LSU sophomore Megan Barnes moved up 32 places from seed in the women’s 500 free this weekend at the NCAA Championship meet. Archive photo via Chris Parent/LSU Athletics
2024 WOMEN’S NCAA SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- March 20-23, 2024
- Gabrielsen Natatorium, Athens, Georgia
- Short Course Yards (25 yards)
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheets
- SwimSwam Preview Index
- Live Results
- Live Stream
- SwimSwam Pick ’em Contest
Kevin Cargill is one of the new ‘voices of swimming.’ A frequent on-deck announcer at meets like the NCAA Championships and US Olympic Trials, Cargill spends a ton of time watching swimming.
A few years ago, as part of his preparation to call the meets, Keith started tracking some data, and I think that data is pretty cool, so I asked him if we could share it.
He said yes.
So now I present to you: Keith Cargill’s All-Taper Team!
Among the ways to measure success of an NCAA Championship meet, and one of geekdom’s favorite, is how far swimmers move up and down. It evaluates how well a swimmer ‘hit their taper’ for the biggest meet of the year.
Of course there aren’t points awarded for ‘moving up the most,’ but we can still appreciate it.
The All-Taper team is made up of the biggest prelims mover from each team, plus the three biggest ‘overall’ prelims movers from the rest of the field.
Note: 1650 frees for purposes of the All-Taper Team are counted as prelims swims, though it was never actually relevant.
Top 10 Teams:
- Abby Harter, Virginia, 100 fly (45 seed, 15 finish, -.47 seconds)
- Campbell Stoll, Texas, 200 fly (39 seed, 15 finish, -1.24 seconds)
- Aris Runnels, Florida, 200 back (49 seed, 27 finish, -2.61 seconds)
- Julia Mrozinski, Tennessee, 200 free (46 seed, 26 finish, -.33 seconds)
- Amy Tang, Stanford, 50 free (37 seed, 10 finish, -.40 seconds)
- Fernanda Celidonio, Louisville, 200 breast (59 seed, 29 finish, -3.96 seconds)
- Mariah Denigan, Indiana, 500 free (48 seed, 25 finish, -1.9 seconds)
- Caroline Famous, USC, 50 free (39 seed, 11 finish, -.38 seconds)
- Krista Marlin, Ohio State, 200 IM (27 seed, 19 finish, -.52 seconds)
- Abby Arens, NC State, 50 free (23 seed, 17 finish, -.24 seconds)
Wildcards:
- Megan Barnes, LSU, 500 free (58 seed, 26 finish, -4.20 seconds)
- Carmen Weilser Sastre, Virginia Tech, 200 free (49 Seed, 21st finish, -1.21 seconds)
- Ellie Vannote, North Carolina, 200 fly (42 seed, 18th finish, -1.57 seconds)
Top 10 Teams Data
| Team | Biggest Prelim Mover | Biggest Finals Mover | Best Prelim Swim |
Best Finals Swim |
|
| 1 | UVA | Abby Harter moving up 15 places in the 100 Fly | Sophia Knapp moving up 9 places in the 1650 Free | Tess Howley dropping 2.8 seconds in the 200 Fly |
Alex Walsh dropping 3.52 seconds in the 200 Breast |
| 2 | TEX | Campbell Stoll moving up 24 places in the 200 Fly | Lydia Jacoby moving up 7 places in the 200 Breast | Emma Sticklen dropping 0.63 seconds in the 100 Fly |
Anna Elendt dropping 2.08 seconds in the 200 Breast |
| 3 | UF | Aris Runnels moving up 22 places in the 200 Back | Caroline Pennington moving up 11 places in the 1650 Free | Aris Runnels dropping 2.61 seconds in the 200 Back |
Isabel Ivey dropping 1.66 seconds in the 200 IM |
| 4 | TENN | Julia Mrozinski moving up 20 places in the 200 Free | Aly Breslin moving up 6 places in the 1650 Free | Regan Rathwell dropping 1.05 seconds in the 100 Back |
Mona McSharry dropping 1.46 seconds in the 200 Breast |
| 5 | STAN | Amy Tang moving up 27 places in the 50 Free | The Stanford relay moving up 6 places in the 200 MR | Lucy Bell dropping 2.17 seconds in the 200 IM |
Lucy Bell dropping 3.03 seconds in the 400 IM |
| 6 | LOU | Fernanda Celidonio moving up 30 places in the 200 Breast | Gabi Albiero moving up 4 places in the 100 Fly | Fernanda Celidonio dropping 3.96 seconds in the 200 Breast |
The Louisvilla relay dropping 1.17 seconds in the 400 MR |
| 7 | INDIANA | Mariah Denigan moving up 23 places in the 500 Free | Elyse Heiser moving up 14 places in the 1650 Free | Ashley Turak dropping 1.17 seconds in the 100 Breast |
Elyse Heiser dropping 7.84 seconds in the 1650 Free |
| 8 | USC | Caroline Famous moving up 28 places in the 50 Free | The USC relay moving up 6 places in the 200 FR | Caroline Famous dropping 0.37 seconds in the 50 Free |
Kaitlyn Dobler dropping 1.53 seconds in the 200 Breast |
| 9 | OSU | Krista Marlin moving up 28 places in the 200 IM | The OSU relay moving up 5 places in the 400 FR | Paige Hall dropping 2.38 seconds in the 200 Back |
The Ohio State relay droppiung 1.64 seconds in the 400 FR |
| 9 | NCST | Abby Arens moving up 22 places in the 50 Free | Emma Hastings moving up 14 places in the 1650 Free | Kennedy Noble dropping 1.17 seconds in the 200 Back |
Katharine Berkoff dropping 0.79 seconds in the 100 Back |