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ATLANTA, GEORGIA - MARCH 18: Torri Huske of Stanford competes in the 100 yard butterfly during the Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championship held at Georgia Tech Aquatic Center on March 19, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Todd Kirkland/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
Todd Kirkland via Getty Images
Night two at the Women’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships was highlighted by a big win in the 200 freestyle relay by the Virginia Cavaliers.
It's a fifth straight title for the Hoo’s, the longest streak in history, passing Arizona’s four straight from 2006-09.
All of the stars have now hit the water after the first full day of competition, with Moesch, Torri Huske, Claire Curzan, and Bella Sims stealing the show.
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Virginia still leads the team race with 249 total points, 66 ahead of second place Texas.
Stanford is in firm control of third position while the battle for placing in the top five is still tight with Stanford, Tennessee, Cal, and Michigan all within 26.5 points.
Huske out-touches Curzan in 100 butterfly battle
For the first time in two years a new champion has reached the top of the podium in the women’s 100 butterfly.
Olympic gold medalist Torri Huske added NCAA champion to her 100 butterfly pedigree. After winning the ACC title, Huske doubled up with a national title. Huske stopped the clock in 48.49, 0.06 ahead of Claire Curzan.
Huske and Curzan threw down another pair of 48s, their times from ACCs moved them into second and fourth on the all-time performers list at the ACC championships.
Indiana freshman and U.S. Olympian Alex Shackell also broke 50 seconds to grab third.
The Cardinal and Hoosiers put two a piece in the championship final, with senior Gigi Johson placing fourth for Stanford and Shackell’s teammate Miranda Grana grabbing eighth for Indiana.
Annie Jia (Cal), Mizuki Hirai (Tennessee), and Campbell Stoll (Texas), rounded out the top eight placing fifth, sixth, and seventh respectively,
Bella Sims outpaces the field in the 400 IM
Bella Sims is back on top at the NCAA championships.
The Michigan junior broke four minutes for the second time this season to win the 400 IM by seven tenths of a second. Sims led wire to wire, showcasing her elite versatility through each discipline. This is Sims’ fourth NCAA title and her first since 2024 when she won three while representing Florida.
Stanford senior Lucy Bell finished second with her teammate Caroline Bricker, the defending champion in the event, placed sixth.
Virginia’s Katie Grimes built on her third place finish in the mile placing fifth and her teammate Aimee Canny finished eighth.
Ella Jansen, the SEC champion, broke Tennessee’s school record in the morning and broke it tonight with her 3:59.59 finishing fourth. Freshman Teagan O’Dell finished third for California and UCLA senior Rosie Murphy moved up to seventh after entering the week as the eleventh overall seed.
The 400 IM showcases the depth of the top teams in the country, as Virginia and Stanford both put two swimmers in the top eight and three in the top eleven.
Anna Moesch defeats Liberty Clark in 200 freestyle
In prelims Texas freshman Nikolett Padar led the way, but the 200 freestyle final was all about Anna Moesch and Liberty Clark this evening.
Both swimmers had been under one minute and forty seconds before, and their dual in finals did not disappoint.
Moesch and Clark flipped within four tenths of second of each other at the half way mark but it was Moesch who powered her way to win the title.
Clark was a touch off of her 1:39.70 from last night, finishing in 1:39.88, while Moesch passed Gretchen Walsh as the second fastest in history in 1:39.23.
Both swimmers are underclassman, so there will be many more battles to come between Moesch and Clark.
Padar finished third in a season best 1:40.78.
California put some much needed points on the board with seventh and eighth place finishes from sophomore Mia West and freshman Claire Weinstein.
Madi Mintenko (Virginia), Minna Abraham (USC), and Camille Spink (Tennessee) made up the rest of a stacked 200-yd freestyle final.
Virginia’s depth was once again on display, putting three swimmers in the top sixteen, outnumbering all other teams.
The 200-yd freestyle had one of the fastest prelims in history, where qualifying was more than a second faster than 2025. One year ago 16th place was 1:43.46 and in 2025 it took a 1:44.18 to score points.
In addition, the field is young, as no seniors competed in the championship final, further demonstrating the strength of the event.
Jefimova takes down Siroky and Borazon in 100 breaststroke
ACC champion Eneli Jefimova bested the field in the 100-yd breaststroke. The NC State freshman swam a blistering 56.30, defeating the top two finishers out of the SEC.
Tennessee’s McKenzie Siroky and Florida’s Anita Borazon tied for second in 57.00.
Siroky is one of the most polarizing personalities in the NCAA, and went a personal best in prelims this morning. The Tennessee sophomore was originally committed to playing DI hockey before making her way to Rocky Top.
SEC champion Anita Bottazzo fought back after trailing at the 75 mark to tie Siroky for national runner-up.
Anastasia Gorbenko was fourth for Louisville in 57.56 and Big 12 champion Joleigh Crye finished eighth representing Cincinnati. Emma Weber who placed seventh, was Virginia’s lone representative in the top eight.
Piper Enge and Maria Ramos Najji placed fifth and sixth for Texas and Ohio State respectively.
It was an extremely quick event in 2026, as it took a sub-58 second swim to qualify for the championship final.
Virginia goes three for three in relay titles
Claire Curzan, Anna Moesch, Bryn Greenwaldt, and Sara Curtis added another NCAA title to Virginia’s repertoire. The Cavaliers stopped the clock in 1:24.11 to win a fifth straight title in the 200-yd freestyle relay.
Greenwaldt, who transferred from DII Augustana, is a multiport athlete who competed at the NCAA championships on the same day in both swimming and track & field in 2025.
The NCAA record has survived another year. Virginia’s 1:23.63 was set in 2024 by Gretchen Walsh, Alex Walsh, Jasmine Nocentini, and Maxine Parker. The Cavaliers hold the NCAA record in all five relays contested in collegiate swimming.
Stanford, Louisville, and Michigan battled for national runner-up, with the Cardinal holding seed for second in 1:25.57.
Cal placed fifth, scoring crucial points after being disqualified in the 200 medley relay last night.
The top time posted from this morning was Texas, where Eva Okaro, Lillian Nesty, Lucy Mehraban, and Erin Gemmell crept into the top eight after entering the week as the tenth seed.
Miami’s Pellacani edges South Carolina’s Verzyl in 1m Diving
Miami (FL) is an NCAA diving machine, they put two in the championship final. Chiara Pellacani won the NCAA title and her teammate Margo O’Meara placed sixth.
Pellacani won the championship on her final dive, squawking past South Carolina senior Sophie Verzyl by the slimmest of margins.
The SEC put four divers in the championship final including, Verzyl, Bayleigh Cranford (Texas), Camyla Monroy (Florida), and Desharne Bent-Ashmeil (Tennessee)
Minnesota junior Elna Widerstrom and Kansas junior Shiyun Lai all finished in the top eight.
Scoring changes in 2026
For the first time consolation finals will not be swum at NCAAs. Traditionally, swimmers who placed ninth through sixteenth place would swim again at night.
This year, athletes will be locked into place when they finish between ninth and sixteenth in prelims. Whoever places in the top eight will compete for the NCAA title during the championship final, contested in the evening.
This means points are now scored in the morning and more information is available leading into each night’s finals session.
Additionally, relays will only swim once, so any team can move up into any place, whether teams swim in the morning or are seeded within the top eight and compete at night.
The overall scoring hasn’t changed, with individual events being scored from 20-17-16-15-14-13-12-11 for the top eight finishers and 9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 for ninth through sixteenth. Relays are worth double, with 40 massive points going to NCAA champion.
Friday Event Schedule
Preliminaries: 10:00 am ET, Finals 6:00 pm ET Live results
100-yard backstroke
200-yard breaststroke
500-yard freestyle
50-yard freestyle
400-yard medley relay
Three-meter diving
Friday’s competition can be streamed on ESPN+.
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