First Time in 35 Years: Florida Women Win 800-Freestyle Relay National Championship

Wednesday, March 20

Athens, GA

All Day

Florida Gators

Women's Swimming & Diving Championships

Emma Weyant, Bella Sims, Micayla Cronk and Isabel Ivey, left to right, following their win for the 800-free relay national title. (Photo: Bryce Mitchell/UAA Communications)

First Time in 35 Years: Florida Women Win 800-Freestyle Relay National Championship

Wednesday, March 20, 2024 | Women's Swimming & Diving

Photo Gallery

By: Abby Wisecup

ATHENS, Ga. — On the opening night of the 2024 NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving Championships, the No. 2 Florida women finished top three in both the 200-yard medley relay and the 800-yard freestyle relay, while setting a new program and pool record on Wednesday night inside Gabrielsen Natatorium in Athens, Ga.

Aris Runnels, Molly Mayne, Olivia Peoples and Micayla Cronk started things off in the 200 medley relay, giving the Gators their first top-three finish since 2014 after swimming a 1:34.30 for third place to earn the first All-American honors of the night for Florida.

In the second and final relay of the night, Bella Sims, Isabel Ivey, Emma Weyant and Micayla Cronk were crowned 800-Freestyle Relay National Champions for the sixth time in program history and first title since 1989. The Gators dropped 1.06 seconds off their seed time, cruising to a 6:48.59 to set a new program and pool record.

Hear From the Winning Gators
Bella Sims On her first NCAAs...
"It's great to be a Florida Gator. I love this team, and I'm so happy that we were able to
accomplish this together."

Emma Weyant On the team's mindset for this weekend...
"I think we've all done a great job this year of sticking to the process. We're just trying to
keep it all together. This team has been really killing it all year, so we're excited for the
rest of the week."

Up Next
The 500-yard free, 200-yard IM and the 50-yard free kick off individual events tomorrow at 10 a.m. EST, followed by the 1-Meter Springboard to close out morning prelims. The Finals session will begin at 6 p.m. EST with the 200-yard freestyle relay concluding day 2 of the 2024 NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving Championship

Top 10 Standings
1. Florida – 72
2. Virginia – 70
3. Tennessee – 62
4. Stanford – 54
5. Texas –- 50
6. California –- 48
T7. Indiana – 36
T7. USC – 36
T7. Ohio State – 36
10. Michigan – 32

All American Tracker
200 Medley Relay: Aris Runnels, Molly Mayne, Olivia Peoples, Micayla Cronk
800 Free Relay: Bella Sims, Isabel Ivey, Emma Weyant, Micayla Cronk

Championship Coverage
Live NCAA Streaming | @GatorsSwimDV | LiveResults | Florida Notes

The complete lists of all swimmers (athletes by institution, official psych sheet, relays and alternates) competing in the championships is available at usaswimming.org/ncaa.
A total of 322 participants (281 swimmers and 41 divers) will compete in the championships. Swimmers qualified for the championships by meeting the established minimum time for the events in which they entered.
ESPN+ will provide live digital coverage for preliminary and finals sessions Wednesday through Saturday.
Tape-delayed coverage of the women's championships will be on ESPNU at 7 p.m. Eastern time, Wednesday, March 27.

Athletes Competing

Name	Event	Time
Anna Auld	400 IM	4:09.39
Catie Choate	100 Backstroke	52.13
	200 Backstroke	1:51.94
Micayla Cronk	50 Freestyle	21.85
	100 Freestyle	47.61
	200 Freestyle	1:43.83
Zoe Dixon	200 IM	1:54.04
	400 IM	4:03.03
	200 Butterfly	1:54.99
Isabel Ivey	100 Freestyle	46.61
	200 Freestyle	1:41.85
	200 IM	1:52.50
Lainy Kruger	200 Butterfly	1:55.41
	200 IM	1:56.59
	200 Freestyle	1:44.35
Carina Lumia	1-Meter 3-Meter
Molly Mayne	100 Breaststroke	58.68
	200 Breaststroke	2:07.72
Camyla Monroy	1-Meter 3-Meter Platform
Caroline Pennington	1650 Freestyle	16:10.83
Olivia Peoples	100 Butterfly	50.47
Julia Podkoscielny	400 IM	4:10.32
Josephine Ramey	200 Backstroke	1:53.62
Aris Runnels	100 Backstroke	51.71
	200 IM	1:56.85
Bella Sims	200 Backstroke	1:49.04
	200 Freestyle	1:40.90
	500 Freestyle	4:32.53
Emma Weyant	500 Freestyle	4:34.25
	1650 Free	15:54.62
	400 IM	4:01.20