Thursday, March 30, 2023
Unstoppable: A Look at Kate Douglass’ NCAA Championships and Stretch of Success
From Lilly King’s final swims as a Hoosier, to Ella Eastin’s five titles in 2018, to Katie Ledecky’s multi-record setting performances of 2017, the NCAA Women’s Swimming Championships has produced countless memorable performances in recent years.
At this year's women’s championships, U.S. National Team member and Virginia Cavalier Kate Douglass just may have surpassed them all.
At the end of the four-day, short course yard (SCY) meet, Douglass stood atop the podium for all seven events in which she competed. While a seven-title performance is impressive enough on paper, each of Douglass’ races featured jaw-dropping accomplishments.
Let’s look at Douglass’ most recent NCAA Championships and the road that led to it.
Making History
March’s championships meet was a storybook ending for the Cavalier senior. Her times at these NCAA Championships included NCAA and American records in all three of her individual events: 1:48.37 in the 200 individual medley, 2:01.29 in the 200 breaststroke and 48.46 in the 100 butterfly.
Even with the incredible swims at NCAAs, Douglass’ American record-setting efforts were not solely confined to this year's championship meet.
In February, she broke the 200 breaststroke American record at a team invitational and later took the 100 butterfly record at the ACC Championships. Combine those with her records at NCAAs, and this is just the third time since 1982 that a female swimmer has ever set five individual SCY American records in a calendar year – a feat she also accomplished in 2022 and Natalie Coughlin did 20 years earlier in 2002.
The remarkable part is that the other two occasions featured American records that spanned the entire year – Douglass reached her five individual records for 2023 in the span of a month and a half.
Additionally, if you factor in relay records, Douglass’ SCY American-record count jumps to an astonishing 10 in the past two months and 19 in total from 2021-23. These totals put her in an elite category of female swimmers who have accomplished double-digit American records in SCY history: Tracy Stockwell (27 from 1977-84), Katie Ledecky (17 from 2013-23), Simone Manuel (16 from 2014-17) Jill Sterkel (15 from 1976-82), Debbie Meyer (13 from 1967-70) and Natalie Coughlin (11 from 2001-07).
Unbelievable Splits, Unbelievable Fields
The finishing times that Douglass posted at the NCAA Championships are enough to make swim fans give her a standing ovation. However, if you look deeper into Douglass’ respective splits and who she was swimming against, the performances become even more impressive.
200 individual medley
100 butterfly
200 breaststroke
Post-Tokyo Momentum
Perhaps this year’s NCAA Championships success should not come as much of a surprise when you look at the resume that Douglass has accumulated since her bronze in the 200 IM at the 2020 Olympic Games.
Since Tokyo, Douglass has won three world championships (LCM) and 12 world championships (SCM) medals, 14 NCAA Championships titles, has set 18* SCY American records, a whopping 31 personal bests across 13 events (across all courses) and ended 2022 as the fastest SCY and SCM 200 breaststroke swimmer – and second-fastest LCM swimmer – in the world.
Douglass’ momentum is palpable. As she continues to diversify her skillset, it creates a variety of possibilities for future national and international meets. Douglass will likely look to qualify for teams in at least three disciplines. Coughlin (2008) was the last American female to represent the U.S. in at least three disciplines at the Olympic Games, while Claire Curzan was the last to accomplish the feat at the world championships last year.
To look through American record progressions, head to https://www.usaswimming.org/times/data-hub/record-progressions. If you want to look at Douglass’ best times, or even yourself (though it may not be the best to compare the two), go to https://www.usaswimming.org/times/individual-times-search.
*Note: her career total for SCY American records is 19 as mentioned previously, however this count excludes the 4x50 medley relay record she was a part of in 2021 since that race happened before Tokyo.
At this year's women’s championships, U.S. National Team member and Virginia Cavalier Kate Douglass just may have surpassed them all.
At the end of the four-day, short course yard (SCY) meet, Douglass stood atop the podium for all seven events in which she competed. While a seven-title performance is impressive enough on paper, each of Douglass’ races featured jaw-dropping accomplishments.
Let’s look at Douglass’ most recent NCAA Championships and the road that led to it.
Making History
March’s championships meet was a storybook ending for the Cavalier senior. Her times at these NCAA Championships included NCAA and American records in all three of her individual events: 1:48.37 in the 200 individual medley, 2:01.29 in the 200 breaststroke and 48.46 in the 100 butterfly.
Even with the incredible swims at NCAAs, Douglass’ American record-setting efforts were not solely confined to this year's championship meet.
In February, she broke the 200 breaststroke American record at a team invitational and later took the 100 butterfly record at the ACC Championships. Combine those with her records at NCAAs, and this is just the third time since 1982 that a female swimmer has ever set five individual SCY American records in a calendar year – a feat she also accomplished in 2022 and Natalie Coughlin did 20 years earlier in 2002.
The remarkable part is that the other two occasions featured American records that spanned the entire year – Douglass reached her five individual records for 2023 in the span of a month and a half.
Additionally, if you factor in relay records, Douglass’ SCY American-record count jumps to an astonishing 10 in the past two months and 19 in total from 2021-23. These totals put her in an elite category of female swimmers who have accomplished double-digit American records in SCY history: Tracy Stockwell (27 from 1977-84), Katie Ledecky (17 from 2013-23), Simone Manuel (16 from 2014-17) Jill Sterkel (15 from 1976-82), Debbie Meyer (13 from 1967-70) and Natalie Coughlin (11 from 2001-07).
Unbelievable Splits, Unbelievable Fields
The finishing times that Douglass posted at the NCAA Championships are enough to make swim fans give her a standing ovation. However, if you look deeper into Douglass’ respective splits and who she was swimming against, the performances become even more impressive.
200 individual medley
- All four of Douglass’ splits – 23.51 butterfly, 27.40 backstroke, 31.38 breaststroke and 26.08 freestyle – were the fastest of any split in a field that consisted of five U.S. National Teamers, including the current 200 IM Olympic silver medalist in Alex Walsh.
- Her backstroke split would have been the fourth-best, second-50y split in the 200 back.
- Her breaststroke split was faster than all but two splits – not including her own – from the second 50y splits in the 200 breast.
- Her final 50y tied with Maxine Parker’s split in the 200y freestyle as the fastest final 50y in any 200-yard event at the meet, which is impressive considering Douglass came off an open turn from breaststroke compared to a traditional freestyle turn in the 200 free.
100 butterfly
- Douglass had the fastest first 50y (22.48) and was only .03 seconds off from having the best second 50 (25.98 – only behind Maggie MacNeil’s time of 25.95).
- The race featured the reigning long course meter (LCM) 100 fly champions of the world (Torri Huske), Olympic Games (MacNeil) and United States (Gabi Albiero).
- The NCAA and American record, previously held by Douglass, was 48.84. The top-three finishers (Douglass, MacNeil, Huske, respectively) in the A final all broke 49 seconds.
- If she swam her 100 fly time from Friday on the 400 free relay on Saturday, her time still would have been good enough for Virginia to win the relay. This is certainly a testament to how strong UVA’s relay was, but also shows how incredibly fast Douglass’ butterfly was.
200 breaststroke
- Similar to her 200 IM, she also had the fastest splits (27.60, 30.69, 31.30 and 31.70) of each 50 in the field.
- Her first 100 split (58.29) was only 0.19 seconds away from the NCAA Championships 100 breast A cut. It also would have placed seventh if the split was in the A final of the 100 breast championship at the meet.
- Her 1:03.00 on the second hundred was 1.4 seconds faster than the next-fastest split.
- Her 31.70 time on the last 50y was nearly a full second faster (0.87 seconds, to be exact) than the next.
Post-Tokyo Momentum
Perhaps this year’s NCAA Championships success should not come as much of a surprise when you look at the resume that Douglass has accumulated since her bronze in the 200 IM at the 2020 Olympic Games.
Since Tokyo, Douglass has won three world championships (LCM) and 12 world championships (SCM) medals, 14 NCAA Championships titles, has set 18* SCY American records, a whopping 31 personal bests across 13 events (across all courses) and ended 2022 as the fastest SCY and SCM 200 breaststroke swimmer – and second-fastest LCM swimmer – in the world.
Douglass’ momentum is palpable. As she continues to diversify her skillset, it creates a variety of possibilities for future national and international meets. Douglass will likely look to qualify for teams in at least three disciplines. Coughlin (2008) was the last American female to represent the U.S. in at least three disciplines at the Olympic Games, while Claire Curzan was the last to accomplish the feat at the world championships last year.
To look through American record progressions, head to https://www.usaswimming.org/times/data-hub/record-progressions. If you want to look at Douglass’ best times, or even yourself (though it may not be the best to compare the two), go to https://www.usaswimming.org/times/individual-times-search.
*Note: her career total for SCY American records is 19 as mentioned previously, however this count excludes the 4x50 medley relay record she was a part of in 2021 since that race happened before Tokyo.