2017 Pac-12 Championships: Day 4 Finals Live Recap

2017 WOMEN’S PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS

Swimmers are getting ready for the final session at the 2017 Pac-12 Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships in Federal Way, Washington. Swimmers will close the meet with competiton in the 1650 free, 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly, and 400 free relay.

Kathleen Baker headlines the 200 back, but Ally Howe, who smashed the 100 back American Record last night, will look for a sweep of the backstrokes. While Cal’s Abbey Weitzeil is missing from tonight’s 100 free final, swimming fans should still be in for a great race between Simone Manuel, Louise Hansson, Farida Osman, and Lia Neal. Defending champ Ella Eastin will look for back-to-back 200 fly titles, but she’ll be up against a tough field that includes Katie McLaughlin, Madison Wright, and Noemie Thomas.

WOMEN’S 1650 FREE

  • NCAA ‘A’ cut: 15:53.50
  • NCAA ‘B’ cut: 16:30.59
  • Pac-12 Conference Record: Katie Ledecky (2016)- 15:03.92
  • Pac-12 Meet Record: Cierra Runge (2015)- 15:40.17
  1. Megan Byrnes, Stanford, 15:47.62
  2. Leah Stevens, Stanford, 15:57.87
  3. Tjasa Oder, Arizona, 15:59.47

Stanford may not have fielded Katie Ledecky in the 1650 free, but they still landed a Cardinal freshman on top of the podium. Megan Byrnes had a huge swim, smashing the 16:00-barrier for the first time in her career to win gold in 15:47.62. Teammate Leah Stevens also had a standout performance, dropping 10 seconds to break 16:00 for the first time and taking silver ahead of Arizona All-American Tjasa Oder.

USC freshman Becca Mann swam to a 4th place finish in 16:08.10, just out-touching Cal freshman Chenoa Devine. That was a new best time by 12 seconds for Devine.

WOMEN’S 200 BACK

  • NCAA ‘A’ cut: 1:51.95
  • NCAA ‘B’ cut: 1:59.19
  • Pac-12 Conference Record: Elizabeth Pelton (2013)- 1:47.84
  • Pac-12 Meet Record: Elizabeth Pelton (2013)- 1:48.39
  1. Kathleen Baker, Cal, 1:48.33
  2. Janet Hu, Stanford, 1:49.36
  3. Ally Howe, Stanford, 1:51.16

Cal’s Kathleen Baker shredded her way to the 3rd fastest performance in history, clocking a 1:48.33 to clip Elizabeth Pelton’s Meet Record from 2013. Baker is now within a half second of Pelton’s American Record. Also smashing the 1:50-barrier was Stanford’s Janet Hu. Teammate Ally Howe charged to the finish for bronze, just out-touching Cal’s Amy Bilquist (1:51.22). Stanford freshman Allie Szekely was also in the 1:51-range, finishing 5th in 1:51.76.

WOMEN’S 100 FREE

  • NCAA ‘A’ cut: 47.69
  • NCAA ‘B’ cut: 49.99
  • Pac-12 Conference Record: Simone Manuel (2015)- 46.09
  • Pac-12 Meet Record: Simone Manuel (2015)- 46.70
  1. Simone Manuel, Stanford, 46.36
  2. Lia Neal, Stanford, 46.97
  3. (T-3) Farida Osman, Cal, 47.36
  4. (T-3) Louise Hansson, USC, 47.36

American Record holder Simone Manuel blasted the 3rd fastest performance in history, winning gold in 46.36 and setting a new Meet Record. That’s less than 3 tenths shy of her American Record of 46.09 from the 2015 NCAA Championships. Teammate Lia Neal also cleared 47 seconds to take the silver.

Cal’s Farida Osman and USC’s Louise Hansson were stroke- for-stroke into the finish, tying for the bronze medal. UCLA’s Linnea Mack (47.78) rounded out the top 5, just out-touching USC’s Anika Apostalon (47.80).

WOMEN’S 200 BREAST

  • NCAA ‘A’ cut: 2:07.33
  • NCAA ‘B’ cut: 2:15.99
  • Pac-12 Conference Record: Rebecca Soni (2009)- 2:04.75
  • Pac-12 Meet Record: Rebecca Soni (2009)- 2:04.75
  1. Riley Scott, USC, 2:06.20
  2. Silja Kansakoski, ASU, 2:06.41
  3. Kirsten Vose, USC, 2:07.65

USC’s Riley Scott took advantage of her front half speed, taking the early lead and holding off ASU’s 100 breast champ Silja Kansakoski at the finish. The Trojans got 2 on the podium, with Kirsten Vose grabbing bronze. Cal’s Marina Garcia shaved a couple of tenths off her best time to take 4th in 2:08.42.

WOMEN’S 200 FLY

  • NCAA ‘A’ cut: 1:54.01
  • NCAA ‘B’ cut: 1:59.59
  • Pac-12 Conference Record: Elaine Breeden (2009)- 1:49.92
  • Pac-12 Meet Record: Elaine Breeden (2009)- 1:49.92
  1. Ella Eastin, Stanford, 1:51.85
  2. Madison Wright, USC, 1:52.67
  3. Katie McLaughlin, Cal, 1:53.29

Stanford’s Ella Eastin and USC’s Madison Wright were closely matched at the halfway point, but Eastin pulled ahead to win her 2nd individual title of the meet. Cal’s Katie McLaughlin rounded out the podium, while All-American teammate Noemie Thomas (1:54.50) touched 4th.

WOMEN’S PLATFORM DIVING

  1. Mara Aiacoboae, ASU, 292.80
  2. Karolyn Loftus, Arizona, 262.50
  3. Maria Polyakova, UCLA, 259.70

ASU’s Mara Aiacoboae earned another gold for the Sun Devils, winning with 292.80 points. Taking 2nd was Arizona’s Karolyn Loftus, while UCLA’s Maria Polyakova just edged out USC Madison Witt (259.40) for bronze.

WOMEN’S 400 FREE RELAY

  • NCAA ‘A’ cut: 3:15.78
  • NCAA ‘B’ cut: 3:17.11
  • Pac-12 Conference Record: Stanford (2015)- 3:08.54
  • Pac-12 Meet Record: Stanford (2015)- 3:10.69
  1. Stanford- 3:08.51
  2. USC- 3:09.57
  3. Cal- 3:10.15

Stanford closed the meet with a new NCAA and American Record time of 3:08.51, clipping the 3:08.51 the Cardinal squad set at the 2015 NCAA meet. Simone Manuel led them off in 46.47, while Katie Ledecky turned in a 48.10 on the 2nd leg. Janet Hu (47.45) and Lia Neal (46.45) sealed the deal on the back half.

USC’s Louise Hansson led off in a personal best 47.03, with Anika Apostalon bringing it home in 46.91 to help the Trojans win silver. Cal rounded out the top 3, with Amy Bilquist (47.13) and Farida Osman (47.09) turning in a pair of 47-lows on the 2nd and 4th legs respectively.

FINAL TEAM SCORES

  1. Stanford University            1587.5   2. University of California, Berk   1392
  3. University of Southern Calif   1250.5   4. Arizona, University of         1075.5
  5. University of California - LA    1002   6. Arizona State University        709.5
  7. Utah, University of               484   8. Washington State University       334
  9. Oregon State University           237

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Anna Brown
7 years ago

McLaughlin looked great! With some rest and a shave she will be one to watch in Indy. Both NC’s and trials. Do not forget Kazan. Sounds as though that injury was severe. She is moving in the right direction.

bobo gigi
7 years ago

Quick thoughts.
Crazy fast meet and I’m sure many stars still have room for improvement in the next few weeks.
Stanford girls on fire. Ally Howe crazy 100 back. I need to watch the entire race. Ella Eastin looks as strong as last year. Janet Hu is a great teammate. Lia Neal amazing relay swimmer. Allie Szekely had a very good meet except her 200 IM DQ. Katie Ledecky, what to say more? Will she swim the 400 IM or the 200 free at NCAAs? Simone Manuel clutch as always, so confident since Rio and she will be faster next month. What a team!
Cal girls have well fought but it’s tough without a great Abbey Weitzeil.… Read more »

CROOKED HILLARY
Reply to  bobo gigi
7 years ago

They need to swim the courage of Le Pen.

Anna Brown
Reply to  bobo gigi
7 years ago

Anna

bobo gigi
7 years ago
bobo gigi
7 years ago

Thank you swimswam for listening to your readers.
I talk about the order of the comments.
I’m happy I’ve convinced you. I really appreciate your move.
It’s so much more pratical and logical. Especially for a live recap.
Thanks.

bobo gigi
7 years ago

Thank you swimswam.

ACCSWIMFAN
7 years ago

Definitely disappointed with Ledecky’s relay split. It must be true that she performs much better with more on her plate. Either that, or she had a really tough practice earlier in the day and it kept her from having an outstanding swim.

bobo gigi
Reply to  ACCSWIMFAN
7 years ago

Yes! She would have gone 47 low if she had swum the mile before. 🙂 Philippe Lucas is so right about that. The more she swims, the better she is!

CROOKED HILLARY
Reply to  bobo gigi
7 years ago

She swims with no fear, displaying courage much like Le Pen.

carlo
7 years ago

The 400 I’m is a tough race.it,s the most difficult race in all of swimming in my opinion. Ledecky looked like she would pass out after the race. That she swam the 400 free relay is incredible but you can see that it affected her speed. The 48 split is still good tho.

I think in budapest she may swim the 400 IM long course but scratch the 1500 freestyle.

AvidSwimFan
Reply to  carlo
7 years ago

During the interview post race, she said she will be staying with freestyle for a while in LCM. I don’t think 400IM in Budapest is happening this year, but I won’t rule out Tokyo.

swamfan
7 years ago

Stanford dominated, but i’ve been impressed with cal all week. Bilquist seemed a little off all meet, especially considering how well she has been swimming all season. I also wonder if it got in her head that cal might have won the 200 medley relay if they had used baker instead of her, and the 200 free relay if they used vredeveld instead of bilquist. (Baker and Vredeveld both swam faster than bilquist in the B relays, and the margin by which they out swam bilquist was less than the margin that cal lost to stanford in both relays.)

swamfan
Reply to  swamfan
7 years ago

5 down votes… i wasn’t hating on bilquist, i’m a big bilquist fan! I hope she bounces back for NCAAs!

About Lauren Neidigh

Lauren Neidigh

Lauren Neidigh is a former NCAA swimmer at the University of Arizona (2013-2015) and the University of Florida (2011-2013). While her college swimming career left a bit to be desired, her Snapchat chin selfies and hot takes on Twitter do not disappoint. She's also a high school graduate of The …

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