Maya DiRado won the 400 individual medley in 4:00.58 as Stanford remained on top of the pack through Friday’s action at the 2013 Pac-12 Conference Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships. DiRado’s time was good for an NCAA A-cut to help bring her team’s point total to 953.5 for the first-place Cardinal.
With one day remaining, Stanford is trailed by second-place USC (945.5), Cal (883.5), Arizona (775) and UCLA (614.5) among the nine scoring teams competing at the King County Aquatic Center.
“This was a great day of racing and diving today,” Stanford head coach Greg Meehan said. “We were excellent from start to finish, and we’ve put ourselves in a position to compete for a team championship tomorrow.”
The final day of the championships starts Saturday with the platform prelims at 10 a.m. (PT). The swimming portion kicks off at 11 a.m. with the finals set for 6 p.m. Live results will be available at GoStanford.com.
Andi Murez steamed to second in the 200 free, going 1:44.72 behind Cal’s Rachael Acker (1:44.66). Julia Anderson tapped in at 1:45.53 for fourth.
Felicia Lee (52.32) was seventh in the 100 fly and took bronze honors in the 100 back (51.53) with an NCAA A-cut.
In the 200 breast, third-place Sarah Haase went 59.54 as teammate Katie Olsen (1:00.18) was fourth. Rounding out the top-eight were Annemarie Thayer (53.24) and Maddy Schaefer (53.85).
Three Cardinal finished in the top eight of the 1-meter event, paced by fifth-place Sloane Brazina (296.30). Stephanie Phipps, who won the 3-meter event on Thursday, placed sixth with 290.70 points. Alexandra Clay (276.70) was eighth.
“We dove very well today with breakout performances by Sloane and Alex,” heading diving coach Rick Schavone said. “Stephanie was very solid as expected.”
Stanford closed the session by logging a 3:32.36 in the 400 medley relay. The mark set by DiRado, Haase, Lee and Schaefer was good for an NCAA A-cut.
Freshman Kendyl Stewart (100y fly) and Junior Kasey Carlson (100y breast) each won titles, junior Stina Gardell led four finalists in the 400y IM with a third-place finish and sophomore diver Haley Ishimatsu took second on 1-meter springboard to lead No. 1 USC’s strong team effort on Friday (March 1) of the 2013 Women’s Pac-12 Swimming and Diving Championships at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Wash.
USC, seeking its first Pac-12 title (Troy won it four times in the WCAA, last in 1985), is still in second place with 945.5 points, but only eight behind first place Stanford (953.5). Defending champion Cal is third (883.5) and is followed by Arizona (775), UCLA (614.5), ASU (572), Utah (232), Oregon State (212) and Washington State (128).
Stewart won just USC’s second-ever 100y fly crown with a wire-to-wire win in 51.32, a national-leading time and breaking the school record of 51.34 set by Lyndsay DePaul in her 2011 Pac-10 title swim. Fellow freshman Jasmine Tosky also reached the final and took eighth in 52.34.
Senior Lindsay Parrish finished a career-best 10th in the 100y fly in 53.11, lowering her P.R. by almost a second. Senior Yumi finished 13th (53.43).
Carlson won the 100y breast with a 59.22, not as quick as her blistering 58.92 prelim, but plenty fast enough to capture USC’s first title in the race since Rebecca Soni won it for the third time in 2009. Arizona senior Ellyn Baumgardner was second in 59.52.
Senior Jessica Schmitt, not long after swimming in the 400y IM final, posted another sixth-place finish with a 1:00.68 in the 100y breast, her best result among three career finals in the race. Sophomore Andrea Kropp, eighth in the 200y IM Thursday, was seventh in the 100y breast in 1:00.75.
Gardell led a 3-4-5-6 finish in the 400y IM with a 4:05.05 and was followed by junior Meghan Hawthorne (4:06.76) in fourth, senior Haley Anderson in fifth (4:10.97) and Schmitt in sixth (4:11.31). For Gardell, it was a career-high finish in her third Pac-12 final in the event while Hawthorne repeated her fourth from 2012 and Anderson did the same in fifth. Schmitt’s sixth place, like in the 400y IM, was a career best in her third final in the event. Gardell and Hawthorne were third and fifth, respectively, in the 200y IM Thursday, while Anderson was coming off her title in the 500y free.
Ishimatsu posted her second straight final appearance, finishing second on 1-meter with 314.05 points, 20.30 behind ASU winner Morgan Weller. Ishimatsu, younger sister of USC’s seven-time conference champion Victoria, was in third before climbing into second place on her final dive.
USC didn’t have anyone in the ‘A’ final of the 100y back, but it made the most of its four swimmer in the ‘B’ final, taking the top four spots, led by So, who won the heat in 53.21 (she won the ‘B’ final last year, too). Stewart followed her win in the 100y fly with a 10th in the 100y back (53.27) while freshman Henriette Stenkvist made her Pac-12 scoring debut in 11th in 53.58 (after posting a P.R. 53.45 in prelims). Senior Christel Simms was 12th (53.76). Junior Ashely Brewer added scoring in the ‘C’ final, taking 22nd (55.62).
USC didn’t have anyone in the ‘A’ final of the 200y free either, but junior Lynette Lim tied for first in the ‘B’ final in 1:46.45, a season-best swim. Senior Kate Shumway was 11th in 1:47.11, posting a career-best finish in the race with her second P.R. of the day (she went 1:47.68 in prelims). Freshman Kasia Wilk, a finalist in the 50y free, won the ‘C’ final in 1:48.25.
The Trojans closed the night with a third place in the 400y medley relay as So, Carlson, Stewart and Wilk swam a USC season best 3:30.57, 0.75 off the school record. Arizona won the race in 3:28.91 with Cal second (3:30.18).
Freshman Brianna Weinstein scored twice in ‘C’ finals, taking 21st in the 100y breast (1:04.76) and 24th in the 400y IM (4:23.26). Senior Jordan Danny scored in the 100y breast, taking 18th (1:03.24).
Freshmen Rachel Bootsma and Rachael Acker won their first conference titles to lift second-ranked California to third place on Friday night at the Pac-12 Championships with one day remaining. The Golden Bears ended the night with 883.5 points, with only leader Stanford (953.5 points) and second-place USC (945.5) ahead of the defending Pac-12 champion on the third day of competition at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center.
Bootsma edged junior teammate Cindy Tran - the defending conference champion and the two-time defending NCAA champion in the 100-yard backstroke - to claim this year's 100-yard backstroke crown. With an automatic NCAA qualifying time of 50.64, Bootsma also set a meet record, surpassing Tran's winning time of 50.65 from 2012 Pac-12s. In tonight's final, Tran clocked an NCAA A time of 51.43 to take second place. Bears filled four of the top five spots in the 100-back final, as junior Stephanie Au finished third (51.92, NCAA A) and sophomore Melanie Klaren took fourth (52.17, NCAA B).
Acker won the first title of the night in the 200-yard freestyle with an NCAA B time of 1:44.66. Four Bears also reached the A final of the 200 free, as sophomore co-captain Caroline Piehl came in third with an NCAA B time of 1:45.50, sophomore Camille Cheng clocked an NCAA B time of 1:46.60 to take seventh and sophomore Catherine Breed swam a time of 1:48.55 to place eighth.
Cal - which was in fourth place through the first two days of the meet - has captured a total of three individual titles so far at Pac-12s, with freshmen winning all three. Elizabeth Pelton won the 200-yard individual medley on Thursday.
"I'm really proud of our performances today," Cal head coach Teri McKeever said. "Two freshmen winning Pac-12 championship titles was special. Having four Golden Bears in the 200-free and 100-back finals was a terrific accomplishment. I'm looking forward to tough racing tomorrow."
Cal co-captain Caitlin Leverenz almost successfully defended her 2012 400-yard individual medley Pac-12 title, but she fell short by just one hundredth of a second. Tonight the senior took second place with an automatic NCAA qualifying time of 4:00.59, behind Stanford's Maya DiRado's 4:00.58. Lauren Driscoll, yet another talented freshman Bear, placed eighth in the A final with an NCAA B time of 4:15.39.
Earlier in the evening, Bootsma and Tran finished 2-3 in the 100 butterfly, as Bootsma posted an NCAA A time of 51.78 and Tran swam an NCAA A time of 52.05; USC's Kendly Stewart won the race (51.32, NCAA A).
Junior Melissa Bates collected Cal's best finish in the 100 breaststroke, clocking an NCAA B time of 1:01.34 to finish 10th, while sophomore teammate Yvette Kong placed 16th in an NCAA B time of 1:02.42.
In the B final of the one-meter springboard, Cal junior Kahley Rowell posted a score of 242.30 to place 16th overall, while freshman teammate Sara-Lina Boushakra, in the C final, finished 21st overall with a score of 214.25.
Cal ended the night with second-place finish in the 400-yard medley relay. The quartet of Tran, Leverenz, Bootsma and Acker swam an NCAA A time of 3:30.18 to finish behind Arizona's winning relay (3:28.91, NCAA A).
For the third night in a row, the Arizona women’s swim team closed out the night with a relay victory. After winning the 200 free relay and the 200 medley relay, the Wildcats perhaps put up their best performance of the meet by scorching the field in the 400 medley relay on day three of the Pac-12 Championships at Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center on Friday.
For the second straight night, Arizona won the “A” final and “B” final in a relay. To start off the 400 medley relay, the “B” team of Bonnie Brandon, Chelsey Salli, Ashley Evans and Kait Flederbach earned a NCAA “A” cut time of 3:34.51.
Then, in the “A” final, Lauren Smart, Ellyn Baumgardner, Megan Lafferty and Margo Geer scorched the field with a time of 3:28.91 to earn another relay Pac-12 title. The time was just short of a school and American record of 3:28.31 set by the 2009 squad at the NCAA Championships, but it does go down as the fastest time nationally this season.
“The “B” team made an “A” cut and our “A” team had the swim of the meet in my eyes,” head coach Eric Hansen said. “Everybody was unshaved and to do what they did really gets me fired up for March. They are all great racers and it really showed tonight.”
The Cats also had plenty of success on the individual side as Lafferty came in fourth (52.10) and Smart finished sixth (52.24) in the 100 fly to lead off the night. Smart also finished sixth in the 100 back later on in the night with a time of 52.45. Evans finished with her top time in the 100 fly of 53.55.
With three Wildcats in the finals of the 100 breast, Baumgardner led the charge by turning in a strong performance by coming in second with a time of 59.52. Salli came in fifth (1:00.83) and freshman Emma Schoettmer (1:01.34) was eighth.
In the diving competition, Samantha Pickens claimed third place in the 1m with a score of 312.90. Pickens already earned a second place finish in the 3m yesterday. On the men’s side, freshman Rafael Quintero added on to his already stellar season by finishing second in the 3m dive with 400.30 points. Olympic medalist Kristian Ipsen of Stanford finished in first with 443.40 points.
The Wildcats currently sit in fourth place in the team standings with 775 points. Stanford leads the way with 953.5 points followed by USC with 945.5 points and Cal with 883.5. UCLA rounds out the top five with 614.5.
