The dates and venue have been set for the 2019 Pac-12 Swimming & Diving Championships. Ever since the historic Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach, CA closed down for repair in 2011, Pac-12’s has largely been competed in the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, WA. As expected, both of the 2019 meets will be no different.
As is usual, the women’s meet will precede the men’s meet, beginning on Wednesday, February 27 and running through Saturday, March 2nd. The men’s meet will begin on Wednesday, March 6 and run through Saturday, March 9. The diving portion of the championships, for both the women and men, will be competed during the first weekend – February 27 to March 2.
Notably, each meet will start one week later than the 2018 version.
On the women’s side, Greg Meehan‘s two-time defending champion Stanford Cardinal team will be going for the three-peat. However, they will begin their quest without superstars Katie Ledecky and Simone Manuel as well as prominent scorers Ally Howe and Janet Hu, among others. Stanford won the 2018 meet with 1,776 points over Cal-Berkeley (1,486), and Arizona State (996). The Cardinal would also go on to win the NCAA Championships in March for the second-consecutive year. More information about the women’s meet can be found here, on the Pac-12 website.
On the men’s side, the 2018 champion California Golden Bears will be looking to defend their crown. Dave Durden‘s Cal-Berkeley squad won the 2018 meet with 971 points ahead of Stanford (769) and Southern California (548). Notably, up until 2013, the Stanford men enjoyed an unprecedented 33-year run – winning the conference title every year from 1980-2012. Since then, Cal has won 3 times, Stanford has won twice, and USC has won once. More information about the men’s meet can be found here, on the Pac-12 website.
Broadcast information for both meets will be available at a later date, and this info can also be found on the Pac-12 website.
Sounds like it will be in Federal Way for at least another 4-5 years. Doesn’t really seem like there are any facilities that would qualify for a major meet like this, unless they went to the East LA College like the Mountain Pacific Conference championship does.
ELAC is not even remotely close to the same level of a facility as Federal Way. Pac12 went their once when Long Beach went down last minute and I would almost guarantee it will never be there again.