2021 Pac-12 Women’s Championships: Day 1 Timed Finals Live Recap

2021 PAC-12 WOMEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, February 24 – Saturday, February 27
• Campus Rec & Wellness Center, University of Houston, Houston, TX
• Defending Champion: Stanford (4x) (2020 results)
• Live results
• Live Video
• Championship Central
• Psych Sheets

Racing begins at the 2021 Women’s Pac-12 Swimming & Diving Championships with the 800 freestyle and 400 medley relays. While Stanford holds the meet and conference record in both relays from 2017, USC and Cal come in as the defending champs in the free and medley relays, respectively. Despite USC being the defending champs in the 4×200, Cal is actually entered as the top seed in both the 4×200 and the 4×100. In the former Cal in entered with a 6:56.68, just 0.20 ahead of second-seeded Stanford with a 6:56.88. In the latter, Cal will go in with a 3:29.22.

The first women’s diving event took place earlier today allowing the University of Arizona to take an early lead. Arizona senior Delaney Schnell won the 1-meter diving event, scoring 343.45, followed by USC’s Nike Agunbiade with 313.90 for second and Cal’s Briana Thai with a 312.05 for third.

Team Scores After 1 Meter Diving

1. USC – 74
2. Arizona – 73
3. Utah – 72
4. Stanford – 54
5. Cal – 44
6. UCLA – 42

WOMEN’S 800 FREE RELAY – TIMED FINALS

• Pac-12 Record: 6:45.91 – Stanford (2017)
• Pac-12 Meet Record: 6:49.42 – Stanford (2017)
• NCAA “A” Cut: 7:00.86
• 2020 Champion: USC – 6:54.91

1. University of California – 6:55.99
2. Stanford – 6:58.60
3. Arizona – 7:05.56

The University of California managed to pick up the first win of the meet with a 6:55.99 swim, improving upon their second-place finish from last year. Robin Neumann opened things up for the Golden Bears, hitting a 1:43.19 to hover over her best time in the 200 of 1:42.94. Ayla Spitz and Rachel Klinker followed as second and third splits, throwing down times of 1:44.27 and 1:44.56, respectively. Alicia Wilson finished things off for Cal with a 1:43.97 anchor splits. The swim for Cal was nearly a second faster than their 6:56.68 silver medal performance from 2020.

Stanford came in just a few seconds after Cal with a 6:58.60. Like Cal, they moved up in the rankings from last year but were slower. Their silver medal-winning time this year was just off what the 6:56.88 that the Stanford women swam last year for bronze. Stanford’s Allie Raab opened the race with a 1:45.26 to trail Cal’s Neumann by almost three seconds. After Raab came Brooke Forde with a 1:43.27, Morgan Tankersley with a 1:43.61, and Lauren Pitzer with a 1:46.46 anchor.

In a bit of an upset, defending champs the University of Southern California were not able to repeat as winners and wound up falling to 5th place with a 7:09.02.

That left the bronze medal up for grabs between the University of Arizona and UCLA. Amalie Mortensen from Arizona opened the race with a 1:45.03 to claim an early lead over UCLA’s Delaney Smith (1:46.90). Arizona was able to ride that lead out until the end and ultimately came in at a 7:05.56 for the bronze medal. UCLA was not too far off, hitting a 7:07.32 for fourth.

Team Scores After 800 Freestyle Relay

1. University of Arizona – 127 Points
2. USC – 117 Points
3. University of Utah – 112 Points
4. University of California, Berkeley – 104 Points
5. Stanford University – 101 Points
6. UCLA – 88 Points
7. Washington State – 46 Point

WOMEN’S 400 MEDLEY RELAY – TIMED FINALS

• Pac-12 Record: 3:25.09 – Stanford (2017)
• Pac-12 Meet Record: 3:25.09 – Stanford (2017)
• NCAA “A” Cut: 3:31.66
• 2020 Champion: Cal – 3:27.26

1. University of California – 3:26.70
2. Stanford – 3:30.08
3. UCLA – 3:31.18

Cal picked up their second gold medal of the night and defended their 4×100 medley relay title from last year’s championships. Cal’s Isabelle Stadden swam a best time to open up the relay with a 50.86 backstroke split – faster than her 51.23 PB. Emily Rajic swam the breast split for Cal, hitting a 57.68 to maintain the team’s lead. Following a 50.44 fly split by Isabel Ivey, Emily Gantriis was able to hold off Stanford as they made a bid to take over the lead, hitting a 47.72 free split. Cal touched in a 3:36.70 for the win.

Stanford’s Janelle Rudolph also swam a decent PB on the backstroke split, hitting a 51.97 to improve upon her 52.44 from 2019. Allie Raab‘s 58.02 breast split and Emma Wheal’s 51.30 butterfly weren’t enough to set Lauren Green up for the victory. Green anchored for Stanford with a 48.79, ultimately touching 4 seconds behind Stanford and claiming silver.

After a disappointing 5th place finish in the 800 free relay, USC ended up disqualifying their 4×100 medley swim which would have earned them a bronze medal had they, not DQed. The USC women put up a 3:31.18 to finish just behind Stanford but upon their disqualification, UCLA’s 3:33.86 got pushed up to third.

Arizona, Utah, and Washington State rounded out the top 6 in the event, hitting 3:34.83, 3:37.39, and 3:41.60, respectively.

Team Scores After 800 Freestyle Relay

1. University of Arizona – 179 Points
2. University of California, Berkeley – 172 Points
3. University of Utah – 167 Points
4. Stanford University – 165 Points
5. UCLA – 148 Points
6. USC – 124 Points
7. Washington State – 94 Points