Olivia Carter, a junior at the University of Michigan, won the NCAA swimming title in the 200 butterfly and University of Texas freshman Olivia Bray finished second in the national championship meet in Greensboro Saturday. Carter’s father is from Buchanan and Bray is a Lord Botetourt High School graduate.
Carter won with a time of 1:51.33, dominating the field on the back half and out splitting everyone on the third and fourth 50s to win by a second and a half over Bray (1:52.87). In Saturday night’s final Bray went out first at the halfway point at 53.08 and was leading with Carter at 53.60. Then Carter swam a 28.3 split as no one else broke 29 seconds and went on to win.
Carter, who is a Greensboro native, is now 11th all-time with her time and it was accomplished in her home city. Carter’s title is Michigan’s first ever NCAA title in the 200 butterfly and the first for the Big Ten Conference.
In addition to her runner-up finish in the butterfly, Daleville’s Olivia Bray also was part of a Longhorn team that took ninth in the 400 freestyle relay in a time of 3:13.82. She was seventh in the 100-yard butterfly in a time of 51.44 and swam on the seventh place 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:35.84 to give her All-American honors in four events.
Texas completed the four-day meet with 344.5 points in the final team standings, trailing only NCAA champion Virginia (491) and North Carolina State (354) while posting a 54.5-margin over fourth-place California (290).
