2024 WOMEN’S PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Dates: Wednesday, February 28 – Saturday, March 2
- Location: Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center, Federal Way, WA
- Defending champions: Stanford (2x)
- Live results
- Live video: Pac-12 Network
- Championship central
- Event schedule
- Preview: Fan guide
- Day 1 Finals Live Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Live Recap | Day 2 Finals Live Recap
- Day 3 Prelims Live Recap | Day 3 Finals Live Recap
- Day 4 Prelims Live Recap | Day 4 Finals Live Recap
The Cal women led from start to finish at the last-ever Women’s Pac-12 Championships this week, winning their sixth conference crown — and first since 2021 — by more than 100 points over USC and two-time defending champion Stanford.
Final Team Scores
- Cal – 1,397.5
- USC – 1,291
- Stanford – 1,283
- UCLA – 1,089
- Arizona State – 990.5
- Utah – 628.5
- Arizona – 514
- Washington State – 498.5
The Bears got off to a hot start by breaking the Pac-12 Championships record in the first race of the meet, the 200 medley relay (1:33.89), taking down their own six-year-old standard of 1:34.13 from 2018. Meanwhile, Stanford and USC both suffered costly disqualifications in the 200 medley and 800 freestyle relays, respectively.
Cal didn’t earn any wins on Thursday, but the program leaned on its depth to extend its lead heading into Friday’s action. Individually, the Bears got victories from senior Isabelle Stadden in the 100 back (50.39) and 200 back (1:50.16), junior Mia Kragh in the 100 fly (50.89), and fifth-year Rachel Klinker in the 200 fly (1:51.74) to power them past the Trojans and Cardinal.
Cal’s win marks the culmination of a surprisingly quick turnaround following the firing of longtime head coach Teri McKeever last January. Men’s head coach Dave Durden took over the women’s team during the summer of 2022, receiving a $110,000 raise for the extra work. He is in line for a $4,000 bonus for leading the Bears to the Pac-12 title this year, and he’ll likely add another $2,000 bonus for Pac-12 Coach of the Year honors as well. Last year, Durden led the men’s team to a second consecutive NCAA title.
Despite the 3rd-place finish this year, Stanford still boasts 21 more Pac-12 titles than Cal all-time. Only three other teams — Arizona (four), UCLA (two), and USC (one) have won conference crowns.
Most Pac-12 Team Titles
- Stanford – 25
- Cal – 6
- Arizona – 4
- UCLA – 2
- USC – 1
Next year, Cal and Stanford will leave to the ACC, USC and UCLA will bolt for the Big Ten, and Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah will join the Big 12. Washington State has a temporary home next season in the West Coast Conference, but they do not sponsor swimming and diving.
Congratulations Lady Bears!! Roll On You Bears!!
Grades
Cal – A+
USC – A-
Stanford – B
UCLA – A-
ASU – C
Utah – B
Arizona – D
WSU – B+
Looks like AZ was on a graded curve
Grade depends on if USC shows out at NCs given most were slower than midseason
I feel like an A- is generous for USC. They got better over the course of the meet but they looked real rough the first 2 days. On the other hand clutching up second place over the course of the last day is a good sign for their effort come NCAAs
A- feels about right. Dobler and Abraham won multiple titles. Tier 2 swimmers like Delgado, Tuggle, and Famous all went at least 1 season best time. They won 3 relays. The one big miss was Kozan.
Agree that they looked best on day 4.
Yeah, Kozan was off. The same high school as Delgado and Hodges.
Don’t you think Cal should’ve won the meet by more points considering 2nd and 3rd place had relay DQs?
It was expected to be a very close battle between Cal, Stanford and USC for the title. Cal would have won by about 50 points even without the DQs by Stanford and USC. Why do you think Cal should have won by even more?
More depth than Stanford. Title was a gift to them without Huske.
The Cal women earned the title – why in the world are you belittling their effort? The fact that Stanford is not able to hold on to all of their top recruits doesn’t make it a gift to Cal; as I’m sure you know, the Cal team has also had to deal with a lot of adversity the past few years. Praise the Stanford team if you want, but accept that they were third best this year.
That’s not how it works
If Arizona placed last, would they have earned an ‘F’ grade?
Durden looks like he’s got a migraine haha Probably from taking on the women’s roster. At least it was worth it so far!
How did Stanford not win? I feel like their past few recruiting classes have been nasty
A few transfers, going-pros, and redshirts.
Tough for Stanford to overcome the math with top 24 swimmers scoring and each team allowed 24 swimmers. Stanford only has 17 swimmers but had most A and B finalists. I would expect different ranking at NCAAs.
Caroline Bricker’s development as a freshman at Stanford has been the most impressive I can remember in years. Well deserved swimmer of the meet!
Very exciting meet!
You can just tell there’s a new wave of happiness and positivity on that team, and a very strong sense of being a close-knit team. Glad they’ve been able to move on from Te**i.
What is Te**i?
I meant to only put one *. I’m talking about Teri McKeever lol.
I’m not American and don’t know that much about the different conferences – does the pac-12 still exist after this season?
No it’s dissolving – USC, Oregon, Washington, and UCLA are going to the Big 10, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah are going to the Big 12, and Cal & Stanford are going to the ACC.
Nothing is a better reprensentation of America’s “Atlantic Coast” than Cal and Stanford.
😛
There’s a push to rename it to “American Coast Conference” so they can keep the letters and make it more accurate, which I honestly am a huge fan of.
I know…..just for now though until they do, it’s pretty hilarious.
Well, Cal would have to earn it a title with Virginia in the conferance.
Did you see their class of 25 women? The are going to do just fine.
No need to change it as it will probably be gone in 2-5 years. Only Big ten and SEC will survive the conference realignment with enough money to fund most olympic programs at level to compete. FSU, Clemson, UNC and Miami are heading for the exit.
I’m not such a fan, since it’s all driven by football revenue, and has STUDENT-athletes spending a lot of time flying all over the country. Pretty wasteful too. Bring back true regional conferences. Or put football in it’s own category.
This conference rearrangement crap will implode in five years. At least ACC swimming will be epic for a few years.
I think NCAA D1 win explode in the next 5 years. The major football powers are gonna go off on their own
Yeah, now the Big 10 has, what, 18 teams? What is the point of that
And from all over the US too. Which sort of defeats the purpose of having conferences in the first place.
Much quicker turnaround than I thought it would be.
Common Durden W.
It is Marsh Magic