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
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Name Year School Seed Prelims
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=== 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
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Name Year School Seed Prelims
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=== 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
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Name Year School Seed Prelims
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=== 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
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Name Year School Seed Prelims
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=== 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
Love Kathleen Baker!???♀️?♀️?♀️?♀️
And 200 free-re Simone!!!!?