2023 Women’s PAC-12 Championships: Day 2 Finals Live Recap

2023 WOMEN’S PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, February 22 – Saturday, February 25, 2023
• Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center, Federal Way, WA
• Defending Champions:
  • Women: Stanford (1x)
• Live Results
• Live Video
• Championship Central
• Fan Guide
• Psych Sheet

It’s the first full night of finals at the 2023 Women’s PAC-12 Championships and conference titles will be handed out in the 500 freestyle, 200 IM, 50 freestyle, and 200 freestyle relay.

In the individual races, Cal holds two of the three top seeds, with Ayla Spitz in the 500 free (4:40.93) and Isabelle Stadden in the 200 IM (1:56.08). Both should be tight races tonight: in the 500, the top five are separated by less than a second, and the same is true for the top four in the 200 IM.

The 50 freestyle does have a clear favorite in Torri Huske, who at 21.67, was the only scoring swimmer to break 22 seconds in prelims (her teammate Claire Curzan did so as well, but in an exhibition swim).

WOMEN’S 500 FREESTYLE — FINALS

• NCAA Record: 4:24.06, Katie Ledecky (STAN) – 2017 NCAA Championships
• Pac-12 Record: 4:24.06, Katie Ledecky (STAN) – 2017 NCAA Championships
• Pac-12 Championship Record: 4:25.25, Katie Ledecky (STAN) – 2017
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 4:35.76
• 2022 NCAA Invite Time: 4:43.08

Top 8:

1. Lindsay Looney (ASU) – 4:38.29
2. Morgan Tankersley (STAN) – 4:38.36
3. Molly Batchelor (ASU) – 4:39.54
4. Aurora Roghair (STAN) – 4:39.77
5. Ayla Spitz (CAL) – 4:39.93
6. Mia Motekaitis (CAL) – 4:41.44
7. Kayla Wilson (STAN) – 4:42.78
8. Natalie Mannion (STAN) – 4:43.27

We kicked things off this evening with an exciting race in the 500 freestyle, as it came down to the touch between Lindsay Looney and Morgan Tankersley. After flipping in second at the 450-yard mark, Looney flipped second, sandwiched in between a pair of Cardinal in Tankersley and Aurora Roghair. Looney split a field best 26.73 on the final 50 to grab the win in 4:38.29. This is Looney’s first time sub-4:40, taking 2.42 seconds off her lifetime best from midseason.

Her Sun Devil teammate Molly Batchelor also had a strong final 50, splitting 27.33 to pass Roghair on the last lap to grab bronze in 4:39.54. Similar to Looney, this was Batchelor’s first time breaking 4:40. At this meet last year, Batchelor didn’t even make finals; she finished 34th in 4:57.63. In the last 14 months, she’s taken nearly five seconds off her best time.

Roghair added her name to the list of swimmers in this heat breaking 4:40 for the first time. She improved on her best time of 4:40.95 from prelims with a 4:39.77. It’s a improvement for the sophomore not just in time, but in the standings; she was seventh in this event last year.

Tankersley repeated her second-place finish from 2022. Last year, she earned her silver in 4:39.09, this year it took 4:38.36 to earn that same medal.

WOMEN’S 200 IM — FINALS

• NCAA Record: 1:50.08, Alex Walsh (UVA) – 2022 NCAA Championships
• Pac-12 Record: 1:50.67, Ella Eastin (STAN) – 2018
• Pac-12 Championship Record: 1:52.37, Katinka Hosszu (USC) – 2012
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:53.66
• 2022 NCAA Invite Time: 1:56.85

Top 8:

1. Leah Polonsky (CAL) – 1:54.02
2. Isabelle Stadden (CAL) – 1:55.52
3. Isabelle Odgers (USC) – 1:55.68
4. Justina Kozan (USC) – 1:56.62
5. Lucy Bell (STAN) – 1:56.64
6. Ieva Maluka (ASU) – 1:57.37
7. Charlotte Hook (STAN) – 1:57.49
8. Gigi Johnson (STAN) – 2:00.08

Cal sophomore Leah Polonsky won her first PAC-12 title with a best time of 1:54.02. Her previous best was a 1:54.77, which she swam to win the ‘B’ final of the event at 2022 NCAAs. Her teammate Isabelle Stadden led the field around at the halfway mark in 52.93, with Polonsky second in 53.44.

The sophomore took over the lead on the breaststroke leg, splitting 33.07. One the freestyle leg, she split 27.51 to extend her lead. Meanwhile, Stadden was involved in a tight race for second with USC’s Isabelle Odgers. Like Polonsky, Odgers pushed on the breaststroke leg with a 32.91 split, the only swimmer in the heat under 33 seconds. That split put Odgers second heading into the final leg, but Stadden battled back on free, and at the wall, out-touched Odgers by .16 seconds. Both Stadden and Odgers’ times are lifetime bests.

About a second behind them, there was another close race for fourth, as Justina Kozan got the better of Lucy Bell by two-hundredths.

WOMEN’S 50 FREESTYLE — FINALS

• NCAA Record: 20.83, Gretchen Walsh (UVA) – 2023 ACC Championships
• Pac-12 Record: 20.90, Abbey Weitzeil (CAL) – 2019
• Pac-12 Championship Record: 21.03, Abbey Weitzeil (CAL) – 2020
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 21.66
• 2022 NCAA Invite Time: 22.16

Top 8:

1. Torri Huske (STAN) – 21.67
2. Taylor Ruck (STAN) – 21.87
3. Claire Grover (UCLA) – 22.13
4. Rachel Rhee (UCLA) – 22.21
5. Hannah Henderson (USC)/Anicka Delgado (USC) – 22.30
6. (tie)
7. Amy Tang (STAN) – 22.33
8. Stephanie Akakabota (CAL) – 22.61

Torri Huske matched her time of 21.67 from prelims to earn the PAC-12 title in the 50 freestyle. This was her first time racing the event at the conference championships, as she opted for the 200 IM last year both at PAC-12s and at NCAAs. She holds a lifetime best of 21.39 from March 2021.

In prelims, Huske was the only scoring swimmer to break 22 seconds, but in finals, her teammate Taylor Ruck joined her as she clocked 21.87 for silver. The time is just .17 seconds off Ruck’s best, which is 21.70 from 2021 NCAAs.

UCLA grabbed the next two spots, with Claire Grover earning the last spot on the podium in 22.13. Her fellow UCLA senior Rachel Rhee finished fourth in 22.21, just nine-hundredths ahead of the tie between Trojan teammates Hannah Henderson and Anicka Delgado for fifth.

Women’s 200 Free Relay — TIMED FINALS

• NCAA Record: 1:23.87, Virginia – 2023 ACC Championships
• PAC-12 Record: 1:24.55, California — 2019 NCAA Championships
• PAC-12 Championship Record: 1:25.87, California — 2018 PAC-12 Championships
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:28.43

Top 8:

1. Stanford (Curzan, Huske, Ruck, Tang) – 1:25.98
2. Cal (Davidson, Stadden, Stone, Riley) – 1:28.14
3. USC (Delgado, Dobler, Garcia, Henderson) – 1:28.19
4. Arizona – 1:29.50
5. UCLA – 1:29.98
6. ASU – 1:30.57
7. Washington State – 1:31.83
8. Utah – 1:31.86

Though Stanford added nine-hundredths from their midseason time, their time of 1:25.98 was more than enough to earn the win in the 200 freestyle relay. Claire Curzan led off in 21.59, which would have won her the individual 50 free ahead of her teammate Huske. Huske went second on the relay for the Cardinal, and split 21.33. She then handed things off to the two other Stanford swimmers who featured in the ‘A’ final: Ruck, who split 21.45, and Tang, who anchored in 21.61.

Cal’s squad of Emma Davidson (22.27), Stadden (21.89), Mckenna Stone (21.85), and Eloise Riley (22.13), out-touched USC’s ‘A’ squad by five-hundredths for the second spot on the podium, clocking 1:28.14 to USC’s 1:28.19. Henderson had a huge anchor leg for the Trojans, anchoring in 21.69, but she just ran out of room to catch Riley. The other members of USC’s relay were Anicka Delgado (22.43), Kaitlyn Dobler (22.24), and Elise Garcia (21.83).

Team Scores Thru Day 2

1. Stanford – 540
2. Cal – 454
3. USC – 428
4. UCLA – 330
5. ASU – 312
6. Arizona – 242
7. Utah – 184
8. Washington State – 153

Stanford has already opened up a sizable lead, as they’re currently 86 points ahead of Cal after two days of racing. We expected a close race between Cal and USC for second and as it stands, the Golden Bears have the edge in that race, as they are 26 points up on USC.

In the middle of the conference, there’s a race developing between UCLA and ASU. ASU That race will be something to keep an eye on as the meet progresses–ASU had a big day today and they had three more finals swims than the Bruins, but it’s UCLA who is still holding onto fourth place, though just by 18 points.