NCAA Women’s Championships: Lucy Bell Tolls Again in 200 Breast Repeat
Much has changed in the field for the 200 breaststroke at NCAAs. Lucy Bell being out front isn’t among the alterations.
The Stanford senior repeated as the winner of the race, going 2:02.38 to book the third-fastest time in history and a best time.
Aimee Canny of Virginia finished second in 2:03.09. There was a tie for third between Kaelyn Gridley of Duke and Anastasia Gorbenko of Louisville in 2:05.24.
“I was super happy,” Bell said. “I was really nervous before the race. I think coming in with the win from last year, I had a lot of self-appointed pressure on myself. I was really trying to say, no matter what happens, I’m going to leave it all in the pool.”
Canny, who was seventh last year and 10th in 2024, was the second seed in prelims and took to the lead early. She led after each of the first three 50s. But Bell was closing. Bell’s third 50 was 31.39 to Canny’s 31.78. Bell came home in 31.35 to the 32.32 of Canny.
The identical splits for Bell aren’t necessarily a goal, but a natural consequence of her other focuses on building in the race.
“I don’t really think about my spits that much,” she said. “In the 2-breast, I really think about my stroke count a lot. That’s the one thing I’m thinking about most in that race. It was great that it turned out that way.”
Gridley was in her fourth NCAA final in this event, finishing 6th as a freshman and fourth each of the last two years in a storied career for the Blue Devils.
Gorbenko, in her first NCAAs, was the top seed out of the morning and finished third, .08 slower than she had been in prelims.
Michigan’s Letitia Sim kept her fast early pace – she was second after the first 100 – as long as she could, finishing fifth in 2:05.86. She was exactly a second ahead of Florida’s Grace Rabb, with Rabb’s teammate Anita Bottazzo seventh. Emma Weber of UVA was eighth.
Prelims was a big coup for Virginia. Beyond Canny and Weber, the Cavaliers placed Sophia Umstead ninth, Zoe Skirboll 11th and Leah Hayes 12th. That’s 48 points for the Cavaliers, a not-insignificant margin for a team that entered the day up 66 points.
“That was a surreal experience,” Canny said. “They all swam before me, so I got to cheer for them. Todd (DeSorbo, UVA coach) was saying how today was our moving day. It was a really important day for us. A lot of them weren’t expected to score and they did score, so it was super great and I was super proud of them.”
Event 11 Women 200 Yard Breaststroke
=========================================================================
NCAA: N 2:01.29 3/18/2023 Kate Douglass, Virginia
Meet: M 2:01.29 3/18/2023 Kate Douglass, Virginia
American: A 2:01.29 3/18/2023 Kate Douglass, Virginia
US Open: O 2:01.29 3/18/2023 Kate Douglass, Virginia
Pool: P 2:02.19 3/26/2022 Kate Douglass, Virginia
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
=========================================================================
=== Championship Final ===
1 Bell, Lucy SR Stanford 2:05.51 2:02.38 20
r:+0.64 28.28 59.64 (31.36)
1:31.03 (31.39) 2:02.38 (31.35)
2 Canny, Aimee SR Virginia 2:05.25 2:03.09 17
r:+0.70 27.85 58.99 (31.14)
1:30.77 (31.78) 2:03.09 (32.32)
3 Gridley, Kaelyn SR Duke 2:05.86 2:05.24 15.5
r:+0.69 28.15 59.98 (31.83)
1:32.08 (32.10) 2:05.24 (33.16)
3 Gorbenko, Anastasia SO Louisville 2:05.16 2:05.24 15.5
r:+0.64 28.37 1:00.35 (31.98)
1:32.52 (32.17) 2:05.24 (32.72)
5 Sim, Letitia SR Michigan 2:07.32 2:05.85 14
r:+0.65 27.96 59.52 (31.56)
1:32.20 (32.68) 2:05.85 (33.65)
6 Rabb, Grace FR Florida 2:07.32 2:06.85 13
r:+0.63 28.71 1:00.69 (31.98)
1:33.50 (32.81) 2:06.85 (33.35)
7 Bottazzo, Anita SO Florida 2:06.98 2:07.13 12
r:+0.67 28.27 59.79 (31.52)
1:32.94 (33.15) 2:07.13 (34.19)
8 Weber, Emma SR Virginia 2:07.58 2:07.55 11
r:+0.73 28.50 1:00.39 (31.89)
1:33.62 (33.23) 2:07.55 (33.93)
.jpeg "2026 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championship - logo"){kind=logo}