2017 Pac-12 Women’s Championships: Day 1 Finals Live Recap

2017 WOMEN’S PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS

The 2017 Pac-12 Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships are set to kick off tonight in Federal Way, Washington. Swimmers will be competing in the 200 medley relay and 800 free relay. Tonight, we’ll get a first look at Stanford freshman Katie Ledecky in Pac-12 conference meet action, while fellow Cardinal standout Simone Manuel returns to conference action after redshirting last season. The loaded Cardinal squad will be chasing records in both relays, but a star-studded Cal team will be in the hunt as well.

Stanford owns the 200 medley relay record with their 1:34.15 from last season, and will return 3 of their 4 swimmers. The only missing piece is breaststroker Sarah Haase, who graduated at the end of last season. The 800 free relay record was set by Cal at the 2015 meet, and stands at a 6:50.18.

WOMEN’S 200 MEDLEY RELAY

  • Meet: 1:34.15 2/24/2016 Stanford University (Howe, Haase, Hu, Neal)
  • American: 1:34.15 2/24/2016 Stanford University (Howe, Haase, Hu, Neal)
  • US Open: 1:34.15 2/24/2016 Stanford University (Howe, Haase, Hu, Neal)
  • NCAA D1: 1:34.15 2/24/2016 Stanford University (Howe, Haase, Hu, Neal)
  • Pac-12 Conference: 1:34.15 2/24/2016 Stanford University (Howe, Haase, Hu, Neal)
  • NCAA A Qualifying: 1:37.21
  • NCAA B Provisional: 1:37.71
  1. Stanford 1:34.32
  2. Cal 1:34.42
  3. USC 1:35.18

The Stanford women pulled out the win over Cal— with neither team having a star sprint breaststroker. The three legs were pretty similar, but it was Stanford‘s Simone Manuel who threw down a 20.78 to solidify the win for the Cardinal. Ally Howe led off in 23.63, followed by Kim Williams‘ 27.25 breaststroke split and Janet Hu‘s 22.66 butterfly split.

The fly splits were fast across the board– in addition to Hu’s 22.66, Cal‘s Noemie Thomas (22.52), USC‘s Louise Hansson (22.76), and Arizona’s Annie Ochitwa (22.78) were all under 23 seconds on fly, as was Cal’s Maddie Murphy on the B relay (22.90). Cal‘s Amy Bilquist (23.81) lead-off leg was followed by Abbey Weitzeil‘s 27.00 breast split, while the Bears were anchored by Farida Osman in 21.09.

Other notable splits included a very quick 23.46 lead off from UCLA’s Linnea Mack, a 26.68 breast split from USC‘s Riley Scott, a 26.95 breast split from Arizona’s Kennedy Lohman, and a 21.27 anchor leg from Arizona’s Katrina Konopka. The Wildcats finished 4th in 1:35.47.

Cal’s Kathleen Baker, meanwhile, had a 23.57 backstroke split on the B relay, which was actually the 2nd fastest split in the field. That split, if on the “A” relay, would’ve been enough to put Cal ahead of Stanford at the finis, all else equal.

WOMEN’S 800 FREE RELAY

  • Meet: 6:50.18 2015 Cal (Runge, Pelton, Piehl, Franklin)
  • American: 6:50.18 2015 Cal (Runge, Pelton, Piehl, Franklin)
  • US Open: 6:50.18 2015 Cal (Runge, Pelton, Piehl, Franklin)
  • NCAA D1: 6:50.18 2015 Cal (Runge, Pelton, Piehl, Franklin)
  • Pac-12 Conference: 6:50.18 2015 Cal (Runge, Pelton, Piehl, Franklin)
  • NCAA A Qualifying: 7:05.68
  • NCAA B Provisional: 7:08.93
  1. Stanford 6:49.42
  2. Cal 6:53.37
  3. USC 6:54.24

Stanford shattered the 800 free relay NCAA, American, and US Open records with a blistering 6:49.42, thanks in part to a 1:40.28 anchor leg from Katie Ledecky. Olympian Lia Neal led off in 1:43.34, followed by Katie Drabot (1:43.43) and Ella Eastin (1:42.37). Ledecky was out in 48.42 (23.02-25.40) and back in 51.86 (26.03-25.83) for an incredible anchor leg.

Cal went with Kathleen Baker (1:43.17) for the lead-off, followed by a strong 1:42.82 from Katie McLaughlin, signifying that she is well-recovered after a neck injury last season that plagued her into the summer. Abbey Weitzeil (1:43.84) and Amy Bilquist (1:43.54) rounded out the relay as Cal touched 2nd once again.

USC had a great 1:42.10 lead-off from Louise Hansson, with Tatum Wade (1:43.36) and Kirsten Vose (1:43.42) following up. Anika Apostalon anchored in 1:45.36 for the Trojans. Also impressive was Kristen Vredeveld with a 1:43.66 lead-off on Cal’s B relay.

TEAM SCORES

  1. Stanford 128
  2. Cal 112
  3. USC 108
  4. UCLA 102
  5. Arizona 102
  6. Arizona State 96
  7. Washington State 90
  8. Utah 90
  9. Oregon State 84

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TEXSWIM
7 years ago

Is there ANYwhere we can actually watch prelims/finals after they air live? PAC12 Network is limited streaming for us not on the West Coast?

dmswim
7 years ago

Question about relays–are all B and C relays automatically exhibition? If an “A” squad DQ’s can the “B” squad score? Also, do leadoff splits count towards NCAA qualification?

Admin
Reply to  dmswim
7 years ago

dmswim – A relays are automatically the scoring. A school could use their B or C relay for NCAA qualification, if it were fast enough. You cannot aggregate a 200 medley relay, but a relay leadoff on a 200 free or 400 free relay could be used for aggregation- with other flat start times.

dmswim
Reply to  Braden Keith
7 years ago

Sorry I wasn’t clear. I meant for the 800 free relay, would the 200 leadoff count as an individual NCAA cut if the swimmer was on a B relay (for example Vredeveld’s 200 free leading off Cal’s B relay)?

Admin
Reply to  dmswim
7 years ago

Oh yes, it definitely would.

100free
7 years ago

Happy for Vredeveld who has been steadily improving and looks to surpass her HS times this postseason!

CraigH
Reply to  100free
7 years ago

It’s never too late!

dmswim
Reply to  100free
7 years ago

What a huge PB in the 200 free leading off the B relay! She outsplit Weitzel and taking into account a relay start Bilquist as well!

bobo gigi
7 years ago
bobo gigi
7 years ago

End of 4X200 free relay plus interview and podium
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JB96sLHWD0

E Gamble
Reply to  bobo gigi
7 years ago

Katie Ledecky looks so happy to part of that team. ☺

Swam
Reply to  E Gamble
7 years ago

she looks tired hopping out of the pool after the 1:40. I would be too haha

bobo gigi
7 years ago

So many stars in that conference = crazy fast times
But it will be faster at NCAAs.
Just a warm-up this week.
Can’t wait.

Ervin
Reply to  bobo gigi
7 years ago

I honestly think the 50 free might be. Manuel, Witezel, Osman, Neal, Hu, Bilquist….missing Smoliga and maybe 1 or 2 others.

dmswim
Reply to  Ervin
7 years ago

Li and Banic will be in the mix.

CraigH
7 years ago

Also, how much faster could that Relay have been with Simone? Discuss:

Patrick
Reply to  CraigH
7 years ago

2 or 3 seconds

CraigH
7 years ago

The scary thing is that Stanford’s A girls are just starting their taper. I could see all four legs of that 800 dropping .5 – 1 second.

About Karl Ortegon

Karl Ortegon

Karl Ortegon studied sociology at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, graduating in May of 2018. He began swimming on a club team in first grade and swam four years for Wesleyan.

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