The Arizona women’s swimming team opened the Pac-12 Championships with a pair of top-four finishes in relay events on Wednesday night inside Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center.
The evening started with a fourth-place finish in the 200 medley relay as the team of Alana Pazevic, Eve Sarris, Katja Hajdinjak and Margo Geer touched in 1:38.72. Stanford (1:35.74) won the event followed by Cal and USC.
To close out the two-event opening night, the Wildcats earned a fourth-place finish in the 800 free relay as the team of Grace Finnegan, Margo Geer, Bonnie Brandon and Taylor Schick clocked in with a time of 7:03.69. Cal took first followed by Stanford and USC.
The Wildcats sit fourth in the team standings after night one with 104 points. Cal (120) and Stanford (120) share the team lead with USC (108) rounding out the top-three.
The second day of the event will begin tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. with prelims of the 500 free, 200 IM and the 50 free. Meanwhile, diving will get underway with the 3-meter prelims.
California
As confidence builders go, Wednesday’s results at the Pac-12 Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships had plenty to offer California. The Golden Bears closed out the opening night with a conference meet record in the 800-yard free relay after starting off with a runner-up showing in the 200 medley relay.
With a quartet comprised of Missy Franklin, Rachael Acker, Caroline Piehl and Elizabeth Pelton, Cal rolled to a nearly five-second victory in the 800 free relay, finishing in 6:53.57. The time was well ahead of the previous Pac-12 record of 6:56.87 set in 2008 and less than a second off Cal’s own NCAA record of 6:52.69. Stanford was second in 6:58.57.
“I know we were all really excited going into the relay, being our first race of the week,” said Piehl, whose split of 1:43.19 on the third leg pushed the Bears out to a three-second advantage. “We all think we can go faster for NC’s. We were about a second off the American record. We’ll definitely be going for that at NC’s. It was a great start to the meet. We have some good momentum moving forward.”
Cal head coach Teri McKeever echoed Piehl’s sentiments.
“Absolutely,” McKeever said. “It got us back on track to where we want to be. Caroline had a monster swim. She’s had a good year and I’m very happy for her.”
In the medley relay, the foursome of Rachel Bootsma, Yvette Kong, Cindy Tran and Franklin finished in 1:36.06, placing just behind Stanford’s 1:35.74. The Bears’ result was their fastest of the season, surpassing the 1:36.91 mark from AT&T Winter Nationals in December.
Cal trailed the Cardinal by more than a second after the first two legs, but couldn’t quick close the gap despite a 22.68 split by Tran in the butterfly and a 21.68 split by Franklin in the free.
In the team standings, Cal and Stanford are tied at the top with 120 points apiece. USC is next with 108 points and Arizona fourth with 104.
In addition to the two scoring relays, both of Cal’s B relays also posted impressive times. The 200 medley relay of Stephanie Au, Marina Garcia, Farida Osman and Kaylin Bing finished in 1:37.01, which was the fifth fastest of all swims on the night. In addition, Camille Cheng, Catherine Breed, Celina Li and Melanie Klaren were timed in 7:04.49 in the 800 free relay, which also ranked fifth among relays Wednesday. Leading off, Cheng’s mark of 1:44.61 in the 200 free was the second fastest of all opening legs on the day (only behind Franklin’s 1:42.89) and moves her up to No. 14 in the country in the event so far this season.
“Almost everybody got a swim today, which is very good,” McKeever said. “It gets the nerves out a little bit. Tomorrow morning, we need to come in ready and be strong. We need to get some women in scoring position.”
Southern Cal
No. 2 USC kicked off the 2014 Pac-12 Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships with a pair of third-place finishes in the 200y medley and 800y free relays in Federal Way, Wash., on Wednesday (Feb. 26).
USC is third after the first day with 108 points. Cal and Stanford are tied for first (120) while Arizona is fourth (104) and followed by UCLA (100), Utah (94), Washington State (92), Oregon State (86) and Arizona State (46).
The Trojans, who finished second last year, opened with a third in the 200y medley relay as the quartet of sophomore Kendyl Stewart, senior Kasey Carlson and sophomores Jasmine Tosky and Kasia Wilk took third in 1:36.54, the second fastest time of the season.
In the 800y free relay, freshman Chelsea Chenault, senior Lynette Lim, freshman Lexie Malazdrewicz and Tosky took third in 7:01.65, improving on Troy’s season-best NCAA ‘A’ cut. Chenault’s leadoff time of 1:44.65 lowered her USC season-best in the event.
Stanford
Stanford opened its Pac-12 Conference title defense by getting first- and second-place finishes in two relay events Wednesday night at King County Aquatics Center.
The Cardinal won the 200 medley relay to open the meet and finished second in the 800 free relay during the only two events of the night. Stanford and Cal are tied for first with 120 points, while USC is in third with 108.
Felicia Lee, Katie Olsen, Nicole Stafford and Maddy Schaefer combined to smash the previous program record in the 200 medley relay. The group finished in 1:35.74, 0.8 seconds faster than the 1:36.54 Stanford used to finish third in the event last year.
Lee started the race with the fastest backstroke portion (23.67) and Maddy Schaefer (21.70) held off Cal’s Missy Franklin in the final freestyle leg. Olsen swam the breaststroke (26.83) and Stafford completed the butterfly (23.54) through the middle of the event.
California won the 800 free relay in 6:53.57 behind a strong 1:42.89 leadoff from Franklin. Stanford was behind the Bears in 6:58.23, with Maya DiRado clocking a 1:43.28 for the Cardinal’s best leg.
Julia Anderson started with a 1:44.76, DiRado was second, Schaefer touched in 1:45.84 during the third leg and Lia Neal finished the event by covering the distance in 1:44.35.
The meet resumes tomorrow at 11 a.m. with the 500 free, 200 IM and 50 free prelims. One-meter diving prelims and finals will be held at 3 p.m. and the finals from the morning swims will start at 6 p.m.
Notes
Stanford is looking for its second straight Pac-12 title and fourth championship in the last five years … Stanford’s 200 medley relay time of 1:35.74 is the second quickest in the country behind Georgia (1:35.52) … Cal’s 800 free relay is the second fast time in the country behind Georgia (6:53.04) … Stanford’s 800 free relay is the third best time in the NCAA to date … The Cardinal went 10-0 in dual meets in 2013-14, including a 7-0 mark against Pac-12 teams.
Utah
A new school record in the 800 free relay was the highlight for the Utah women’s swimming and diving team after the first day of the Pac-12 Championships.
“It was a great first night for the Utes here at the Pac-12 Championships. On our medley relays, we struggled a little bit with our starts but still swam fast. Even our B and C relays put up a lot of best times. Then to cap it off with our 800 free relay and a new school record by a couple NCAA B cuts. Great splits across the boards; hopefully we can take that relay to Minneapolis in a few weeks,” said Utah head coach Joe Dykstra about the first day of competition.
Swartz, Sami Zuch, Amanda Barrett and Maryssa McArthur teamed together to take sixth in the 800 free relay with a time of 7:11.05, which is a NCAA B qualifying time.
In the 200 medley relay, the team of Traycie Swartz, Nicole Ligeza, Petra Soininen and Giuliana Gigliotti touched in seventh with a time of 1:40.58.
