2023 Women’s PAC-12 Championships: Day 4 Finals Live Recap

2023 WOMEN’S PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS

We’ve reached the last session of the 2023 women’s PAC-12 Championships. Tonight, we’ll see the fastest heat of the mile, along with finals of the 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly, and the 400 freestyle relay.

Stanford has all but locked this meet up, but they didn’t take their foot off the pedal in prelims, leading the conference with 13 ‘A’ finalists. That includes claiming the top seed in every event that races tonight except the 200 breaststroke, where USC’s 1-2 punch of Kaitlyn Dobler and Isabelle Odgers lead the way.

Women’s 1650 Freestyle — TIMED FINAL

  • NCAA Record: 15:03.31, Katie Ledecky (STAN) – 2017 Art Adamson Invite
  • PAC-12 Record: 15:03.31, Katie Ledecky (STAN) – 2017 Art Adamson Invite
  • PAC-12 Championship Record: 15:40.17, Cierra Runge (CAL) — 2017 PAC-12 Championships
  • NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 15:52.41
  • 2022 NCAA Invite Time: 16:16.47

Top 8:

  1. Aurora Roghair (STAN) – 16:02.28
  2. Marlene Kahler (USC) – 16:15.12
  3. Katherine Randall (ASU) – 16:17.15
  4. Morgan Tankersley (STAN) – 16:18.33
  5. Sarah DiMeco (CAL) – 16:19.30
  6. Katrina Bellio (UCLA) – 16:22.96
  7. Paige Maceachern (UCLA) – 16:24.56
  8. Elli Straume (ASU) – 16:32.40

Stanford sophomore Aurora Roghair swam a season-best 16:02.28 to win the 1650 freestyle by almost 13 seconds. The Iowa native was just off her personal best of 16:01.55, which she swam at this meet last year and earned her the silver medal.

ASU freshman Katherine Randall had a big swim to finish third. She clocked 16:17.15, taking 13.68 seconds off her lifetime best. Coming into the meet, her fastest time was 16:30.83, which she swam at the NC State midseason invite. She took bronze behind USC’s Marlene Kahler, who improved on her sixth-place finish in 2022.

Both Morgan Tankersley and Elli Straume were entered without a time, and they both swam well enough to earn a spot in the top 8. Tankersley clocked 16:18.33 for fourth, giving Stanford two swimmers in the top five. Like her Sun Devil teammate, Straume swam a personal best by a wide margin. The junior cut 10.69 seconds from her personal best, which she had clocked to finish 13th at this meet last year.

WOMEN’S 200 BACKSTROKE — FINALS

  • NCAA Record: 1:47.24, Beata Nelson (WISC) – 2019 NCAA Championships
  • Pac-12 Record: 1:47.30, Kathleen Baker (CAL) — 2018
  • Pac-12 Championship Record: 1:48.27, Kathleen Baker (CAL) — 2018
  • NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:50.50
  • 2022 NCAA Invite Time: 1:53.97

Top 8:

  1. Claire Curzan (STAN) – 1:47.43 (Meet Record)
  2. Isabelle Stadden (CAL) – 1:48.75
  3. Annika McEnroe (CAL) – 1:52.61
  4. Mia Motekaitis (CAL) – 1:53.18
  5. Alex Crisera (STAN) – 1:53.77
  6. Lucie Nordmann (STAN) – 1:53.84
  7. Taylor Ruck (STAN) – 1:54.34
  8. Natalie Mannion (STAN) – 1:54.71

Claire Curzan left little doubt as to who would win the 200 backstroke title. The Stanford freshman took down the meet record with a 1:47.43, which scared Beata Neson‘s NCAA record (1:47.24), Kathleen Baker‘s PAC-12 record (1:47.30) and Regan Smith‘s American record (1:47.16).

She opened the race in 25.45 and steadily built her lead throughout the race, splitting 27.01, 27.43, and 27.73. The mark is a new lifetime best for her, dropping almost a second from the 1:48.50 that she swam in November. That time was also the #1 swim in the NCAA this season, and so Curzan lowered that mark as well.

Despite there being five Stanford swimmers in the ‘A’ final, it was the Cal backstroke group who really flexed muscles in this race, finishing 2-3-4 behind Curzan. Isabelle Stadden was the top Golden Bear, swimming a lifetime best of her own. Her previous mark was 1:49.45 from 2022 NCAAs. The time moves her up to #2 in the NCAA as well, as she’s the only swimmer aside from Curzan to break 1:50 this season. Annika McEnroe and Mia Motekaitis took third and fourth, both in lifetime bests.

WOMEN’S 100 FREESTYLE — FINALS

  • NCAA Record: 45.56, Simone Manuel (STAN) – 2017 NCAA Championships
  • Pac-12 Record: 45.56, Simone Manuel (STAN) – 2017 NCAA Championships
  • Pac-12 Championship Record: 46.35, Abbey Weitzeil (CAL) — 2019
  • NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 47.18
  • 2022 NCAA Invite Time: 48.44

Top 8:

  1. Torri Huske (STAN) – 47.18
  2. Rachel Rhee (UCLA) – 48.00
  3. Kayla Wilson (STAN) – 48.21
  4. Anicka Delgado (USC) – 48.26
  5. Emma Davidson (CAL) – 48.27
  6. Elise Garcia (USC) – 48.66
  7. Claire Grover (UCLA) – 48.77
  8. Amy Tang (STAN) – 48.89

Torri Huske defended her PAC-12 100 freestyle title to the tune of a 47.18, just .11 seconds off the 47.07 she swam to earn the title last year. Huske flipped first at the 50 in 22.40, just over a half second ahead of UCLA’s Rachel Rhee. She extended her lead on the back half of the race, winning by over eight-tenths.

Last year, Rhee finished 21st. Now, she’s the silver medalist. Rhee was the only swimmer in the championship heat aside from Huske to take the race out sub-23, flipping in 22.96. Not only was this a big improvement for her from a standings perspective, but it’s also a best time by a wide-margin; her previous best was a 48.49.

Freshman Kayla Wilson made it a 1-3 finish for the Cardinal, dropping a few more hundredths off the personal best 48.32 that she swam in prelims. It was a tight finish between third and fifth, as Anicka Delgado and Emma Davidson finished just .05 and .06 seconds behind Wilson, respectively.

WOMEN’S 200 BREASTSTROKE — FINALS

  • NCAA Record: 2:01.43, Kate Douglass (UVA) – 2023 Cavalier Invitational
  • Pac-12 Record: 2:04.75, Rebecca Soni (USC) — 2009
  • Pac-12 Championship Record: 2:04.75, Rebecca Soni (USC) — 2009
  • NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 2:06.18
  • 2022 NCAA Invite Time: 2:09.15

Top 8:

  1. Kaitlyn Dobler (USC) – 2:05.66
  2. Isabelle Odgers (USC) – 2:06.66
  3. Emily Lundgren (WSU) – 2:08.33
  4. Allie Raab (STAN) – 2:08.64
  5. Sam Tadder (STAN) – 2:11.01
  6. Eva Carlson (UCLA) – 2:11.31
  7. Katherine Adams (USC) – 2:12.45
  8. Charity Pittard (UT) – 2:13.53

By winning the 200 breaststroke, Kaitlyn Dobler has officially completed her sweep of the breaststroke events at these championships. She won the race by exactly a second ahead of her teammate, Isabelle Odgers. The swim is a lifetime best for Dobler, undercutting the 2:06.53 she posted at 2021 PAC-12s.

Odgers was just ahead of Dobler at the halfway mark, but Dobler made her move on the second 100, splitting 31.95 on the third 50 to take over the lead. She then came home in 32.53 to extend her lead over Odgers. For her part, Odgers time is a new season-best and is about two-tenths away from her fastest time of 2:06.42, which sets her up well for NCAAs.

After an ‘A’ final appearance in the 100 breaststroke, Washington State freshman Emily Lundgren earned a spot on the podium, touching third with a 2:08.33. The time is a personal best for her, dipping under the 2:08.94 she swam at the Art Adamson Invitational.

The field was quite separated in the championship heat, with a 7.87 second range between first and eighth place.

WOMEN’S 200 BUTTERFLY — FINALS

  • NCAA Record: 1:49.51, Ella Eastin (STAN) – 2018 Pac-12 Championships
  • Pac-12 Record: 1:49.51, Ella Eastin (STAN) – 2018 Pac-12 Championships
  • Pac-12 Championship Record: 1:49.51, Ella Eastin (STAN) — 2018
  • NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:52.86
  • 2022 NCAA Invite Time: 1:56.14

Top 8:

  1. Lindsay Looney (ASU) – 1:52.68
  2. Charlotte Hook (STAN) – 1:52.90
  3. Rachel Klinker (CAL) – 1:53.57
  4. Lillie Nordmann (STAN) – 1:53.89
  5. Leah Polonsky (CAL) – 1:54.44
  6. Lucy Bell (STAN) – 1:54.93
  7. Dori Hathazi (WSU) – 1:55.92
  8. Jade Foelske (ASU) – 1:56.31

Lindsay Looney won her second individual PAC-12 title of the meet (and her career) by touching first in the 200 fly. Looney led from wire-to-wire, opening the race in 53.80, which gave her enough room to fend off a late charge from Stanford freshman Charlotte Hook. The Sun Devil senior’s 1:52.68 is a new personal best–her previous time stood at 1:53.25 from her 10th place finish at 2022 NCAAs.

Hook came home in 58.09 to stop the clock at 1:52.90, which is about a half-second slower than the lifetime best that she swam at the NC State Invitational.

Cal’s Rachel Klinker rounded out the podium with a 1:53.57. She was behind Lillie Nordmann after the first 50, but pulled even with her by the halfway point and then split 28.90 and 29.95 to maintain about a two-tenths lead over the Stanford sophomore until the finish. This is the fourth-straight year that Klinker, a senior, has made the podium in this event.

Women’s 400 Free Relay — FINALS

  • NCAA Record: 3:06.83, Virginia – 2023 ACC Championships
  • PAC-12 Record: 3:06.96, California — 2019 NCAA Championships
  • PAC-12 Championship Record: 3:07.41, California — 2019 PAC-12 Championships
  • NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 3:14.10

Top 8:

  1. Stanford (Ruck, Wilson, Huske, Curzan) – 3:08.83
  2. Cal (Spitz, Davidson, Stadden, Riley) – 3:13.83
  3. USC (Henderson, Garcia, Dobler, Kuchler) – 3:14.12
  4. ASU – 3:15.70
  5. UCLA – 3:16.41
  6. Arizona – 3:16.86
  7. Washington State – 3:17.76
  8. Utah – 3:22.49

Stanford won the final race of the meet going away, as Taylor Ruck (47.54), Kayla Wilson (47.40), Torri Huske (46.74), and Claire Curzan (47.15) combined for a season-best 3:08.83.

There was a closer race for second, as Cal beat out USC, 3:13.83 to 3:14.12. USC was ahead after an opening 48.43 from Hanna Henderson, but Cal pulled even on the second-leg of the race, and Eloise Riley split 49.00 on the anchor leg, holding off a charge from USC’s anchor Hannah Kuchler, who anchored in 48.46.

ASU was in third after an 48.84 lead-off from Molly Batchelor, and they finished comfortably in fourth place ahead of UCLA.

Team Scores

  1. Stanford – 1725.5
  2. USC – 1267.5
  3. California – 1260.5
  4. UCLA – 1030.5
  5. ASU – 837
  6. Arizona – 607
  7. Utah – 594
  8. Washington State – 420

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eric rhodes
1 year ago

USC has a great diving team; adding 267 points to their overall score. Cal diving : 0 What’s the $ecret?

BearlyBreathing
1 year ago

Wow diving came through in the end after all. 7 points difference between 2nd and 3rd. Congrats SC.

Former Big10
1 year ago

Did U of A even show up?

CalTears
Reply to  Former Big10
1 year ago

Been a failing program for years now, some serious changes need to happen. Gone from national champions to irrelevancy

oxyswim
Reply to  Former Big10
1 year ago

Augie needs to go. Only hired because of nepotism in the first place.

FlyFly
Reply to  Former Big10
1 year ago

They looked rough. Most of the team was well off of their seed times so even the metric of season best time doesn’t have Zona looking good. Might be time for another change.

MkeDbbs
Reply to  FlyFly
1 year ago

I just don’t think change matters. At this point, why is zona being relevant in swimming that important? Look at the track record of the last decade. Is it really that much worse?

FlyFly
Reply to  MkeDbbs
1 year ago

Maybe it’s not worse but why accept a status quo of mediocrity? Even if they can’t recruit big names, showing athlete development and performing well relative to the athlete at end of year shouldn’t be asking a lot.

tswum
Reply to  Former Big10
1 year ago

Uffff. That was rough.

Jon B
Reply to  Former Big10
1 year ago

Funny that this is a topic of conversation since swimswam ranked them in top 25, but ASU remains unranked–maybe the results will change their minds this time….. :/

1 year ago

Let’s go Cougar’s!!!!

Bud
1 year ago

How do you guys decide which records to put before each race?
Seems to be different in every conference:
Here we have NCAA, Conference, Meet, A cut and Invite time;
The Big 12 article has Conference, Meet, A cut, B cut, 2022 winner;
The Ivy League article has Conference, Pool record, A cut and Invite time;
The Big Ten article has NCAA, Meet, Conference, A cut and Invite time;
Pretty sure other conferences had different combinations.
What’s the rule? Who decides which records are relevant to each conference?
Why is the pool record only relevant at Ivies and the B-cut only relevant at Big 12’s?

Last edited 1 year ago by Bud
Demarrit Steenbergen
Reply to  Bud
1 year ago

It might just be who is doing the recap

Bud
Reply to  Demarrit Steenbergen
1 year ago

Yeah obviously but shouldn’t it be uniform?
Like, the 2022 invite time is arguably the most important one, why wouldn’t it appear in the big 12 article while the B-cut, which is way less relevant(only determines if an already qualified swimmer can add another race) does?

TXSWIMDAD
Reply to  Bud
1 year ago

agree really like having 2022 winner and 2022 invite time

Swimmerj
1 year ago

CC not messing around tonight! Also, Stadden’s swim feels like a breakthrough for her.

Sherry Smit
1 year ago

Hot Take: Claire Curzan is gonna break Regan Smith’s AR on the 200 BK at NC’s. She’ll probably be close here, maybe around 1:47.1-1:47.7…

BearlyBreathing
Reply to  Sherry Smit
1 year ago

If this comment had appeared before the results, my hat would have been off to you.

Eli
Reply to  BearlyBreathing
1 year ago

I think it did

Taa
1 year ago

CC going full throttle!!!

About Sophie Kaufman

Sophie Kaufman

Sophie grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, which means yes, she does root for the Bruins, but try not to hold that against her. At 9, she joined her local club team because her best friend convinced her it would be fun. Shoulder surgery ended her competitive swimming days long ago, …

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