2019 PAC-12 WOMEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, February 27 – Saturday, March 2
- Federal Way, WA
- Champion: Stanford (3x)
- Live results
- Championship Central
FINAL SCORES
1. STAN: 1775
2. CAL: 1350
3. USC: 1185.5
4. ASU: 932.5
5. UA: 837
6. UCLA: 835
7. UTAH: 531.5
8. WSU: 284.5
9. OSU: 172
To not much surprise, the Stanford women took home a 3rd consecutive Pac-12 team title. This year they took the meet by over 400 points, so we can safely label this as a decisive victory. The question “how did they win?” seems like it doesn’t apply here, since they won by so much, so I’ll just go over some of the highlights.
First things first, the Stanford freshmen did not disappoint. This was a crazy fast freshmen class, so it’s not super surprising that they did so well, but they outscored the other classes by significant margins. In fact, all 7 freshmen scored a minimum of 40 points, with several scoring over 70. Taylor Ruck became the 7th fastest 200 backstroker in NCAA history, finishing 2nd to Ella Eastin the event. She also rose up to tie Lia Neal (who is a Stanford alum) for the spot of 9th fastest NCAA 100 freestyler of all time.
Ella Eastin showed up in a big way for her final Pac-12 Champs, winning all 3 of her individual events. Over the course of the meet, Eastin became a top 10 performer all-time in the NCAA 500 free, an event we don’t get to see her swim a at championship meets that often. She’ll swap that out for the 200 IM for NCAAs, an event where she is the NCAA record holder. Similarly, she won the 200 backstroke on Saturday, leading a 1-2-3-4 charge for Stanford. She will likely swim the 200 fly at NCAAs, another event where she holds the NCAA record. Eastin also won the 400 IM, where, again, holds the NCAA record.
In addition to the 1-2-3-4 finish in the 200 back, Stanford also posted 1-2 finishes in the 400 IM and 500 free.
“Freshmen lead Stanford….” Seriously?
They look like freshwomen to me.
Ally Raab and Taylor Ruck has a great meet – what other Stanford freshman were stellar? This freshman class was insane but I didn’t see serious improvement from the times they came in with. So, in terms of hype and expectations, they did disappoint. In terms of long term vision for their success, I’m sure they will continue or to grow/win even dominate/ in a fabulous and well coached program.
https://swimswam.com/2019-pac-12-womens-championships-scoring-breakdown/
Zoe Bartel scored 61 points. Lucie Nordmann scored 65. Morgan Tankersley scored 52. Their freshman class was their highest-scoring class. Their seniors, even with Eastin, scored less than half as many points as their seniors. That includes their top 2 divers, Darla Lenz and Carolina Schulti, who were both also very good (Schulti was 2nd on 3-meter, Lenz was 3rd on Platform).
If you’re considering points (only or mostly) for sure, but what about improvements in their times- that matters too. That being said, they are freshman. I think they had a good showing but nowhere near the hype. I can have an opinion.
All I did was insert facts, without any conclusions or opinions. If you think that those facts challenged your opinion enough to get defensive about it, then that’s on you.
Not defensive at all- It’s great to get your input/facts!
IDK, but if they’re already fast coming in, what more can you ask for? So many freshman post slower times as they adjust to college and academic life. Seems to me if they stay fast, that is an accomplishment well recognized!
Tankersley scored 78 points. And dropped in all 3 events. 500 from 4:37.6 (11/16) to 4:37.0. 200 From 1:44.3 (11/16) to 1:44.2. And 1650 from 16:27.6 (3/17) to 15:59.9
I think you need to wait a couple weeks to evaluate. You really want to do this off a conference meet? They could easily double the point total of the next highest scoring freshman team and likely to get better every year except next year when Ruck takes the year off for the Olympics.
Long blonde hair is part of the team dress code at Stanford?
I mean, it’s California…
Did the Stanford freshman improve? It’s so hard to tell because they come in with such fast times to begin with. Can you do an analysis of how well they swam compared to their best times? Ruck seems to have dropped a bunch but I think that got a little lost in the coverage.