2019 Pac-12 Women’s Championships: Day 1 Finals Live Recap

2019 PAC-12 WOMEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, February 27 – Saturday, March 2
• Federal Way, WA (Pacific Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: Stanford (2x) (results)
• Live results
• Live Video TBD
• Championship Central
• Psych Sheets
• Wednesday Heat Sheets

The 2019 Pac-12 Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships, as well as the men’s diving events, are underway this weekend in Federal Way, Washington.Tonight’s swimming action will be relays only, as swimmers compete in the 200 medley relay and 800 free relay.

WOMEN’S 200 MEDLEY RELAY:

• Pac-12 Record: Stanford, 1:33.11, 2018
• Championship Record: Stanford, 1:34.13, 2018
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:36.45

1. GOLD: Cal, 1:35.21
2. SILVER: Stanford, 1:35.51
3. BRONZE: USC, 1:35.59

An extremely close race to the finish between 3 teams saw Cal come out on top. The Bears got things started with freshman Isabel Ivey posting a 25.05 back split. The Bears were trailing, but started to move up with freshman Emma Rajic‘s 26.88 breast split. Maddie Murphy came through with a 22.71 on the fly, but the Bears were still playing catch up to Stanford. Ella Eastin took on the back leg for Stanford, posting the field’s fastest split in 24.07. Cardinal freshman Amalie Fackenthal had nearly matched Murphy on the fly in 22.72.

It came down to the anchor split. Stanford looked to have it as they were over half a second ahead with Olympic sprinter Taylor Ruck diving in. But it was Cal’s Abbey Weitzeil ,the 50 free American Record holder, who stole the show, anchoring in 20.57 for a Cal victory and the 2nd fastest freestyle split in history. That’s 2nd only to Simone Manuel’s 20.45 from last season’s NCAA Championships. Cal won with a 1:35.21 to Stanford’s 1:35.51. Notably, the Bears could have been even faster with Keaton Blovad, who put up a 24.13 back split on the B relay.

WOMEN’S 800 FREESTYLE RELAY:

• Pac-12 Record: Stanford, 6:45.91, 2017
• Championship Record: Stanford, 6:49.42, 2017
• NCAA ‘A’ cut: 7:02.52

1. GOLD: Cal, 6:50.53
2. SILVER: Stanford, 6:51.69
3. BRONZE: USC, 6:45.46

It was USC from the start as Louise Hansson (1:42.67) outsplit Taylor Ruck (1:42.80) on the 1st leg, but the Cardinal moved ahead with Ella Eastin‘s 1:42.50 on the 2nd leg. Cal senior Katie McLaughlin came from behind to give the Bears the lead in 1:41.25 on the 3rd leg. Brooke Forde anchored for Stanford in 1:41.70, but it wasn’t enough to catch up to Amy Bilquist‘s 1:41.59 final split. Cal picked up their 2nd relay win of the night in 6:50.53, and have swept the swimming events heading into day 2.