Stanford split a pair of relay events while setting two school records Wednesday evening at the King County Aquatic Center to take control of the leaderboard after the opening session of the 2013 Pac-12 Conference Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships.
Stanford set records in both the 200 medley and 800 free relays, earning 118 points to stand atop the eight-team field. Arizona (116) is second in front of USC (110) and Cal (108).
“We had a nice start to the meet this evening with our relay performances,” Stanford head coach Greg Meehan said. “Andi Murez and Felicia Lee in particular did a great job given they swam on both relays. It was nice to finish the session with a win in the 800, but this was one of seven sessions this week. We need to be ready to go in the morning.”
Stanford continues the meet at 11 a.m. (PT) on Thursday with the prelims of the 500 free, 200 individual medley, 50 free and 3-meter. Thursday’s finals will begin at 6 p.m. Live results for the entire meet will be available at GoStanford.com.
The Cardinal was third in the 200 medley relay with an NCAA A-cut 1:36.54. Lee, Katie Olsen, Maddy Schaefer and Andi Murez broke the previous school mark of 1:36.82 set in 2012. Lee was also part of last season’s record-breaking relay.
Another NCAA A-cut and school record came in the 800 free relay with Lee and Murez pulling double duty. The duo was joined by Maya DiRado and Julia Anderson to finish in 6:57.12.
The previous Cardinal record (6:58.64) stood since 2009.
Cal was second in 6:58.95.
USC’s 200y medley relay finished second and its 800y free relay was third as the No. 1 Trojans finished the two-event opening day of the 2013 Women’s Swimming and Diving Pac-12 Championships in third on Wednesday (Feb. 27) at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Wash.
Troy has 100 points, eight back of first-place No. 4 Stanford (118) and six behind No. 6 Arizona (116). Defending champion No. 2 Cal is fourth (108) and is followed by No. 23 ASU (100), No. 14 UCLA (96), Oregon State (90) and Utah (46). Washington State was disqualified from both relays, the Utes disqualified from one.
The quartet of senior Christel Simms, junior Kasey Carlson and freshmen Kendyl Stewart and Kasia Wilk finished in 1:36.41, 0.19 behind winner Arizona (1:36.22). The Trojans headed into the final leg in second behind Cal with the Wildcats not far behind, but Arizona speedster Margo Geer was first to the wall with Wilk holding off Stanford’s charging Andi Murez for second. Cal fell to fourth.
The Trojans 800y free relay team of freshman Jasmine Tosky, junior Lynette Lim, senior Haley Anderson and junior Stina Gardell turned in a season-best of 7:01.28, 2.16 off the school record set last season.
Defending Pac-12 champion California sits in fourth place after the first day and first two events of the Pac-12 Women's Swimming and Diving Championships on Wednesday evening at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center. The second-ranked Golden Bears had a total of 108 points after taking second place in the second event of the night - the 800-yard freestyle relay.
Sophomore Catherine Breed, sophomore Caroline Piehl, sophomore Melanie Klaren and freshman Elizabeth Pelton swam a time of 6:58.95 in the 800-freestyle relay for the Bears. Fourth-ranked Stanford, which won that relay in a time of 6:57.12, has 118 points to lead the field, sixth-ranked Arizona, which won the 200-yard medley relay in a time of 1:36.22, is second with 116 points and top-ranked USC (110) is third.
Cal posted a fourth-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay - the first event of the conference meet - as the quartet of junior Cindy Tran, senior Caitlin Leverenz, freshman Rachel Bootsma and freshman Rachael Acker posted a time of 1:36.62, which was just four tenths of a second off of the winning time.
"It was an okay start to the meet," Cal head coach Teri McKeever said. "The 800-free relay was good. We had nice splits by all four women, and the B team did great. It was a close 200-medley relay, and we definitely have room for improvement. We probably qualified another individual for NCs, and that's the main objective."
Cal's B team in the 800-free relay - sophomore Camille Cheng, freshman Lauren Driscoll, freshman Kelly Naze and freshman Alicia Grima - clocked a time of 7:07.45 and would have placed sixth if Cal's A team had not competed.
