Two-time Olympic medalist Taylor Ruck bested the competition in the 200-yard freestyle final to win her first-ever individual title at the NCAA …
Two-time Olympic medalist Taylor Ruck bested the competition in the 200-yard freestyle final to win her first-ever individual title at the NCAA women’s swimming championships Friday night, beating out transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, the favorite to win the event. A 21-year-old junior out of Stanford University, Ruck entered the finals with the top time of 1:41.89 in the prelims, just ahead of Thomas’ second-place finish of 1:142.09. But the field looked completely different in the finals when Ruck breezed into first place with a time of 1:41.12 while Thomas dropped to fifth place with a time of 1:43.40. « I’m just so glad to have my teammates here behind me, and this whole season has just been such a blast being back, and I’m so grateful to have them here, » Ruck said after the race. Friday night’s loss follows Thomas’ first-place finish in the 500-yard free, in which she finished with a time of 4:33.
