Kathleen Baker, Simone Manuel Among Day 4 Top Seeds at Women’s Pac-12 Championships

Photo Courtesy: Chuckarelei / Pac-12

The final morning session of the women’s Pac-12 championships in Federal Way, Wash., featured a pair of strong efforts from Olympians Kathleen Baker and Simone Manuel, each of whom claimed the top seeds in their respective events.

Another Olympian, Abbey Weitzeil, did not compete in the prelims of the 100 free, in which she was the top seed, after a scary moment after her 200 free final Friday night where she was laying on the pool deck for several minutes. Weitzeil’s lane four block in heat eight was empty, and Swimming World is working to learn more about her health and her status going forward.

Cal’s Baker stormed to the top seed in the 200 back as she clocked 1:50.11 in the final heat. That time was just off her season best of 1:49.83 from the Georgia Invite that currently ranks second in the country. Baker, who finished second Friday night in the 100 back in a quick 50.27, will be looking to pick up her first individual Pac-12 title in the final.

Baker will be bracketed by a quartet of Stanford swimmers. Janet Hu, who was the top seed out of prelims in both the 100 fly and 100 back Friday, qualified third in 1:51.55, while Allie Szekely swam a lifetime best time of 1:52.15 to qualify third. Ally Howe, the new American record-holder in the 100 back, touched fourth in 1:52.17, and Erin Voss finished fifth in 1:53.29.

Baker will have two of her own teammates in the final as well as Amy Bilquist finished sixth in 1:53.35, and Keaton Blovad was eighth in 1:54.00. Also making the final was UCLA’s Madison White, who qualified seventh in 1:53.39.

Event 16  Women 200 Yard Backstroke
==================================================================
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Baker, Kathleen        SO CAL-PC            1:49.83    1:50.11  
       25.76    27.88    28.43    28.04
  2 Hu, Janet              JR STAN-PC           1:50.69    1:51.55  
       26.22    28.47    28.50    28.36
  3 Szekely, Allie         FR STAN-PC           1:54.81    1:52.15  
       26.97    28.15    28.42    28.61
  4 Howe, Ally             JR STAN-PC           1:52.65    1:52.17  
       26.45    28.53    28.83    28.36
  5 Voss, Erin             FR STAN-PC           1:53.43    1:53.29  
       27.06    28.55    29.09    28.59
  6 Bilquist, Amy          SO CAL-PC            1:50.06    1:53.35  
       26.74    28.71    29.07    28.83
  7 White, Madison         SR UCLA-CA           1:54.44    1:53.39  
       27.16    28.48    28.97    28.78
  8 Blovad, Keaton         FR CAL-PC            1:54.62    1:54.00  
       27.10    28.17    28.89    29.84

Stanford’s Manuel will be going for her third win of the meet in the 100 free final after she qualified first in a quick time of 47.30, the fourth-ranked time in the country this season. Manuel was followed closely in the heats by USC’s Louise Hansson, who touched in 47.34, and Stanford teammate Lia Neal, who won the final heat in 47.37.

UCLA’s Linnea Mack qualified third in 47.77, and USC’s Anika Apostalon finished fifth in 47.82. Also making the final were Cal’s Farida Osman (48.01), USC’s Stanzi Moseley (48.29) and Cal’s Kristen Vredeveld (48.49).

Event 17  Women 100 Yard Freestyle
==================================================================
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Manuel, Simone         SO STAN-PC             47.37      47.30  
       10.80    12.01    12.36    12.13
  2 Hansson, Louise        FR USC-CA              47.47      47.34  
       10.92    11.89    12.30    12.23
  3 Neal, Lia              SR STAN-PC             47.70      47.37  
       10.95    11.93    12.34    12.15
  4 Mack, Linnea           SR UCLA-CA             48.31      47.77  
       10.89    12.10    12.43    12.35
  5 Apostalon, Anika       SR USC-CA              47.78      47.82  
       10.98    11.78    12.57    12.49
  6 Osman, Farida          SR CAL-PC              47.84      48.01  
       10.95    12.10    12.64    12.32
  7 Moseley, Stanzi        FR USC-CA              49.81      48.29  
       11.10    12.07    12.51    12.61
  8 Vredeveld, Kristen     SR CAL-PC              49.20      48.49  
       10.86    12.16    12.76    12.71

Arizona State’s Silja Kansakoski will go for her second win of the meet in the 200 breast final after qualifying first in 2:07.85. After winning the conference title in the 100 breast Friday night, Kansakoski dropped more than five seconds from her seed time of 2:12.97, which she had recorded earlier this month at a dual meet against Arizona.

USC teammates Riley Scott (2:08.73) and Kirsten Vose (2:09.22) qualified second and third, respectively.

Three other swimmers broke 2:10: Stanford’s Kim Williams (2:09.85), Cal’s Marina Garcia (2:09.91) and UCLA’s Emma Schanz (2:09.93). A pair of Utah swimmers claimed the outside lanes for the final: Genevieve Robertson (2:10.78) and Stina Colleou (2:10.87).

Event 18  Women 200 Yard Breaststroke
==================================================================
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Kansakoski, Silja      FR ASU-AZ            2:12.97    2:07.85  
       29.00    32.63    33.05    33.17
  2 Scott, Riley           SO USC-CA            2:08.99    2:08.73  
       29.15    32.40    33.14    34.04
  3 Vose, Kirsten          SO USC-CA            2:08.94    2:09.22  
       29.59    32.50    33.13    34.00
  4 Williams, Kim          SO STAN-PC           2:11.81    2:09.85  
       29.89    32.95    33.32    33.69
  5 Garcia Urzainqui, Mar  SR CAL-PC            2:08.64    2:09.91  
       29.07    32.65    33.79    34.40
  6 Schanz, Emma           SO UCLA-CA           2:09.18    2:09.93  
       30.24    32.46    33.03    34.20
  7 Robertson, Genevieve   SO UTAH-UT           2:16.34    2:10.78  
       29.54    33.05    33.73    34.46
  8 Colleou, Stina         SR UTAH-UT           2:09.90    2:10.87  
       30.15    32.90    33.27    34.55

USC’s Madison Wright led the way into the final of the 200 fly with her time of 1:53.26. That was just enough to beat out the 1:53.30 that Stanford’s Ella Eastin recorded in the final heat. Eastin ended up securing lane five for the final and will be looking for her second victory of the week after capturing the 200 IM title Thursday.

Cal’s Katie McLaughlin actually posted the fastest 100-yard split of 53.38, but she faded down the stretch and finished third in 1:53.80. Teammate Noemie Thomas finished fourth in 1:54.35, well ahead of fifth-place finisher Lindsey Engel of Stanford (1:55.93).

Also making the A-final were UCLA’s Katie Grover (1:56.49) and USC teammates Catherine Sanchez (1:56.60) and Tatum Wade (1:57.57).

Event 19  Women 200 Yard Butterfly
==================================================================
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Wright, Madison        SO USC-CA            1:53.47    1:53.26  
       25.75    28.62    29.11    29.78
  2 Eastin, Ella           SO STAN-PC           1:52.62    1:53.30  
       25.89    28.92    29.15    29.34
  3 McLaughlin, Katie      SO CAL-PC            1:54.36    1:53.80  
       25.10    28.28    29.55    30.87
  4 Thomas, Noemie         JR CAL-PC            1:53.77    1:54.35  
       25.67    29.08    29.73    29.87
  5 Engel, Lindsey         JR STAN-PC           1:56.74    1:55.93  
       25.66    29.25    29.92    31.10
  6 Grover, Katie          JR UCLA-CA           1:55.76    1:56.49  
       26.24    29.54    30.12    30.59
  7 Sanchez, Catherine     FR USC-CA            1:56.65    1:56.60  
       26.15    29.15    30.02    31.28
  8 Wade, Tatum            FR USC-CA            1:56.03    1:57.57  
       26.01    29.68    30.82    31.06

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Susan L. Lansbury

7 years ago

Love Kathleen Baker!???‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️

Susan L. Lansbury

7 years ago

Reply to Susan L. Lansbury

And 200 free-re Simone!!!!?