde was 4th; Tankersley was 8th
200 IM: Huske was 2nd.
200 Free Relay: 6th

Day 3:
200 Free: Taylor Ruck won,  Lillie Nordham got 4th, Morgan Tankersley got 8th.
  Good comments by her after the race.
100 Fly: Torri Huske was 2nd
400IM Brooke Forde was 2nd
100 Back: Regan Smith was 3rd, Taylor Ruck was 10th, Lucie Nordham was 11th
3M diving: Sculti was 7th
400 Med Relay: 3rd

It is somewhat disturbing to me that if you combined the formerly great Stanford and Cal WSwim teams, Virginia still would have won.