Posted by Staff Writer Eric Branch:
Santa Rosa’s Amanda Sims, a junior at Cal, will begin defense of her NCAA title in the 100-yard butterfly when the three-day NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships begin Thursday at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.
Sims is seeded sixth in the 100 fly (52.12) and 17th in the 200 fly (1:56.30). The preliminaries and finals in the 100 fly are Friday. The prelims and finals in the 200 fly are Saturday.
Sims, a seven-time North Coast Section champion at Montgomery High, was seeded seventh in the 100 fly at last year’s NCAA Championships but stunned a star-studded field with a winning time of 51.28 seconds. Sims also finished fourth in the 200 fly to help lead Cal to its first national championship. The Bears have 13 straight top-10 NCAA finishes.
Cal has won eight 100 fly NCAA titles, tying the Bears with Stanford for the most by any school. Stanford senior Elaine Breeden (51.24), a 19-time All-American and two-time NCAA champion in the 200 fly, is seeded first in the 100 fly. Cal junior Hannah Wilson (51.79), a 2008 Olympian, is seeded second.