Bama Central

Alabama Swimmer Rhyan White Wins Gold at National Championships in 100 Backstroke

The Olympic and World Championships medalist added gold in the 100-meter backstroke to the silver medal she earned in the 200-meter backstroke earlier in the week.

Christopher Walsh

University of Alabama swimmer Rhyan White notched another major milestone Friday night when she won the 100-meter backstroke at the USA Swimming National Championships in Irvine, Calif.

White was the lone woman to finish under 59.0 seconds, turning in a time of 58.91 in the finals. 

Earlier this week, White won the silver in the 200 backstroke. 

She won one of the two medals for the Crimson Tide on day four of the prestigious meet, as Kensey McMahon also won bronze in the 400-meter freestyle with a school-record time of 4:08.57. 

McMahon shaved nearly a second off the previous school record of 4:09.39 she set in prelims. Overall, she knocked more than two seconds off the Crimson Tide record she set in 2019. 

McMahon also earned bronze in the 800-meter freestyle on the championships’ first day of competition.

Both White and McMahon are graduate students at Alabama.

Meanwhile, the Crimson Tide's Morgan School won the B Final of the women’s 100-meter backstroke with a career-best 1:00.48, finishing ninth overall.

White was the third member of the Alabama women's team to make a U.S. Olympic team following Ellen McGrath Owens (diving, 1992) & Susan Bartholomew Williams (triathlon, 2004) and the first Alabama woman to earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic Swimming Team. She finished fourth in both the 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke at the Tokyo Olympics.

Last year, she earned a spot on the 2021 USA FINA Short Course World Championships Team, and won gold in the 200-meter backstroke (2:01.58), and silver in the 200-meter medley relay (1:43.61).

Alabama will have eight swimmers, two men and six women, completing on the final day of the championships Saturday, in the 1,500-meter freestyle, 200-meter individual medley and the 50 freestyle. 

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Christopher Walsh
CHRISTOPHER WALSH

Christopher Walsh is the founder and publisher of BamaCentral, which first published in 2018. He's covered the Crimson Tide since 2004, and is the author of 26 books including Decade of Dominance, 100 Things Crimson Tide Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die, Nick Saban vs. College Football, and Bama Dynasty: The Crimson Tide's Road to College Football Immortality. He's an eight-time honoree of Football Writers Association of America awards and three-time winner of the Herby Kirby Memorial Award, the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s highest writing honor for story of the year. In 2022, he was named one of the 50 Legends of the ASWA. Previous beats include the Green Bay Packers, Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, along with Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks. Originally from Minnesota and a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, he currently resides in Tuscaloosa.

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