NCAA Women’s Championships Pre-Cut Psych Sheet: Virginia Holds 11 Top Seeds in Walsh Sisters’ Finale
The pre-cut psych sheets for the upcoming NCAA Women’s Championships were released Tuesday morning. These are not the final entry lists for the meet, which will be held March 19-22 at Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Wash., as only a select number of athletes will be invited to compete in each event. The entries for the top swimmers in each event will remain unchanged.
2025 NCAA Division I Women’s Psych Sheet – Meet Results – Swimming World
The University of Virginia Cavaliers have captured four consecutive national titles in dominant fashion, and a similar outcome is expected this season with Virginia heading to the national meet with the top-seeded swimmer in six out of 13 individual events and all five relays. At the center of the proceedings are sisters Gretchen Walsh and Alex Walsh, each in their final year of NCAA eligibility.
Gretchen has already rewritten the national-record books during her career, crushing the top times in history in the 50 and 100 freestyle, 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke. She will not race the 100 back at this season’s national meet, but expect her to dominate the other three events and perhaps lower her own American, NCAA and U.S. Open records.
Alex will opt for the 200 IM, 100 breaststroke and 200 fly at the NCAA meet. She is a three-time national champion in the medley race and the No. 2 performer in history, but she has otherwise overhauled her individual lineup from last year. Despite winning the 400 IM and 200 breast in 2024, she dropped both those events in favor of the 100 breast and 200 fly. She is the top-seeded swimmer in the 100 breast, and while she holds the NCAA record in the 200 fly, she is the No. 2 swimmer in the event behind Texas’ Emma Sticklen. Sticklen missed Walsh’s record by one hundredth at the SEC Championships.
In Alex’s absence, Virginia will have the top time in the 400 IM with freshman Katie Grimes. The two-time Olympian is also ranked fourth in the 500 free and ninth in the 1650 free. Even though she is the second-fastest swimmer ever in the mile, she will aim to win the NCAA title from the second-fastest heat of the event.
Claire Curzan of Virginia is ranked first in the 200 backstroke, having become the first swimmer under 1:47 earlier this season. Meanwhile, Virginia is seeded first in all five relays. Notably, all those top times involved both Walsh sisters plus Curzan, but the three swimmers will have to drop at least one relay each from their NCAA schedule.
Meanwhile, the only swimmer competing in Federal Way that has won an individual Olympic gold medal is Torri Huske. The Stanford junior is ranked first in the 200 IM, just ahead of Alex Walsh, and she has the No. 2 time behind Gretchen in both the 100 fly and 100 free. The Cardinal has a second top-seeded swimmer with Lucy Bell ranked atop the 200 breast. Bell has had a breakout year in the breaststroke events, and now she benefits from Alex Walsh’s decision to swim the 200 fly instead of the 200 breast.
The University of Texas has finished second to Virginia at the last three NCAA Championships, and the Longhorns will be in good position this year as well. In addition to Sticklen, freshman Jillian Cox is seeded first in both the 500 and 1650 free.
Florida’s Bella Sims won national titles in the 200 and 500 free last year, and she enters this year’s meet ranked second in the country in the 500 free and 200 back, but she has dropped the 200 free from her schedule in favor of the 100 back. At the SEC Championships, Sims became the third swimmer ever to break 49, and she is the top seed in the event for NCAAs, just ahead of Curzan.
Finally, Indiana’s Anna Peplowski hopes to cap off her college career with an NCAA title in the 200 free. She enters as the top-seeded swimmer in the event, just ahead of Michigan’s Stephanie Balduccini and USC’s Minna Abraham.
Schedule of Events and Top-Seeded Swimmers
Wednesday, March 19
- 200 Medley Relay: Virginia, 1:31.53
- 800 Freestyle Relay: Virginia, 6:44.13
Thursday, March 20
- 500 Freestyle: Jillian Cox (Texas), 4:30.68
- 200 IM: Torri Huske (Stanford), 1:51.46
- 50 Freestyle: Gretchen Walsh (Virginia), 20.54
- 200 Freestyle Relay: Virginia, 1:24.03
Friday, March 21
- 400 IM: Katie Grimes (Virginia), 3:59.02
- 100 Butterfly: Gretchen Walsh (Virginia), 48.26
- 200 Freestyle: Anna Peplowski (Indiana), 1:40.69
- 100 Breaststroke: Alex Walsh (Virginia), 56.85
- 100 Backstroke: Bella Sims (Florida), 48.95
- 400 Medley Relay: Virginia, 3:21.48
Saturday, March 22
- 1650 Freestyle: Jillian Cox (Texas), 15:30.33
- 200 Backstroke: Claire Curzan (Virginia), 1:46.87
- 100 Freestyle: Gretchen Walsh (Virginia), 45.20
- 200 Breaststroke: Lucy Bell (Stanford), 2:04.60
- 200 Butterfly: Emma Sticklen (Texas), 1:49.17
- 400 Freestyle Relay: Virginia, 3:05.93
