CALIFORNIA VS. OREGON STATE
- Results
- Hosted by Cal
- Friday, November 3rd
- 25 Yards
- Dual Meet Format
FINAL TEAM SCORES:
- CALIFORNIA: 164
- OREGON STATE: 85
The Cal Golden Bears had 4 women bring in multiple individual wins as they took down Oregon State on Friday. One of those women was freshman Sarah Darcel, who posted the only sub-2:00 of the field in the 200 fly. Darcel dominated the race by 4 seconds in 1:59.65. She returned to dominate the 200 back in 2:00.17 to secure a sweep of her individual races.
Sprint free ace Abbey Weitzeil took a crack at the 100 breast, leading from start to finish as she touched in 1:02.97. Weitzeil then swam an event we don’t see her in too often: the 500 free. She topped the field by almost 15 seconds, turning in a 4:53.54 for the win.
Cal’s Katie McLaughlin and Amy Bilquist also picked up a pair of wins each. McLaughlin got the ball rolling in the 200 free, pulling ahead of teammate Chenoa Devine to win it 1:48.23 to 1:50.44. Later in the session, she battled with Kathleen Baker in the 100 fly, using her front half speed to take the edge and win in 53.74 to Baker’s 54.27. Bilquist’s first win came in the 50 free, where she put up a 22.96 to top teammate Noemie Thomas (23.53). She closed with a win in the 200 IM, finishing 6 seconds ahead of the field in 2:04.26.
Oregon State’s Felicia Anderson picked up a win in the 100 back. She took the early lead over Cal’s Keaton Blovad (56.26), 27.31 to 27.59, and held off Blovad in the closing yards to win in 56.17. That time for Anderson marked the 8th fastest performance in Oregon State history.
PRESS RELEASE – CAL:
BERKELEY – Amy Bilquist, Katie McLaughlin, Abbey Weitzeil and Sarah Darcel won two events apiece as Cal opened up its home season with a 164-85 victory over Oregon State Friday at Legends Aquatic Center.
The Golden Bears will get right back in the pool again Saturday morning, hosting North Carolina State for a 9 a.m. meet that will be followed by a celebration of head coach Teri McKeever‘s 25 years in Berkeley. Given the upcoming festivities, dozens of alumnae came out to support McKeever and the team.
“The pool looks great set up here at Legends,” McKeever said. “I thought the girls did a really good job, and it’s always so nice to swim on your home campus. We’ll need to back it up tomorrow morning. I think that’s going to be important to have the two meets together.”
Against the Beavers, Cal claimed 13 of the 14 races to improve to 2-0 on the year. McLaughlin took first in the 200-yard free (1:48.23) and 100 fly (53.74), with Weitzeil winning the 100 breast (1:02.97) and 500 free (4:53.54) and Darcel prevailing in the 200 fly (1:59.65) and 200 back (2:00.17). Bilquist triumphed in the 50 free (22.96) and 200 individual medley (2:04.26).
The Bears set the tone in the opening event, the 200 medley relay, when Keaton Blovad, Kathleen Baker, Jasmine Mau and Valerie Hull led a 1-2-3-4 Cal finish with a time of 1:43.28. The Bears also closed out the afternoon when Darcel, Noemie Thomas, Maddie Murphy and Amy Bilquist won the 200 free relay in 1:32.69.
Other winners for Cal were: Robin Neumann in the 1000 free (10:12.36), Baker in the 100 free (50.26) and Dannie Dilsaver in the 200 breast (2:21.89). Oregon State’s Felicia Anderson won the 100 back in 56.17, just ahead of Cal’s Keaton Blovad (56.26).
PRESS RELEASE – OREGON STATE:
BERKELEY, Calif. – The Oregon State swimming program got another strong performance from sophomore Felicia Anderson (Portland, Ore.) in Friday’s dual against Cal at the Legends Aquatic Center. The Beavers fell to the Bears in the matchup, 164-85.
“I thought we swam well,” said head coach Jennifer Buffin. “The freshmen stepped up over the two days of competition and it will set them up going into the next two meets.
“The veterans all showed great leadership, both in how they prepared for this meet and moving through a very tough two-day stretch against the top two teams in the Pac-12.”
Anderson led wire-to-wire in the 100 back and touched the wall with a time of 56.17 for a new season best and the top spot on the podium. Anderson’s time was the eighth-fastest in school history in the event.
The Central Catholic H.S. product also posted a time of 2:03.69 in the 200 back for a second-place finish in scoring to lead the Beavers in the water.
Senior captain Noemie Midrez (Verviers, Liège, Belgium) set three season-best times in the dual. She closed her swim in the 200 free at 1:56.92 to finish fifth, added a time of 54.01 in the 100 free for a second-place finish in scoring, and posted a time of 25.38 in the 50 free for a fifth-place finish. Her time in the 50 free was also a personal record, beating her mark of 25.64 set at the 2016 Pac-12 Championships.
Freshman Callan Jackman (Dublin, Calif.) matched Midrez’s time in the 50 free of 25.38 to split points in the event. Jackman was also two-hundredths of a second off her personal best time in the 100 free, closing with a time of 54.67 for a third-place finish in scoring, and ended the 200 free in sixth with a time of 1:57.74.
Junior Arianna Letrari (Bolzano, Italy) set a new season best in the 100 fly with a time of 56.89 for a second-place finish in scoring. The junior transfer also posted a time of 2:03.48 in the 200 fly to finish second in the event.
Freshman Fernanda Rodriguez (Portland, Ore.) narrowly missed her top mark in the 100 breast set the previous meet at Stanford as she ended the dual at Cal with a time of 1:07.77 to finish fourth. Rodriguez added a time of 2:24.54 in the 200 breast for a new PR and a second-place finish in scoring.
The Beavers will head back out on the road next week with a dual against Seattle on November 11. First event is scheduled for 4 p.m. PT at the Connolly Complex.
