PAC-12 Women’s Championships Day 3 Finals Live Recap

2022 PAC 12 WOMEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, February 23-Saturday, February 26, 2022
• Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center, Federal Way, Washington
• Defending champions: Cal (1x)
• Start Times: 10:30am prelims / 6:00 pm  finals (PT)
• Event Schedule
• 2021 Scoring Breakdown
• How to Watch
• Championship Central
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results
• Finals Heat Sheet

We’re in for some great races for the Friday finals session of the 2022 Pac-12 Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships.

Will Stanford’s Brooke Forde secure her third-consecutive Pac-12 crown in the 400 IM? Her time from this morning sits five-seconds ahead of the field, but Calypso Sheridan of USC was well off her seed time and lifetime best and will challenge Forde for the win. 

Can Stanford’s Regan Smith pull off a double victory in the 100 fly and 100 backstroke double? It won’t be easy for Smith who will battle against her own teammates for the win with Torri Huske in the 100 fly and Taylor Ruck in the 100 backstroke. Isabelle Stadden of Cal will also be in the mix for the 100 backstroke win. To make things even more exciting, in prelims, Smith was just .07 off of Ally Howe’s Pac-12 meet and conference record (49.69), which was set in 2017. 

Cal’s Isabel Ivey won the 100 fly and 100 backstroke last year, but instead will challenge Lacita-Leigh Transom of USC for the 200 freestyle title. But don’t count out Robin Neumann of Cal, who won the 200 freestyle last year. Can she pull off an outside smoke?

Kaitlyn Dobler of USC broke her own Pac-12 championship record in prelims. Will she be even faster tonight? Dobler is also within striking distance of Sarah Haas’s Pac-12 record in the 100 breaststroke, which was set in 2016. 

Tonight will also feature the platform diving competition. Delaney Schnell of Arizona is the current Pac-12 meet and conference record holder in the event. She’s looking to defend her title. Also returning to the platform competition is last year’s runner up, Nike Agunbiade of USC. 

The session will conclude with the 400 medley relay. Last year, Cal won this event by 3.5 seconds and all swimmers returned to the roster this year. However, Stanford is now reloaded with Huske, Smith and Ruck, who could be on the lineup tonight and would be tough to beat. USC’s currently seeded between Stanford and Cal. It’s likely that Dobler will be swimming the breaststroke leg, which could make this race very interesting. 

Women’s 400 IM

• A standard: 4:03.62
• B standard: 4:17.30
• PAC-12 record: 3:54.60 2018 Ella Eastin 
• PAC-12 championship record: 3:56.53 2018 Katie Ledecky
• 2021 NCAA invite time: 4:13.19

Top 3:

1. Brooke Forde, Stanford (4:00.76)
2. Leah Polonsky, Cal (4:03.90)
3. Calypso Sheridan, USC (4:07.18)

Forde of Stanford won her 3rd consecutive Pac-12 400 IM crown with a great back-half. She and Cal’s Polonsky were almost even at the half-way point, but it was game over after Forde’s 1:06.96 breaststroke split. She then closed in 56.06 on the freestyle leg. This time now ranks Forde #1 in the NCAA this season, ahead of Alex Walsh of Virginia (4:01.40).

Sheridan of USC touched 3rd, clocking in .34 faster than her seed time, but still off her best of 4:01.35 seconds. Taking 4th was last year’s runner up Alicia Wilson (4:09.27) of Cal, who touched at 4:02.22 seconds for 2nd last year.

UCLA picked up 5th place points with freshman Paige Maceachern (4:10.62). Cal freshman Annika McEnroe was 6th (4:12.51), adding a half-second from her time this morning. Lindsay Looney of ASU moved up a spot from prelims to touch 7th (4:14.40). She shaved off another second from her prelims time, which was done out of heat one this morning.

Rounding out the top-eight is Taylor McCoy of Washington State (4:17.08), who was also 8th last year (4:15.11).

Women’s 100 Butterfly

• A standard: 50.92
• B standard: 53.76
• PAC-12 record: 49.26 2019 Louise Hansson 
• PAC-12 championship record: 49.34 2019 Louise Hansson
• 2021 NCAA invite time: 52.70

Top 3:

1. Torri Huske, Stanford (49.43)
2. Regan Smith, Stanford (49.87)
3. Emma Wheal, Stanford (52.02)

The Cardinal swept the podium in the 100 butterfly. It was quite the showdown between Olympians and Stanford freshmen Huske and Smith. Huske was out very fast (22.77/26.66), and held on for the win in a lifetime best. This time now makes her #1 in the NCAA and puts her just ahead of Maggie McNeil of Michigan who posted a 49.74 at the B1G Championships. Huske is now tied with Kelsi Dahlia for the #4 performer in NCAA history. Prior to tonight, Huske was the #9 performer in NCAA history.

Smith challenged Huske at the end to take 2nd (23.47/26.40). This also marks a lifetime best for Smith by .01.

The race was on for 3rd place as Wheal got the job done for Stanford. Last year, Wheal was 5th (52.23). Places 3-8 were all separated by just .81. In 4th was Anicka Delgado of USC (52.25), who was 8th last year (52.72). Rachel Klinker of Cal was 5th (52.32). Last year, she was 3rd (51.79). Klinker just out-touched Gabby Dang of UCLA, who finished 6th (52.37). In 2021, Dang was also 6th (52.58). Julia Heimstead of Arizona was 7th (52.51), after taking 11th last year (53.04). Rounding out the top-eight was Sam Baron of UCLA (52.83), who was 2nd last year as a freshman (51.65)

Women’s 200 Freestyle:

• A standard: 1:42.98
• B standard: 1:47.12
• PAC-12 record: 1:39.10 2015 Missy Franklin 
• PAC-12 championship record: 1:40.37 2017 Simone Manuel
• 2021 NCAA invite time: 1:46.25

Top 3:

1. Isabel Ivey, Cal (1:42.29)
2. Laticia-Leigh Transom, USC (1:42.49)
3. Morgan Tankersley, Stanford (1:44.28)

Isabel Ivey of Cal (49.51/52.78) out-split Transom of USC (49.03/53.46) on the back-half to win the 200 freestyle tonight in a new lifetime best.

Again, there was a race for 3rd with Tankersley of Stanford getting 3rd for the Cardinal. She was 4th in this event last year (1:44.63). Mia Motekaitis of Cal touched 4th (1:44.48). Erica Laning of USC moved up two spots from prelims by placing 5th (1:44.67). Rounding out the crew of 1:44’s is Lillie Nordmann of Stanford who maintained her 6th place seed from the psych sheet, through prelims, and in finals (1:44.85).

Cal claimed 7th and 8th as well with Ayla Spitz (1:45.11) and Robin Neumann (1:46.81). Neumann and Spitz went 1-2 for Cal in this event last year posting times of 1:43.40 and 1:44.10, respectively.

Women’s 100 Breaststroke

• A standard: 58.46
• B standard: 1:01.84
• PAC-12 record: 57.36 2016 Sarah Haase 
• PAC-12 championship record: 57.68 2022 Kaitlyn Dobler
• 2021 NCAA invite time: 1:00.12

Top 3:

1. Kaitlyn Dobler, USC (57.31)
2. Allie Raab, Stanford (59.49)
3. Claire Grover, UCLA (59.64)

Dobler had more in the tank this evening, besting her own Pac-12 championship record from morning, and breaking Sarah Haase’s Pac-12 record from 2016. This now moves Dobler to #3 in the NCAA this season behind Sophie Hansson of NC State (56.72) and Alexis Wenger of Virginia (56.76). She’s also now the #5 fastest performer in NCAA history. Grover took 3rd after finishing 4th in 2021 (59.53).

Raab of Stanford kept the Cardinal podium streak alive tonight. She was also 3rd in 2021 (58.74). Taking 4th was Isabelle Odgers of USC, who was the 2nd seed heading into finals. Her teammate, Nicole Pavlopoulou was 5th (59.86). Jade Neser of Arizona moved up from her 8th seed in finals to take 6th (59.88). In 2021, she was 8th (1:00.60).

Eva Carlson of UCLA touched 7th (59.90), and Ema Rajic of Cal was 8th (59.92). In 2021, Rajic was 2nd to Dobler (58.45)

Women’s 100 Backstroke

• A standard: 50.93
• B standard: 53.94
• PAC-12 record: 49.69 2017 Ally Howe
• PAC-12 championship record: 49.69 2017 Ally Howe
• 2021 NCAA invite time: 53.01

Top 3:

1. Regan Smith, Stanford (49.50)
2. Isabelle Stadden, Cal (51.08)
3. Taylor Ruck, Stanford (51.21)

Regan Smith got the win in a Pac-12 meet and conference record time. She broke fellow Cardinal Ally Howe‘s record from 2017 by .19. This now makes Smith the 3rd fastest in NCAA history, behind Beata Nelson (49.18) and Katharine Berkoff (49.41). Berkoff’s time is from ACC Championships last weekend and is also the fastest time in the NCAA this season, with Smith’s mark from tonight putting her 2nd. Smith’s lifetime best is the American Record (49.16), which was set in March 2021.

Stadden denied the Cardinal a 1-2 finish, taking 2nd for the 2nd consecutive year (51.17). Ruck was 2nd at the turn, but finished the race 3rd.

Alicia Bernal of Arizona was 4th (52.05), getting her hand to the wall right before Stanford’s Lucie Nordmann (52.17), who touched 5th. Alex Crisera of Stanford was 6th (52.53) after taking 3rd last year (52.38).

Caroline Famous of USC was 7th (52.77) after qualifying for finals as the 8th seed. Sophia Kosturos of UCLA touched 8th (53.27), after winning the B-final last year (53.26)

Women’s Platform Diving

• PAC-12 record: 383.35 2021 Delaney Schnell
• PAC-12 championship record: 383.35 2021 Delaney Schnell

Top 3:

1. Delaney Schnell, Arizona (312.55)
2. Nike Agunbiade, USC (295.15)
3. Daria Lenz, Stanford (273.05)

Schnell successfully defended her Pac-12 title, after winning the 1-meter competition earlier in the meet. Agunbiade was also 2nd in 2021 (286.50) behind Schnell. Last year, Lenz was 4th behind her teammate Mia Paulsen, who graduated. In 4th was Lenz’s teammate Julia Wortman (256.10). USC took 5th and 6th with Madison Huitt (246.75) and Savannah Stocker (224.00). Stocker was also 6th last year. Placing 7th was freshman Grace Lee of USC (217.70), and in 8th was Lexi Mills of Utah (186.10), who was 13th last year.

Women’s 400 Medley Relay

• A standard: 3:31.66
• B standard: 3:33.78
• PAC-12 record: 3:25.09 2018 Stanford
• PAC-12 championship record: 3:15.14 2018 Stanford

Top 3:

1. Stanford (3:25.54)
2. USC (3:29.09)
3. Cal (3:29.68)

Smith re-set the 100 back Pac-12 conference and championship record, leading off Stanford’s relay in 49.23 seconds. This time now ranks Smith #1 in the NCAA this season, ahead of Berkoff’s 49.41 from last weekend.

Smith’s time gave Stanford a 2.5 second lead over the field. Raab swam the breaststroke leg faster than her time in the individual 100 breaststroke earlier in the session (59.18). Huske followed with a 50.28 split, the fastest in the field by more than one-second. Ruck anchored in 46.85 seconds, which was the 2nd fastest in the field behind Ivey of Cal (46.53).

USC was in 3rd until Dobler had other plans. She threw down a 57.04 breaststroke split, which out-split Rajic of Cal (59.88). Delgado anchored (47.53) instead of Transom, who was 2nd in the 200 freestyle during this session and is seeded 3rd in the 1o0 freestyle on Saturday. Transom notably swam the 50 freestyle exhibition earlier in the meet, which was believed to be in favor of her swimming on an additional relay, so her absence here is puzzling.

Stadden kept it close, producing the 2nd fastest split of the field (51.81), which gave Cal the lead over USC. Ivey dove in two-seconds behind USC and nearly made up the difference in her anchor leg, out-splitting Delgado by a full second, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Dobler’s split for USC.

Team Scores After Day 3

1. Stanford, 1221.5
2. USC, 993.5
3. Cal, 946.5
4. UCLA, 657
5. Arizona, 611.5
6. ASU, 439
7. Utah, 432
8. Washington State, 262