Women's NCAA Championships: 500 Freestyle Final
Mar 17, 2017
500 FREESTYLE
NCAA Record:Meet Record:
American Record:
US Open Record:
At which point does one run out of superlatives for Katie Ledecky? The Stanford phenom unleashed a 4:24.06 in the 500 freestyle, over a second faster than her 4:25.15 from Pac-12's. Flipping at 1:43.49 and 2:10.07 at the 200 and 250, respectively, she was on pace to potentially drop a 4:22 high or 4:23 low, but a couple of 27's sprinkled in there threw her off that pace. Regardless, Ledecky is transcendent. 4:24 is almost unfathomable and will not be touched anytime soon by a swimmer not named Katie Ledecky. Equally as impressive though, Leah Smith of Virginia threw down a monster 4:28.90 -- becoming the second performer ever to break the 4:30 barrier in this race. A 4:28 in the 500 freestyle is an unbelievable swim and it is very clear that the presence of Ledecky has elevated Leah Smith's game to another level. Touching in third was Indiana's Kennedy Goss who dropped close to two seconds from her prelims swim to post a 4:36.13.
1.) Katie Ledecky (Stanford): 4:24.06 (NCAA, American, US Open Record)
2.) Leah Smith (Virginia): 4:28.90
3.) Kennedy Goss (Indiana): 4:36.13
4.) Mallory Comerford (Louisville): 4:36.16
5.) Hannah Moore (NC State): 4:36.85
6.) Yirong Bi (Michigan): 4:37.30
7.) Danielle Valley (Wisconsin): 4:38.31
8.) G Ryan (Michigan): 4:40.28
