Pac-12 Weekly Analysis: Stanford, Cal, USC Will Make Conference Interesting

Abbey Weitzeil. Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

By Dan D’Addona.

The Pac-12 women’s swimming race has been led by Stanford and Cal all season, and with the rise of USC, all three teams are currently ranked in the top six in the country.

It adds up to a lot of fast swimmers going head to head with a conference championship on the line. Plus there will be the added mystery of which swimmers and teams taper for the Pac-12 meet, which ones do a partial taper and who won’t taper at all. Since all three contenders could be in the running for trophies at the NCAA meet, their focus will be ahead, which means things can get a little crazy at a conference meet.

Stanford still has the most returning points from last year’s NCAAs and that doesn’t include the addition or re-addition of three Olympians — Katie Ledecky, Simone Manuel and Kassidy Cook. That is going to be tough to stop at NCAAs and Pac-12s.

Cal, meanwhile, has plenty of top-level talent with Kathleen Baker, Abbey Weitzeil, Amy Bilquist, Farida Osman, Celina Li and Katie McLaughlin. But the depth isn’t quite as strong as Stanford’s.

USC has a chance to really make things crazy a the Pac-12 meet because the Trojans are loaded with depth, but have just a couple of top-level swimmers with Louise Hansson, Riley Scott and Becca Mann. That depth goes a long way at a conference meet and could cause some surprises.

USC was off this week, but here is a look at how Cal and Stanford did on Saturday.

Stanford continued its strong weekend showing with a second consecutive road victory.

Junior Janet Hu won four events and senior Kassidy Cook swept the diving events to lead No. 2 Stanford women’s swimming and diving to a 190-104 victory at No. 17 Arizona on Saturday.

Hu swept the backstroke events, and also claimed the top spot in the 100-yard butterfly. She won the 100 back with a finish of 52.90. Later, she touched the wall at 1:55.34 and edged freshman teammate Allie Szekely (1:55.90) for the backstroke sweep. She then capped her day with a first-place finish of 52.50 in the fly.

Hu was also part of Stanford’s winning 200 medley relay as the Cardinal was tops in both relays for the second straight day. Ally Howe, Heidi Poppe, Hu and Simone Manuel finished the 200 MR in 1:39.05, while Lia Neal, Manuel, Howe and Lindsey Engel raced to stop the clock at 1:31.17 in the 200 free relay.

Neal was first in the 200-yard freestyle (1:46.39), Poppe touched first in the 100 breaststroke (1:03.12), and Manuel claimed first in the 50 free (22.79). Manuel also won the 100 free at 48.98.

Meanwhile, on the diving boards, Cook and Haley Farnsworth were 1-2 on the 1-meter with scores of 300.08 and 290.55, respectively. Cook then made it a clean sweep when she totaled 283.58 on 3-meter.

Sophomore Ella Eastin won twice with victories in the 200 breast (2:16.82) and the 200 fly (1:57.47).

Freshman Katie Ledecky made it a perfect 5-for-5 for her collegiate career in the 500 free. The American record holder won by 14 seconds with a time of 4:36.97. Ledecky swam exhibition in the 400 individual medley and topped the field at 4:11.74.

Arizona freshman Hannah Cox took second in the 200 free (1:48.06), behind Neal. Cox was then runner-up in the 500 free with 4:50.58, second to Ledecky.

In the men’s meet, No. 8 Stanford completed a perfect road trip with a 170-118 win against No. 18 Arizona.

Jimmy Yoder (1:39.70) won the 200-yard freestyle. Abrahm DeVine (3:55.83) claimed the top spot in the 400-yard individual medley. Matt Anderson (55.84) won the 100-yard breaststroke.

Arizona’s Chatham Dobbs first won the 50 free with a time of 20.43 and the 100 fly with a time of 48.61.

Cal sweeps Arizona State

The Cal men beat Arizona State 160-130 to win their second dual meet in as many days.

Sophomore Nick Norman won the 1,000 freestyle in 9:14.05. Long Gutierrez won the 200 freestyle in 1:35.34.

Ryan Murphy picked up the first of two backstroke wins with a dominant effort in the 100, cruising to a time of 46.42. He won the 200 with a time of 1:41.22, a pool record.

In the women’s meet, Cal won 181-111.

Sophomore Amy Bilquist, who captured two backstroke events against Arizona, came through with a pair of victories in the free at the 100- and 200-yard distances. Sophomore Kathleen Baker, an Olympic silver medalist in the 100-meter back, won the 100 and 200 back, while sophomore Katie McLaughlin won in both the 200 butterfly and 500 free.

Olympic medalist Abbey Weitzeil won the 50 free and junior Noemie Thomas won the 100 fly, as she remained undefeated in the event this season. In addition, senior Celina Li captured the 400 individual medley and the Bears won the 200 free relay.

Arizona State’s Silja Kansakoski won the 100 breast (1:01.30).

Check out the full results here.

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