The No. 9-ranked Indiana University women’s swimming and diving team had a historic night at the 2018 NCAA Women’s Championships on Friday evening at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion in Columbus, Ohio.
Headed into the fourth and final day of the NCAA Championships on Saturday, IU sits in ninth place with a total of 124 points.
In the Championship Final of the 100 breaststroke, Lilly King continued her dominance, winning with the fastest time in history – 56.25. King’s mark set American, NCAA, NCAA Meet, Big Ten, school and pool records.
With her third-straight 100 breast title, King becomes the first woman in Big Ten history to win three-straight national championships in league history. The Evansville, Ind. native is also the first swimmer or diver to win four individual NCAA titles in Big Ten history.
Also with King’s win, Indiana becomes the first women’s swimming and diving program in Big Ten history to win a NCAA title five-straight years – King from 2016-18, Jessica Parratto in 2015 and Brooklyn Snodgrass in 2014.
In a historic 200 medley relay Championship Final, the IU team of Ali Rockett, Lilly King, Christine Jensen and Grace Haskett placed third with a Big Ten and IU school record time of 1:33.89.
The race was the fastest 200 medley relay in history, as the top-three times rank as the top-three times in history. All three were also better than the previous American, NCAA, NCAA Meet and U.S. Open records.
After recording the fastest 400 medley relay breaststroke split in history on Thursday, King posted the best breaststroke split in history in the 200 medley relay on Friday, touching the wall in a blistering time of 25.38 Rockett also had a great split for the Hoosiers, tying for the best leadoff backstroke leg in the final with a mark of 23.54.
The All-America honor is the 12th for King in her career, the second for Jensen and the first for Haskett.
In the Championship Final of the 100 backstroke Ali Rockett had a career-best swim, placing sixth overall with a time of 51.11. The finish is the best of her career in the event at the NCAA’s and her time ranks as the third-fastest in school history.
Along with her All-America honor in the 200 medley relay, Rockett now as five for her career, including three this year alone.
Jessica Parratto matched her best career finish in the Championship Final of the 3-meter dive, placing seventh with a score of 331.35 for the Hoosiers. In her list, Parratto scored over 60 points on four of her six attempts in the final.
The redshirt junior earned the seventh All-America honor of her career and the second this week. Parratto will look to recapture the NCAA title in the platform dive on Saturday which she won in 2015. She took second in the event last season.
In the Consolation Final of the 200 freestyle, Kennedy Goss placed eighth to finish 16th overall in the event with a time of 1:44.95. The Honorable-Mention All-America honor gives Goss an astounding total of 13 All-America accolades for her career.
The Indiana University women’s swimming and diving team will continue competition at the 2018 NCAA Championships on Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. ET with the prelims of the 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly, platform dive and 1,650 freestyle.
