2015 Pac-12 Women’s Championships: Runge & Franklin impress, Manuel quick at day 2 prelims

Pac-12 Women’s Swimming (& Men’s Diving)

• 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

The first full day of competition at the 2015 Pac-12 Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships will feature some very interesting races. With no heat sheets available, we’ll get the first indication of where Missy Franklin’s efforts will lie during the NCAA Championships when we find out if she swims the 200 IM or 500 free in this first prelims session – and she’s an NCAA title contender in either.

Those two events will be joined by the 50 free, which without Margo Geer or Kasey Carlson is looking for a new queen this season. Based on early returns, that battle should be between Cal’s Farida Osman, UCLA’s Linnea Mack, and a handful of Stanford women (Simone Manuel, Janet Hu, Lia Neal) to fight to take over.

Women’s 500 Free – Prelims

A new star is emerging this week in Federal Way, Washington for the Cal Golden Bears. After a fantastic relay swim on Wednesday, Cierra Runge kicked off Thursday’s prelims session with an electric 4:35.92 in the women’s 500 free to come within two-tenths of Missy Franklin’s Meet Record.

Her spot at NCAA’s is already locked up, but as has been the case with many Cal swimmers so far this week, that didn’t stop her from putting up a fast time at Pac-12’s.

The swim for Runge leaves her five seconds ahead of the rest of the field, and specifically the second qualifier Chelsea Chenault of USC. Chenault swam a season-best 4:40.01.

Arizona’s Bonnie Brandon was 3rd in 4:40.57, topping her seed by more than six seconds. This shows a different approach this season for Arizona under new head coach Rick DeMont, where there’s a little more emphasis being placed on Pac 12’s in relative terms to the mid-season invite than what they’ve done for decades.

Stanford’s Allison Brown is the 4th qualifier in 4:41.30, Oregon State’s Sammy Harrison is 5th in 4;41.67, Cal’s Melanie Klaren is 6th in 4:41.77, and UCLA’s Katy Campbell is 7th in 4:42.21. That’s a good diversity in the final, with 6 schools represented in the top 7.

USC’s Joanna Stenkvist qualified 8th in 4:44.76 to round out the A-flight. Arizona’s Tjasa Oder (4:45.91) was, unlike her teammate Brandon, well off of her season best to qualify 9th in 4:45.91, and Stanford’s Mackenzie Stein is 10th in 4:45.94.

Women’s 200 IM – Prelims

Cal’s first major decision of the meet (besides relay entries) was to move Missy Franklin from the 500 free (where she was the national runner-up last year) into the 200 IM, where she’s among the national leaders this season. A big part of that decision is probably the rise of Runge, who suddenly makes Cal sturdy in the 500 free without needing Franklin’s talents there.

As a result, Franklin is now the top seed in the 200 IM heading into finals, qualifying with a 1:55.46 out of the second-to-last heat. With Franklin in the mix, the 200 IM should be an incredible event for Cal – the Bears swept the top 4 qualifying spots out of prelims.

After Franklin was current NCAA leader Elizabeth Pelton, who went 1:55.82 to win her own heat handily. Kelly Naze (1:56.80) snuck in for third, and the winner of the first circle-seeded heat, Celina Li, wound up 4th in 1:56.97.

Those four should have a great shot at the 1-2-3-4 sweep tonight unless something major changes. After Li, things dropped off nearly 1.5 seconds to fifth-seeded Andrea Kropp of USC. Kropp, one of the best breaststrokers in the conference, was 1:58.66 – her huge breaststroke leg should give her a shot to challenge the Cal juggernaut tonight, but only if she can hang in the race early.

Stanford’s Grace Carlson is just behind in 1:58.66, as is USC Trojan Jasmine Tosky (1:58.69).

Stanford’s duo of Sarah Haase (1:58.76) and Ally Howe (1:59.11) came next, with Haase grabbing the final A heat slot and the freshman Howe heading to the B final.

Women’s 50 Free – Prelims

The splash and dash saw a familiar face at the top, as NCAA leader and national title favorite Simone Manuel rolled through with the top qualifying swim. The Stanford Cardinal freshman went 21.90, doing just what she had to to earn the middle lane for tonight’s final.

Manuel is almost certainly saving her best stuff for nationals, but it will still be entertaining to see what she comes up with in this event tonight. Wisconsin’s Ivy Martin has the best 50 free in conference championship swimming so far at 21.65, and there’s a real chance we could see Manuel get significantly below that mark in tonight’s final.

Cal answered with Egyptian national Farida Osman, who’s having an outstanding sophomore season. Osman cracked 22 for the first time in her career this morning, going 21.95 for the 2-seed.

Another Stanford freshman, Janet Hu, is the third seed at 22.29 in an event that’s loaded with youth up and down the lineup.

One of just two seniors in the A final is Cal’s Kaylin Bing, who went 22.35 for the fourth seed. Behind her is UCLA’s second A-finalist of the day, sophomore Linnea Mack in 22.42. The only other senior in the championship final is Giulianna Gigliotti out of Utah, who went 22.46 for 6th. Gigliotti will be Utah’s only individual A-finalist in a swimming event tonight.

Stanford’s Lia Neal, one of the better freestylers in the nation, barely snuck into the A heat, taking 7th with a 22.58.

A tie for 8th-place will require a swim-off between USC junior Kasia Wilk and Cal sophomore Kristen Vredeveld. Both women were 22.60 in prelims. The swim-off format should give them both a chance to go faster, though. Wilk was 22.13 in a dual meet just a few weeks ago for the Trojans, and Vredeveld was a highly-touted prospect for Cal who has been as fast as 22.17 in her career, though this morning’s swim was her best 50 freestyle in 3 years.

(Update: Vredeveld won the swim-off, dropping her season-best down to 22.44 to Wilk’s 22.66. Vredeveld will head to the A final and Wilk to the B.)

Prelims will continue with 1-meter diving today, with the diving final and the 200 free relay added to the finals lineup later tonight.

Stay tuned to SwimSwam for a more lengthy analysis of each teams’ “ups” and “downs,” plus a scoring preview before finals begin.