By Dan D’Addona.
This week brings the highly anticipated collegiate debut of Katie Ledecky coming off of her dominance in Rio.
But there are plenty of other storylines this week in the Pac-12. Here is a look at what to watch for:
Meet of the Week: Stanford at Oregon St.
Most swimming fans have been looking forward to seeing what Katie Ledecky will do in short-course pools as a collegiate swimmer. Ledecky deferred her freshman year at Stanford last year to focus on training for the Olympics, which worked out well as she dominated in Rio, winning four gold medals and one silver. This is perhaps the biggest addition and contending team has ever received. But the shocking thing is that Ledecky isn’t the only dominating performer joining the Cardinal.
Simone Manuel was a seven-time All-American as a freshman at Stanford two years ago before redshirting her sophomore season to train for Rio. It worked out for her too as Manuel became the first African-American woman to win gold and finished with two gold medals and two silver medals in Rio. The sprinter will balance the freestyle events along with Ledecky’s distance dominance.
Because of this stunning 1-2 punch returning to the Cardinal, it is easy to forget that Olympic diver Kassidy Cook returns as well. She didn’t medal in Rio but is one of the top divers in the country. She was an All-American on both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards last year.
This dominating trio joins a team that already includes Olympian Lia Neal and All-American Ella Eastin.
Stanford finished 7-0 in dual meets and finished second at the NCAA championships, in a close meet that came down to the final event with Georgia edging the Cardinal.
UCLA/USC women at SMU Classic
Another huge addition in the Pac-12 will shape pools on a national level. USC freshman Louise Hansson will make a huge impact on the Trojans as USC heads to the SMU Classic along with UCLA and a host of other power-conference competitors.
She won three events in her Trojan debut meet while sophomores Hanni Leach and Elizabeth Stinson were also double winners as USC opened its defense of the the 2016 Pac-12 title with a 161-96 win over Washington State to open the season. .
Hansson, who represented Sweden in the 2016 Olympics, won the 200-yard freestyle, 100 butterfly and the 200 IM to lead USC while Leach swept the 100 and 200 backstrokes and Stinson won the 500 and 1,000 freestyles.
