Pac-12 Recap: No. 1 Stanford Holds off No. 2 Cal on Record Day

Katie Ledecky. Photo Courtesy: Stanford Athletics

By Dan D’Addona.

This was the meet everyone was waiting for: No. 1 Stanford vs. No. 2 Cal.

A meet packed with Olympians and national champions had some huge moments as Stanford used five pool records to win at Cal, which set two more pool records, 177-123 on Saturday.

Stanford (8-0, 7-0 Pac-12) capped a second straight undefeated season, and has won 15 straight dual meets dating back to its last visit to Cal on Feb. 14, 2015.

Freshman Katie Ledecky set three pool records. The Olympic gold medalist began the day with an impressive double in the 1,000-yard freestyle and 200 freestyle, winning both events back-to-back with no time in between — both in pool records. . As soon as she finished with a pool record in the 1,000 in 9:20.41, Ledecky was back in the water and out-touched fellow Olympian and teammate Simone Manuel in the 200 with a pool record of 1:43.09.

Manuel set her own pool record in the 50 free, winning in 21.97 to top a field that will likely preview the Pac-12 and NCAA Championship finals.

Manuel and senior Lia Neal finished 1-2 in the 100 free. Manuel finished at 48.17, while Neal surged past Cal’s Abbey Weitzeil to finish second at 48.49.

Junior Janet Hu won twice, and set her own pool record. Hu, who has won multiple events in four straight dual meets, broke the Cal facility record with a finish of 51.61 in the 100 backstroke, and also won the 100 butterfly at 51.93. Junior Ally Howe combined to sweep the backstroke with Hu as Howe won the 200 back with a finish of 1:53.98.

Diver Kassidy Cook remained undefeated in five dual meets on the 1-meter. She earned her spot on top of the podium with a score of 309.68.

The most interesting races of the meet were in the breaststroke events. Stanford sophomore Kim Williams and Cal’s Marina Garcia pulled off an impressive feat. The duo tied for first in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke. They simultaneously touched at 1:01.89 in the 100 and did it again at 2:12.16 in the 200.

Cal set its pool records in relays.

In the opening 200-yard medley relay, as Amy Bilquist, Weitzeil, Noemie Thomas and Farida Osman sprinted to the finish in 1:36.67 to break to old pool and Cal dual-meet record by nearly two seconds.

The Bears also closed out the afternoon with another impressive swim in the 400 free relay. This time, Katie McLaughlin, Bilquist, Weitzeil and Osman touched the wall in 3:12.99, nearly three seconds ahead of the previous Cal dual-meet and pool record.

McLaughlin led from the start in the 200 butterfly and outlasted Stanford’s Ella Easton, winning in 1:54.36, her fastest time of the season. In addition, sophomore Phoebe LaMay captured the 3-meter diving event with a score of 325.28.

USC tops rival UCLA

USC senior Anika Apostalon, sophomore Riley Scott and freshman Becca Mann won two events apiece to lead the No. 6 USC women’s swimming and diving team to a 172-128 victory over No. 20 UCLA for the Trojans’ 10th straight win in the series.

USC improves to 7-2 overall, 6-2 in the Pac-12 and extends its lead in the overall series to 27-16. The teams combined to break eight Peter Daland pool records.

The 200 medley relay of sophomores Hanni Leach and Scott, freshman Louise Hansson and Apostalon won in 1:36.30, 0.36 off the pool and meet record.

Mann crushed the pool and meet record in the 1650y free in 15:52.30, lowering Haley Anderson’s 2013 time of 16:11.26 by almost 20 seconds. UCLA’s Sandra Soe was second in 16:13.17. In the process, Mann also re-set the mark in the 1000 free in 9:33.77, erasing the old time by 0.10.

Bruin Kenisha Liu won the 200 free with a pool record of 1:45.38.

UCLA made it two in a row as Linnea Mack won her specialty, the 100 back.

Scott continued her dominance of the 100 breast with a 1:00.16 and completed her breaststroke sweep with a 2:09.44 in the 200.

UCLA’s Eloise Belanger swept the springboard events, winning 1-meter with 296.10 and 3-meter with 319.80.

Washington State tops Utah

Washington State won 11 of the 14 events and sophomore Jasmine Margetts led the way with three wins to lead the Cougars to a 151-111 victory over Utah on senior day.

Margetts continued her impressive sophomore campaign by contributing a meet-high 27 points. She took first place in the 400 IM clocking a time of 4:19.05, good for an NCAA ‘B’ mark. She also logged first-place finishes in the 200 back (2:00.03) and the 100 back (55.88).

Check out full results here.

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Connor Tarver

7 years ago

Samantha Zavala

Bill Bell

7 years ago

Ledecky’s pool-record in the 1000i is her 9:10.49 against Texas in late October of last year — also the fastest 1000 in collegiate dual- meet competition AKL-time– and the Avery Aquatics Center/deGuerre Pool record in the 200 free is Simone Manuel’s 1:42.72,against USC two weeks ago.
Ledecky’s 200 free today is her collegiate pr. And I imagine Manuel’s 21.97 50 is one of the fastest if not THE fastest two- lappet in collegiate dual- meet history.