2018 PAC-12 WOMEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, February 21 – Saturday, February 24
- Federal Way, WA (Pacific Time Zone)
- Defending Champion: Stanford (1x) (results)
- Live Results
- Live Video
- Championship Central
- NCAA Qualifying
The first preliminary session of the 2018 Women’s Pac-12 Championships will go off this morning, with heats scheduled in the 500 free, 200 IM and 50 free. Cal got off to a great start yesterday, narrowly missing the NCAA record in the 200 medley relay before upsetting Stanford for the title in the 800 free relay.
Stanford has a strong lineup on day 2. Katie Ledecky shouldn’t have a problem defending her 500 free title, while Ella Eastin will surprisingly not defend her 200 IM crown, instead opting for the 500 free. That makes last year’s NCAA champ Kathleen Baker of Cal the big favorite. Among others, Simone Manuel will be challenged by Golden Bear Abbey Weitzeil as she looks to defend in the 50 free.
500 Free Prelims
- Pac-12 Meet Record: 4:25.15, Katie Ledecky (STAN), 2017
- Katie Ledecky, STAN, 4:35.90
- Lauren Pitzer, STAN, 4:39.69
- Kirsten Jacobsen, UA, 4:39.98
- Ella Eastin, STAN, 4:40.30
- Megan Byrnes, STAN, 4:41.06
- Robin Neumann, CAL, 4:41.18
- Chenoa Devine, CAL, 4:42.30
- Erin Voss, STAN, 4:42.84
Katie Ledecky cruised to the win in the final heat of the 500 free, qualifying 1st overall in a time of 4:35.90. Her teammate Lauren Pitzer (4:39.69) took 2nd overall with a win in heat 6, while Arizona’s Kirsten Jacobsen (4:39.98) joined them under 4:40 with the heat 5 victory.
A third Cardinal, Megan Byrnes, dropped over eight and a half seconds off her seed to qualify 5th from one of the early heats in 4:41.06, and Ella Eastin (4:40.30) and Erin Voss (4:42.84) give Stanford five of tonight’s A-finalists.
Robin Neumann (4:41.18) and Chenoa Devine (4:42.30) took the other two spots in the A-final, giving Cal two representatives.
Becca Mann, Kendall Dawson, Katie McLaughlin and Leah Stevens finished 9th through 12th and will contest the B-final.
200 IM Prelims
- Pac-12 Meet Record: 1:52.26, Katinka Hosszu (USC), 2012
- Kathleen Baker, CAL, 1:54.16
- Katie Drabot, STAN, 1:55.64
- Sarah Darcel, CAL, 1:55.98
- Ally Howe, STAN, 1:56.00
- Emma Schanz, UCLA, 1:56.06
- Brooke Forde, STAN, 1:56.30
- Kim Williams, STAN, 1:56.54
- Keaton Blovad, CAL, 1:56.86
Kathleen Baker of Cal asserted herself as the woman to beat in the 200 IM, posting the top time of the morning in 1:54.16. Since Ella Eastin has decided to race the 500 free instead, this race is hers for the taking.
After putting five into the A-final of the 500 free, Stanford didn’t slow down here with four women advancing through. Katie Drabot was a swift 1:55.64 for 2nd, while Ally Howe (1:56.00), Brooke Forde (1:56.30) and Kim Williams (1:56.54) qualified 4th, 6th and 7th.
Joining Baker in the final will be teammates Sarah Darcel (1:55.98) and Keaton Blovad (1:56.86) qualifying 3rd and 8th overall respectively. UCLA’s Emma Schanz is the lone swimmer in the A-final not from Stanford or Cal, 5th in 1:56.06.
USC’s Louise Hansson swam a time of 1:55.53, but it appears it was an exhibition swim, leaving her out of the final.
50 Free Prelims
- Pac-12 Meet Record: 21.29, Simone Manuel (STAN), 2017
- Abbey Weitzeil, CAL, 21.64
- Simone Manuel, STAN, 21.67
- Janet Hu, STAN, 22.08
- Amy Bilquist, CAL / Marta Ciesla, USC, 22.09
- –
- Maddie Murphy, CAL, 22.30
- Katrina Konopka, UA, 22.36
- Jamie Stone, UA, 22.40
Perennial favorites Abbey Weitzeil and Simone Manuel easily posted the top two times of the morning in the 50 free, clocking 21.64 and 21.67 respectively as they were the only two sub-22.
Janet Hu of Stanford sits 3rd in 22.08, with Cal’s Amy Bilquist and USC’s Marta Ciesla tied for 4th in 22.09. Maddie Murphy joins fellow Bears Weitzeil and Bilquist in the A-final in 6th, and Wildcats Katrina Konopka (22.36) and Jamie Stone (22.40) round out the A-finalists.
Hannah Cox:(
Ledecky looked like she floating down the lazy river in an inner tube during that 500. Interesting, since she usually hits hard even in dual meets where she’s winning that event by a full length. I hope she’s less rested for this meet than last year, but I also hope she’s got something special in the tank for tonight!
Not a very fast prelims for the 50 free, but I call Weitzeil for the win tonight.
Simone doesn’t lose when it matters
You mean she wins when other people choke?
That’s a fair statement, but in both of her recent gold medal performances (Olympics and WCs), she went best times when it mattered. Weitzel and Comerford beat her a both trials, but when it came to the big stage she got her hand on the wall first. Sure, Campbell and Sjorstrom stumbled, but there was an entire heat of individuals who could have stepped up and taken the title, but she was the one who did it.
No, not a fair statement. Sjostrom didn’t choke. She went out too hard but the thing is, breaking a world record on a lead-off, in clean water, with no pressure, is VERY different than a championship heat on the second biggest stage in swimming. She was fresh on that lead-off. As opposed to the multiple rounds of swimming. If Manuel had won WC’s in 52.7 OK then, but 52.2 makes her a top 4 swimmer in HISTORY. Have some respect.
I was trying to give “Caleb Dressel Will Get 8 Golds in Tokyo” the benefit of the doubt, but you bring up a fair point as well. But I think we can agree that Campbell flat out choked. And Sjostrom had been faster than 52.2 more than once. Sure none of the times were in a high pressured situation, but her relay leadoff WR wasn’t out of nowhere.
No, it wasn’t out of nowhere and I think Sjostrom is phenomenal but for the purposes of this conversation, I want to look at best times in the highest pressure situation— a championship final. Sjostrom has never been faster than Manuel in that context. The convo is about Manuel delivering on the biggest stage. When Sjostrom was faster, it was in World Cup meets and a relay lead-off.
She steps up when it matters, with a new best time to booth. Don’t forget that being able to deliver when it counts is part of it. If the favorites over swim the first lap, or have a mental block, too bad for them. Let’s not discount her achievement because someone else who was the favorite stumbled.
shouldn’t that say more about the other world class swimmers (Campbell, Sjorstrom, etc) that they choked on the two biggest stages in a row for Olympic athletes? I believe Simone beat them all straight up. I can give you one choke job by a team/athlete, but two in a row?
You probably don’t really understand what 52.27 means in women’s sprint. Cate Campbell was only once faster and Sarah Sjostrom’s only two times. And there’s no guarantee that they can do it one more time.
I call this is a toss-up between Abbey and Simone, but I definitely think Simone takes it when it matters, ie in three weeks.
this is gonna be such a battle between stanford and cal and I love it
interesting that janet hu is swimming the 50 free today – maybe not swimming the 100 back tomorrow?
I think with the speed in the 50 she’s shown this year, she’s going to go with 50 Free/100 Fly/200 Back for conference and NCAAs
or do the 100 fly/back double
I think Hu is definetly going to do the 100 Fly and 100 Back
Baker cruising at the end of that 2IM. Excited to see what she has in the tank for tonight, though sad we’re missing out on another epic battle with Eastin
By my calculations, the following Stanford swimmers are not locks for making NCAAs, so we should be looking for best times from them:
Lauren Pitzer
Lauren Green
Erin Voss
Katie Glavinovich
Megan Byrnes
Grace Zhao
Pitzer’s 500 from this morning should easily make the cut
Yea I was a bit worried after the slow(ish) Stanford relays last night, but each of the above girls except Glavinovich went solid best times this morning, and those who had already qualified went approximately the same times as their Dual Meets when adjusted for a racing suit, so I have faith that Stanford is just training through this meet. It’s still 3 weeks until NCAAs.
Yeah, honestly, I was happy to see some of them going slower because a few of them missed their NCAA tapers last year like Drabot
Most of last night’s splits were pretty fast, but a couple swimmers were off, for example, Drabot could definitely be faster and I think Forde has a higher ceiling. Ledecky and Easin were basically where I would expect them to be at this point of the season. I think that most of the swimmers in the medley were exactly where they need to be at this point in the season, but the relay as a whole got overshadowed by Cal.
Lauren Green didn’t go a best time.
eastin will swim the 500 not the 200 IM surprisingly
Whoa. Good catch!
Whaaaat? That makes zero sense to me. Is she trying to pull a reverse of what Ledecky did to Eastin last year at Pac-12s in the 4IM and gonna gun for an out of nowhere AR in the 500 just to show up Ledecky in her pet event??
The Stanford stars are training through this meet. They probably wanted Eastin to work on her freestyle endurance for the end of her IMs, so they’re having her race some fast 500s.
Also Drabot will swim the IM, not the 500, not as surprising, but still interesting