2023 Women’s Pac-12 Championships
- Wednesday, February 22 – Saturday, February 25, 2023
- Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center, Federal Way, WA
- Defending Champions:
- Women: Stanford (1x)
- Live Results
- Live Video
- Championship Central
- Fan Guide
The 2023 Women’s Pac-12 Swimming and Diving Championships will kick off this evening in Federal Way, Washington. Tonight’s all-relay session will feature the timed finals of the 200 medley relay and the 800 freestyle relay.
Stanford enters the meet as the defending champions after reclaiming their title from Cal last year. Stanford’s 800 freestyle relay is seeded first tonight by a considerable margin, as they are the only Pac-12 team to have broken the 7-minute barrier so far this season.
USC comes in as the top seed in the 200 medley relay, but just barely, as Cal is entered a tenth behind. Stanford, seeded 3rd, joins Cal and USC as the only teams in the conference who have already hit an NCAA ‘A’ standard in the event.
Women’s 200 Medley Relay
- NCAA Record: 1:31.73, Virginia – 2023 ACC Championships
- Pac-12 Record: 1:33.11, Stanford (2018)
- Pac-12 Championship Record: 1:34.13, Cal (2018)
- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:36.24
Results:
- Cal – 1:35.40
- Stanford – 1:35.42
- USC – 1:35.63
- UCLA – 1:36.64
- Arizona State – 1:38.69
- Arizona – 1:38.87
- Washington State – 1:39.28
Cal’s team of Isabelle Stadden, Jade Neser, Mia Kragh, and Mckenna Stone touched first in the opening relay with a final time of 1:35.40. Cal led Stanford by a half-second margin heading into the final 50, but Stanford’s anchor Taylor Ruck threw down a 21.56 on the final leg to cut the margin down to 0.02, landing Stanford 2nd at 1:35.42.
Cal shaved a few tenths off their season best time from the Minnesota Invite, while Stanford’s swim was also an improvement from November by about half a second. USC and Arizona were the only teams to add to their entry times.
Ruck’s 21.56 was the quickest split of the field, while her teammate Claire Curzan clocked the fastest 50 backstroke split at 23.34. For USC, Kaitlyn Dobler swam the fastest breaststroke split (26.34), while her teammate Anicka Delgado had the fastest 50 fly (22.64).
UCLA picked up a 4th-place finish, led by Claire Grover who recorded a 21.59 on the final leg. They were a solid two seconds ahead of Arizona State and Arizona in 5th and 6th, while Washington State took 7th. Cal and USC’s ‘B’ teams posted times of 1:38.27 and 1:38.61, which would have been 5th and 6th if they were not exhibition.
Utah’s ‘A’ team was disqualified.
Women’s 800 Free Relay
- NCAA Record: 6:45.91, Stanford – 2017 NCAA Championships
- Pac-12 Record: 6:45.91, Stanford (2017)
- Pac-12 Championship Record: 6:49.42, Stanford (2017)
- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 7:00.86
Results:
- Stanford – 6:53.90
- Cal – 6:58.62
- Arizona State – 7:02.70
- USC – 7:06.03
- UCLA – 7:07.20
- Arizona – 7:09.57
- Washington State – 7:13.52
- Utah – 7:19.65
Stanford’s team of Morgan Tankersley, Torri Huske, Lillie Nordmann, and Kayla Wilson successfully defended their Pac-12 title, winning with a final time of 6:53.90. Tankersley opened with a 1:44.62, then handed things off to Huske who clocked the fastest split of the event at 1:41.86. From there, Stanford built on their lead with Nordmann clocking a 1:44.22 and Wilson anchoring in 1:43.20.
Stanford is the defending NCAA champions in this event, but only return two of the four legs this season. Despite that, and Ruck being left off of tonight’s relay, the Cardinals’ time still comes in as the fastest in the country so far this year.
Huske has mentioned in the past that relay exchanges are a weakness for her, which could potentially explain why she swam on the 800 free relay while Ruck was put on the 200 medley relay.
Cal dropped over three seconds from their entry time to hit a new NCAA ‘A’ standard in the event, led by Mia Motekaitis who got the Bears off to a quick start with a 1:43.92 lead-off leg. Arizona State also had a strong swim to move up from their 5th-place seed to round out the podium.
Team Scores Through Day 1
- Stanford / Cal – 120
- –
- USC – 106
- Arizona State – 104
- UCLA – 102
- Arizona – 96
- Washington State – 92
- Utah – 44
Can someone let the commentators know that it would be nice if they announce the name of each swimmer in each lane so we can find our swimmers in the lanes before the race, and watch all of the swimmers and not just lane four and five. The TV feed is not saying what team is in what lane. Thank you.
4×50 Free: Huske, Wheal, Tang, Ruck
4×100 Free: Huske, Tang, Curzan, Ruck
4×200 Free: Huske, Wilson, Curzan, Ruck
4×50 Medley: Curzan, Raab, Wheal, Tang
4×100 Medley: Curzan, Raab, Huske, Ruck
Anyone else not impressed with Arizona? Seems the Busch era is not the same of old..
Let’s go Cougars!!!!
Mia Kragh (22.8 50 fly) wow
Very unique seeing Delgado, Kozan, and Odgers on a ready together given that they all went to the same high school (Santa Margarita).
Not impressive. The PAC10 has really fallen off.
I wonder if Ruck will be on the 800 FR at NCAAs?
I think yes. They could afford to do this here. They’ll want Ruck on the 800 free at NCAAs.
Most ideal order: Huske, Wilson, Curzan, Ruck.
They need Curzan in every relay but this one, she’s definitely not swimming it.
Agree. They can use Nordmann and still probably win handily. Especially with Ruck and Huske splitting 1:40/1:41. Save Claire for the sprints!
Absent a DQ the 4×200 free relay is Stanford’s for the taking.
Likely that Texas women could get closer if they use Pash & UVa could make it close if they use Alex Walsh (neither is likely – both are more valuable to their teams on the other 4 relays). Also just don’t see any scenario where the other top programs don’t ostensibly play it for a top 3 finish for the points.
1:42.43 PB for Curzan. Nordmann 1:42.63.