California continued to roll on day two of the 2015 Pac-12 Women’s Swimming and Men’s and Women’s Diving Championships at the Weyerhaeuser King Country Aquatic Center, with Cierra Runge adding another NCAA record this time in the 500 free, and with the team sweeping the night’s swimming events. On the diving boards, Stanford’s Kristian Ipsen defended his one meter title, picking up a win, while fellow Cardinal diver Alexandra Clay finished first in the women’s three meter.
After the morning session preliminaries in the 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard individual medley and 50-yard freestyle determined the night’s finals participants, the men’s and women’s diving championships got underway. In the men’s one-meter dive, eight entries dove their way to the finals. Stanford’s Kristian Ipsen, last year’s champion, finished in first again this year with a score of 459.25, followed by Arizona’s Rafael Quintero (444.60) and Utah’s Jacob Crayne (383.75).
As the evening rolled around it was time for the finals in the 500-free, 200-IM and 50-free. Two consolation rounds were followed by eight swimmers competing in each main event. Cierra Runge opened the night of swimming with a bang, setting an NCAA record in the 500-free with a time of 4:31:90. USC’s Chelsea Chenault took second with a 4:37.55 and Arizona’s Bonnie Brandon posted a 4:38.87 to pick up third place.
In the 200-IM, California sophomore Missy Franklin collected her fourth-career Pac-12 individual title after recording a 1:53.47, touching the wall 33-hundredths of a second in front of her teammate Elizabeth Pelton (1:53.80). Another Golden Bear, Celina Lee, finished third with a 1:55.52.
In the 50-free final California picked up its fifth win of the championship as Farida Osman took first with 21.65. Stanford’s Simone Manuel came in second with a time of 21.81 and UCLA’s Linnea Mack and Stanford’s Janet Hu finished tied for third (22.13).
Before the 200-yard freestyle relay could end day two, the women’s three-meter diving finals provided the biggest surprise of the night as Stanford’s Alexandra Clay dove her way to a first place finish in the event finishing with a score of 363.95, followed by Arizona’s Samantha Pickens (352.95) and ASU’s Hailey Casper (343.35).
Day two ended with the 200-free relay. California, Stanford and Arizona State went 1-2-3. The Golden Bears posted a meet record 1:27.18 and the Cardinal and Sun Devils finished 1:28.02 and 1:30.16 respectively.
At the end of day two, California took a solid lead as its total increased to 550 heading into the third day of competition on Friday. Stanford finished in second (512.5) followed by USC (377), Arizona (370), UCLA (266.5), Utah (249), Arizona State (207), Washington State (160) and Oregon State (156).
Preliminaries and finals for the 400-yard individual medley, 100-yard butterfly, 200-yard freestyle, 100-yard breaststroke and 100-yard backstroke are set for Friday in addition to the prelims and semifinals for the men’s three-meter dive and the women’s one-meter dive. Action begins at 11 a.m. PT. Action from the first two days of competition will air at 10 a.m. PT on Pac-12 Networks.
Arizona
Day one and two of the Pac-12 Championships for diving and women’s swimming have concluded at Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center. The women got off to a great start with multiple top three finishes in addition to NCAA “A” and “B” cuts.
On day one there were two events, both of which were relays. The team of Taylor Schick, Bonnie Brandon, Elizabeth Pepper and Cameron McHugh placed third in the 800 free relay with a time of 7:03.64, also earning a NCAA “A” cut. The California team of Cierra Runge, Elizabeth Pelton, Caroline Piehl and Missy Franklin broke the national record in the event with 6:50.18. In the 200 medley relay, Brandon, Lauren Stoeckle, Paige Kremer and Schick took fifth in 1:38.52.
Day two of the Pac-12 Championships also brought success for the Wildcats with Brandon finishing third in the 500 free (4:38.87), earning another NCAA “B” cut in the event. Tjasa Oder placed second in the B final with 4:44.75, also receiving another “B” cut.
In the 200 IM, Shannyn Hultin took 15th with a time of 2:01.47 earning a NCAA “B” cut while Cameron McHugh took 19th with 2:02.63. Schick added another “B” cut for the Wildcats with her first place finish in the B final of the 50 free (22.50).
Day three of the diving and women's Pac-12 Championships will continue tomorrow starting at 12:00 p.m. MST.
USC
Sophomore Chelsea Chenault finished second in the 500y free, one of five Trojans to compete in finals on the second day of the 2015 Pac-12 Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships in Federal Way, Wash., on Thursday (Feb. 26).
The Trojans moved from fourth to third after the second day of action. California is in first.
Chenault took second in the 500y free in 4:37.55, her third career top 3 finish at the Pac-12s and her fourth final in as many events. Junior Joanna Stenkvist made her Pac-12 final debut tonight and finished seventh in the final in 4:45.56 after going 4:44.76 in prelims.
A pair of Trojans reached the final of the 200y IM as junior Jasmine Tosky finished seventh (1:58.80) and senior Andrea Kropp took eighth (1:59.56), each making their second appearance in the Pac-12 final. In the ‘B’ final, sophomore Maggie D’Innocenzo was sixth (14th overall) in 2:01.05.
Junior Kasia Wilk tied Cal’s Kris Vredeveld in the 50y free prelims with a 22.60, but lost the swim off and joined sophomore Evan Swenson in the ‘B’ final. Swenson swam a 22.64 in prelims, just missing an ‘A’ spot as well.
In the ‘B’ final, Swenson finished second (10th overall) in 22.54 to tie her personal best while Wilk was sixth (14th) in 22.76.
Senior Haley Ishimatsu, the defending conference champion on 3-meter, finished fifth with 334.65 points
Junior Natalie Kalibat finished 11th on 3-meter (270.25), just off her season best. Junior Jacqui Suitt was 20th (236.05), junior Sam Adams was 23rd (231.95), freshman Alexa Cacao was 29th (206.65) and freshman Annie Whelan was 31st (190.65).
USC’s closed the day with a fourth place in the 200y free relay as Wilk, Swenson and juniors Kendyl Stewart and Tosky swam a 1:30.29.
Stanford
Junior diver Alex Clay won the three-meter competition at the Pac-12 Championships Thursday to help the Stanford women’s swimming and diving team stay in second place through two days of the four-day meet. Three Cardinal filled the top five spots of the 50-yard freestyle in the team’s top swimming event of the evening, as California leads Stanford, 550-512.5.
“We had a great team performance today,” said head coach Greg Meehan. “One of the best days at a Pac-12 meet, top to bottom, in the last three years. Sarah Haase continues to impresa and Alex Clay was a hammer in winning the three-meter dive.”
Clay posted a 363.95, well ahead of Arizona’s Samantha Pickens (352.95) and Arizona State’s Hailey Casper (343.35). It is the first Pac-12 title for the Powell, Ohio, native.
Freshman Simone Manuel was second in the 50 free (21.81), Stanford's highest individual swimming finish of the second evening session of the meet. Fellow freshman Janet Hu tied for third (22.13) and sophomore Lia Neal was .01 behind for fifth (22.14).
Haase improved on an eighth-place preliminary time in the 200-yard IM to finish fourth in the final behind three Cal Bears. The human biology major’s 1:57.01 in the final is her personal best and No. 8 time in Stanford history. Sophomore Grace Carlson (1:57.71) was in sixth with a B-cut time that is expected to qualify her for the NCAA meet.
Stanford's other second-place effort came in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:28.02). Cal’s 1:27.18 set a Pac-12 meet record.
Junior biology major Allison Brown and senior public policy major Mackenzie Stein started the night by taking with eighth (4:48.41) and ninth (4:43.65), respectively, in the 500-yard freestyle. Brown had qualified in fourth with a morning prelim time of 4:41.30, tied for the sixth best time in program history.
Stanford Men
Kristian Ipsen was victorious off the 1-meter board for the third straight season Thursday at the Pac-12 Diving Championships held at the Weyerhaeuser King Country Aquatic Center.
It was Ipsen’s third 1-meter title and fourth overall at the league meet.
Ipsen’s 459.25 in the finals was enough to clear himself from second-place Rafael Quintero of Arizona State and his 445.60. Bradley Christensen (321.80) moved up from seventh in the prelims to fifth overall.
Tarek Abdelghany (299.70) was 10th and Ted Miclau (295.40) took 12th.
Utah
The Utah women’s swimming and diving team dropped one spot to sixth-place following the second day of action at the 2015 Pac-12 Championships at Weyerhaeuser King Country Aquatic Center.
After two days of competition, California leads the championships with 550 points heading into the third day of competition on Friday. Stanford finished in second (512.5) followed by USC (377), Arizona (370), UCLA (266.5), Utah (249), Arizona State (207), Washington State (160) and Oregon State (156).
In the finals of the 500 free, freshman Maddie Meisel touched the wall in 4:45.12 for the third-fastest time in school history. She finished third in the “B” finals with her NCAA B-standard time and 11th overall. Junior Maryssa McArthur finished eighth in the “B” final with a time of 4:52.32 and freshman Kat Wickham finished in fifth in the “C” final with a time of 4:52.94.
Senior Giuliana Gigliotti recorded a personal-best and Utah’s second-fastest mark all-time with a NCAA B-standard time of 22.28 in the 50 free, finishing seventh overall and senior Maddie Jamora touched in fifth-place in the “B” finals to finish in 13th-place. Meanwhile, sophomore Rhianna Williams finished 21st overall with a time of 23.21.
The 200 free relay team of Jamora, Dorien Butter, Williams and Giuliana took eighth with a time of 1:31.28.
In women’s diving, sophomore Amanda Casillas tallied a score of 252.35 to finish in 16th-place in the three-meter, while senior Jasmine Matkovic posted a score of 250.85 to finish in 18th place.
Junior Jacob Crayne recorded a podium finish for the Utes in men’s diving, taking third-place in the one-meter with 383.75 points.
“I am really proud of Jacob and how well he did today,” said Utah head diving coach Richard Marschner. “Not only because of the result, but because of the hard work that he has put in this season. It paid off really well with a podium finish and it is not bad being up there with a couple of Olympians next to you. I am happy that he was able to do that.
“I am proud of our girls, as well. They had a couple of tough dives, but every one of them finished really strong and we have a lot to build on going into tomorrow.”
Washington State
In the second day of competition at the 2015 Pac-12 Swimming & Diving Championships, Washington State broke the school record in the 200 free relay and recorded 11 career-best times. The Cougars qualified four swimmers for the evening finals session and are currently in eighth place with 160 points, ahead of Oregon State (156).
For the second time this season, the Washington State relay team of Alison Mand, Nicole Proulx, Hannah Bruggman, and Haley Rose Love set a school record in the 200 free relay. The WSU quartet knocked nearly a half-second off of the record, clocking a time of 1:31.09. The time gave the Cougars a sixth-place finish in the event, ahead of Arizona (1:31.21), Utah (1:31.28), and Oregon State (1:34.21).
In the preliminary heats of the 50 free, WSU senior Nicole Proulx swam the third-fastest time in WSU history. The Anaheim, Calif., native clocked a time of 22.91 seconds, the fastest by a Cougar this season, and an NCAA ‘B’ qualifying time. It is the fastest WSU performance since the 2013 Pac-12 Championships when Emma Johansson finished in 22.78 seconds. Only former-Olympian Rugile Mileisyte (22.45) owns a better time. Proulx went on to finish eighth (16th overall) in the ‘B’ final to earn the Cougars 11 points.
Freshman Hannah Bruggman just missed the cut for the evening’s finals, as she recorded a career-best time of 23.17 seconds in the preliminary heats. Her performance was the fifth-fastest in WSU history. In total, six Washington State swimmers set personal-best marks in the event, including sophomore Haley Rose Love (23.26), freshman Anna Brolin (23.72), sophomore Hailey Johnson (23.62), and freshman Talisa Wibmer (24.19).
The Cougars qualified two swimmers for the finals of the 500 free. Sophomore Elise Locke and freshman Rachel Thompson both recorded career-best finishes in the prelims of the event, only to best each time by over a second in the finals. Locke finished with a time of 4:53.62 in the ‘C’ final to finish sixth (22nd overall). Thompson followed closely with a personal best of 4:53.88, finishing 24th overall.
In the 200 IM, junior Loree Olson qualified for the ‘C’ final with a prelim time of 2:03.90. Olson shaved over a second off of her time in the final, touching the wall in 2:02.70 to finish fourth (20th overall) and contribute five points to the WSU total. Junior Shaya Schaedler just missed the cut for the evening session, clocking a person-best time of 2:04.31, the ninth-fastest time in WSU history.
