Five Races to Watch at the Pac-12 Women’s Championships (PSYCH SHEETS)

Stanford's Brooke Forde. Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

The psych sheets for the 2020 Pac-12 Women’s Championships have been released and there are a lot of strong events on the docket.

Stanford will be looking to earn a fourth consecutive conference championship, while Cal and USC will look to play spoiler.

The meet begins Wednesday in Federal Way, Washington.

Here is a look at the top five races to watch in the meet based on the pre-scratch lists:

• Meet psych sheets

• Meet preview

Pac-12 Women’s Championships: 200 IM

Cal sophomores Alicia Wilson and Izzy Ivey have identical 1:54.68 times in the 200 IM heading into the conference meet, but they will be part of a stacked field.

USC’s Louise Hansson, the reigning NCAA champion in both butterfly events, has swam a 1:56.17 this season, while Stanford’s Brooke Forde, the defending 500 free NCAA champion, will also be in the event at 1:56.35.

That makes at least four title contenders in the event, not including USC’s Tatum Wade, Cal’s Sarah Darcel and Keaton Blovad and Stanford’s Allie Szekely all have an outside shot in one of the most stacked events in the conference.

Pac-12 Women’s Championships: 100 Butterfly

This event is Louise Hansson‘s to lose after winning back-to-back NCAA titles in the 100 butterfly, but it could still be an exciting race just to see how fast she goes. She holds the NCAA record at 49.36 set at last year’s NCAA championships, and has a seed time of 50.05 heading into the week.

Cal’s Izzy Ivey is not too far behind at 51.46, and USC’s Jemma Schlicht has some speed, but Hansson is still the odds on favorite.

With NCAA records being rattled at conference championship meets the past few years, this could be a record in danger.

Pac-12 Women’s Championships: 200 Free

While it looks like Cal’s Abbey Weitzeil is clearly the one to beat in the 50 and 100 freestyle events, the 200 freestyle is not as much of a given, even though her seed time is a second faster than the field.

Weitzeil has been as fast as 1:42.25 this year and could be poised for the sprint free trifecta this week. But if there is one race more in danger than the others, on paper at least, that is the 200 free.

USC’s Laticia Transom has been a 1:43.27, while Cal’s Robin Neumann (1:44.05), Stanford’s Katie Drabot (1:44.38) and Arizona State’s Cierra Runge (1:44.57) are not far behind. With such a loaded field, one big push in the event could change everything.

Pac-12 Women’s Championships: 200 Backstroke

Stanford has the top three spots in the 200 backstroke, making it a must-see event because of the point impact it could have on the team race. Erin Voss (1:52.79), Allie Szekely (1:53.84) and Lucie Nordmann (1:53.84) have the top three spots.

But on their heels will be Cal’s Keaton Blovad (1:54.00) and USC’s Aela Janvier (1:54.01), while Cal’s Izzy Ivey and Alicia Wilson could be factors if they swim it.

Pac-12 Women’s Championships: 1650 Free

Arizona’s Hannah Cox has the top seed in the event at 15:57.89, but Arizona’s duo of Emma Nordin (15:58.90) and Cierra Runge (16:05.75) are right there as well.

Cox’s teammate Kirsten Jacobsen (16:06.28) is the fourth seed, while Stanford’s Morgan Tankersly and Megan Byrnes will also be huge factors and have shown big time drops late in the season.

But this could be an interesting event that could spread some scores out and be a big point event for teams other than Cal and Stanford.

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Karin Knudson O'Connell

4 years ago

Tommy Kosturos