Danielle Galyer earns UK’s 1st NCAA swim title in 200 backstroke

University of Kentucky junior Danielle Galyer set a school and pool record en route to winning the 200 backstroke at the women’s NCAA championships at Georgia Tech in Atlanta.

“It’s just our team,” Galyer said. “We’re on the rise. We have amazing recruiting and amazing coaches, and I wouldn’t be here without my teammates pushing me every day.”

Galyer is first swimmer in UK history to win an NCAA title. Taryn Ignacio finished first in the platform dive in 2006.

Galyer, from Greenville, S.C., followed up the fastest time in the preliminaries (1:50:04) with her winning time of 1:49.71 in the finals. Virginia’s Courtney Bartholomew was second in 1:50.29.

“She’s executed the game plan; she’s worked so hard all year,” Coach Lars Jorgensen said. “We’re so proud of her, our first national champion. Hopefully there will be some more down the road. She just kind of proves that you can do it at Kentucky. She’s a great leader, a great member of the team, and I’m so proud of her.”

It was the fifth runner-up finish of Bartholomew’s career.

“To say you’re second in the nation is huge,” Bartholomew, a senior, said. “I can’t be too sad.”

Louisville’s Kelsi Worrell, who won the 100 butterfly on Friday, followed that up with another national-title winning performance in the 200 butterfly.

Worrell, a senior from Mt. Holly, N.J., won the 200 in 1:50.96. She finished just ahead of Stanford’s Ella Eastin (1:51.04).

Worrell also won the 100 and 200 butterfly titles at last year’s NCAA championships.

Georgia won the team championship for the third time in four years, holding off Stanford and defending winner California.

This story was originally published March 19, 2016 at 7:42 PM with the headline "Danielle Galyer earns UK’s 1st NCAA swim title in 200 backstroke."