2021 Women’s PAC-12 Championships: Day 4 Ups/Mids/Downs

2021 PAC-12 WOMEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, February 24 – Saturday, February 27
• Campus Rec & Wellness Center, University of Houston, Houston, TX
• Defending Champion: Stanford (4x) (2020 results)
• Live Video TBD
• Championship Central
• Psych Sheets
• Live results
• Day 4 Finals Heat Sheet

Team Scores After Day 3

1. Stanford – 1091
2. Cal – 1074.5
3. UCLA – 789
4. USC – 732.5
5. Utah – 657
6. Arizona – 633
7. Washington State – 355

For those unfamiliar with swimming terminology, the concept of “Ups” and “Downs” is a good way to track which teams performed best at prelims. In prelims, swimmers qualify for one of three finals heats: the top 8 finishers make the A final, places 9 through 16 the B final and places 17 through 24 the C final. In finals, swimmers are locked into their respective final, meaning a swimmer in the B heat (spots 9-16) can only place as high as 9th or as low as 16th, even if they put up the fastest or slowest time of any heat in the final.

With that in mind, we’ll be tracking “Ups,” “Mids” and “Downs” after each prelims session. “Up” refers to swimmers in the A final, “Mid” to swimmers in the B final and “Down” to swimmers in the C final.

The final day of the 2021 women’s PAC-12 Championships has come down to a battle between Cal and Stanford for 1st and a battle between UCLA and USC for 3rd. After Saturday’s prelims session, Cal devoured Stanford’s 16.5 point lead and created their own lead of 72.5 points. Tonight, the Golden Bears hold the most spots in finals (16), tied with UCLA, and stand to score the most points in the 100 free with four swimmers in the ‘A’ final. The four Golden Bears are currently ranked 1-2-3-4, led by junior Isabel Ivey who was the only swimmer to break 48 this morning (47.56).

In that same event, Stanford only has 2 swimmers in the ‘A’ final but they have more swimmers in the event in total: 2 in the ‘A’, 2 in the ‘B’ and 2 in the ‘C’ final. The 100 free is looking like their biggest opportunity to gain points, aside from the 400 free relay tonight where Stanford is ranked 2nd behind Cal by about half a second. Note that Cal having the top four swimmers in the 100 free final will make their 400 free relay tough to beat.

The UCLA Bruins look to outscore USC tonight with 16 finals spots, mainly in the ‘B’ finals, compared to USC’s 10 spots. However, the Trojans have earned double the amount of ‘A’ finals slots as UCLA which could offset the difference substantially. The big races to look for point-wise will be UCLA’s 200 fly and USC’s 200 breast where the teams are set up to score nearly an identical amount of points. UCLA freshman Sam Baron is the only Bruin in the 200 fly ‘A’ final, ranked 4th, but four of her teammates are in the ‘B’ final. The Trojans have two swimmers in the 200 breast ‘A’ final including top seed Kaitlyn Dobler and Isabelle Odgers who is ranked 4th.

One event not included here is the 1650 free which is contested as a timed final. Here, Stanford has entered 2 swimmers (seeded 1st and 4th) while Cal has one entry (seeded 2nd) therefore this event could help Stanford make up some points.

Day 4 Ups/Mids/Downs

Credit to Andrew Mering for running the numbers.

Scoring Breakdown

Scored Prelims

1. Cal: 347.5
2. Stanford: 258.5
3. UCLA: 238.0
4. USC: 213.0
5. Utah: 136.0
6. Arizona: 130.0
7. Washington State: 112.0

Day 3 + Scored Prelims

1. Cal: 1422
2. Stanford: 1349.5
3. UCLA: 1027
4. USC: 945.5
5. Utah: 793
6. Arizona: 763
7.  Washington State: 467