Swimming

Gretchen Walsh Won’t Defend Her NCAA Title in the 100 Back, Chooses 100 Fly Instead

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By Braden Keith on SwimSwam

2024 WOMEN’S NCAA SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

University of Virginia junior Gretchen Walsh won’t defend her NCAA title in the 100 yard backstroke, instead opting to take on the 100 yard fly on day 3 of the 2024 NCAA Championships.

With Tuesday’s release of the pre-selection entry sheets for the NCAA Championships, we learned that Walsh will keep the same individual entries for NCAAs that she had for ACCs, racing the 50 free on day 2, the 100 fly on day 3, and the 100 free on day 4.

That is a variation from last year, where in spite of the same ACC Championship entry, she switched to (and won by nine-tenths of a second) the 100 back at the NCAA Championships. She also swam the 100 free (1st), 100 back (2nd), and 50 free (2nd) at the 2022 NCAA Championships as a freshman.

While she is the fastest swimmer in the NCAA in all four events this season (and all-time), on paper the 100 fly is a surer bet than the 100 back. In the 100 fly, she swam 48.25 at ACCs, whereas the second-best this season is Texas’ Emma Sticklen in 50.36. In fact, Texas Longhorns are seeded 2-3-4 in this event, with Florida swimmers Olivia Peoples (tied-4th) and Isabel Ivey (6th) being the next two seeds. As the Cavaliers’ two main rivals on the march to what appears to be a fourth-straight NCAA title, Walsh’s win there holds pretty-significant point implications, especially with Virginia not projected to have any other individual scorers.

In the 100 back, meanwhile, her 48.10 is just six-tenths ahead of the World Championships bronze medalist Katharine Berkoff of NC State (48.70). Walsh was still the favorite there, but Berkoff seems the more likely of the two races to hit a perfect taper and pull an upset.

Plus the Cavaliers have more probable scorers in that 100 back with Reilly Tiltmann (11th seed) and Carly Novelline (18th seed).

While this means Walsh won’t swim the 100 back individually at NCAAs, she still has a shot at breaking her own NCAA Record in the event via a leadoff leg of the Cavaliers’ 400 medley relay.

SwimSwam: Gretchen Walsh Won’t Defend Her NCAA Title in the 100 Back, Chooses 100 Fly Instead

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