2015 Pac-12 Women’s Championships: Day 4 Finals Live Recap

PAC 12 WOMEN

• When: Wednesday, February 25th to Saturday, February 28th
• Where: Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center, Federal Way, WA (Pacific Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: California Golden Bears
• Live Results: here
• Live Video: Will post when available
• Championship Central: here

Missy Franklin is working towards being the swimmer of the meet as the top seed in the 200 backstroke tonight. This will be the last individual swim at the Pac-12 championships in her career. It will be a battle between the long course American record holder, Franklin, and the short course American record holder, Elizabeth Pelton.

Their teammate, Cierra Runge, will have her shot at the 1650 freestyle after breaking the NCAA record in the 500 freestyle earlier in the meet.

Stanford’s Simone Manuel and Lia Neal lead the pack in the 100 freestyle as the only two swimmers under 48 seconds this morning. Simone Manuel will be shooting to take back her American record.

Andrea Kropp from USC and Katie Olsen from Stanford were the only two under 2:10 this morning in the 200 breast and will be competing for the Pac-12 title tonight.

Cal’s Noemie Thomas had the fastest time of the morning in the 200 fly at 1:54.53. She leads her teammates Jasemine Mau and Rachel Bootsma into the final. Thomas was two seconds ahead of the closest competitor from another school this morning; Stanford’s Janet Hu.

1650 Freestyle – FINALS

Cal freshman Cierra Runge added another individual victory to her list of accolades this weekend, nearly breaking Janet Evans’ Pac 12 record with her time of 15:40.17. Oregon State’s Samantha Harrison dropped 44 seconds from her seed to finish second with her time of 15:54.61. Katy Campell earned a third place finish at 16:00.34.

Arizona’s Tjasa Oder was fourth 16:08.64 for Arizona and USC’s Chelsea Chenault finished fifth at 16:15.67. Stanford’s Allison Brown was 6th at 16:31.18, Utah’s Maddie Meisel finished 7th at 16:31.41, and ASU’s Anna Olasz rounded out the top 8 with her time of 16:36.27.

200 Backstroke – FINALS

3 for 3! After winning the 200 IM and the 200 Freestyle, Missy Franklin broke 1:50 to win her third individual event of the meet with his time of 1:49.94. Elizabeth Pelton, the American record holder in the event, finished second at 1:50.27. Their teammate, Melanie Klaren, helped to sweep the event for Cal with a third place time of 1:52.55.

Stanford’s Ally Howe finished fourth at 1:53.80 and Bonnie Brandon was fifth for Arizona at 1:53.95. Cal’s Kelly Naze added sixth place points for the Golden Bears.

Madison White was 7th for UCLA at 1:54.91, and USC’s Hannah Weiss was 8th at 1:56.18.

USC’s Kendyl Stewart won the B final with her time of 1:55.28.

100 Freestyle – FINALS

Stanford’s Simone Manuel won the 100 freestyle with a time of 46.70, missing the American record in the event by a little more than a half of a second. Her teammate, Lia Neal, finished second at 47.16, and Cal’s Farida Osman finished third at 47.96. Kaylin Bing was fourth for Cal at 48.24.

USC’s Katarzyna Wilk finished fifth at 48.26, Taylor Schick was 6th for Zona, and Utah’s Guiliana Gigliotti was 7th at 49.10. Evan Swenson rounded out the top 8 at 49.27.

Cal’s Camille Cheng won the B final with her time of 48.81.

 200 Breaststroke – FINALS

Andrea Kropp dropped close to a second to win the 200 breaststroke for USC at 2:08.51. She held off Katie Olsen and Sarah Haase from Stanford. Both swimmers were under 2:10, with Olsen touching at 2:09.36 and Haase at 2:09.64.

Cal’s Marina Garcia Urzainqui finished fourth at 2:10.00. She was followed by Arizona’s Emma Schoettmer at 2:10.61, Stina Colleou from Utah at 2:10.61, and Heidi Poppe from Stanford in 7th at 2:11.81.

Tory Houston earned 8th place points for ASU at 2:12.24.

Zona’s Sarah Borendame won the B final at 2:12.75.

200 Butterfly – FINALS

Cal’s Noemie Thomas won the 200 butterfly with an NCAA “A” cut time of 1:54.10, dropping a few tenths from her morning swim. Noelle Tarazona from UCLA finished second at 1:55.15, and Cal’s Jasemine Mau finished third at 1:55.53.

Rachel Bootsma was fourth with her time of 1:55.60, and Janet Hu from Stanford fifth at 1:56.42.

Katie Grover from UCLA was 6th at 1:56.50, Lindsey Engel from Stanford was 7th at 1:57.12 and Zona’s Elizabeth Pepper was 8th at 1:58.54.

Cal’s Celina Li won the B final with her time of 1:57.52.

400 Freestyle Relay – FINALS

The Stanford Cardinal earned the final victory of the meet with a 3:10.77. Lia Neal led off in 47.55, followed by Janet Hu at 48.00, Ally Howe at 48.58, and Simone Manuel anchored with a 46.56. Cal Berkeley finished second at 3:12.10. Missy Franklin had a big third leg, splitting 47.10.

University of Southern California finished at third with their time of 3:14.24.