Pac-12 Weekly Preview: 1st Home Meet for Katie Ledecky

Stanford's Liam Egan Photo Courtesy: Andy Ringgold

By Dan D’Addona.

The Pac-12 Conference swimming season is finally in full force. Here is what to watch for this week:

Meet of the week:

Washington State at Stanford and Cal

Katie Ledecky will compete in her first home meet this week as Stanford hosts Washington State on Thursday. Ledecky performed well in her first collegiate meet, a win at Oregon State on Friday. The meet was sold out, and that can be expected again this week, and really for much of the season. Simone Manuel will look to continue her strong return for No. 1 Stanford as well.

The Washington State women have a pretty tough gauntlet to go through this week. After facing Ledecky, Manuel and No. 1 Stanford on Thursday, The Cougars head to Cal to face Kathleen Baker, Amy Bilquist and the Golden Bears.

Stanford and Cal at Pacific

The Stanford men will open their season at the Pacific on Friday. The Cardinal are led by five preseason All-Americans: Sophomore Abrahm DeVine (400-yard individual medley), junior Liam Egan (500-yard freestyle), junior Curtis Ogren (400 IM), junior Sam Perry (50-yard freestyle, 100-yard freestyle) and freshman Grant Shoults (500-yard freestyle).

Cal, meanwhile, is heading to the Pacific Invitational on Saturday. The Golden Bears are led by Olympic gold medalist Ryan Murphy and is looking to continue its strong season. The other participants are Air Force, Denver, Fresno State, Fresno Pacific and Nevada.

Cal-State Bakersfield at USC (men)

The USC men had a week off after competing in back-to-back dual meets to begin the month. The Trojans host Cal-State Bakersfield on Friday and are looking to keep the momentum going after the off week. Dylan Carter led the Trojans in a win over UC-Santa Barbara on Oct. 1. Carter won the 200-yard freestyle in 1:37.9, an NCAA provisional qualifying time and also won the 100 freestyle (45.47). USC has a balanced team and will have the ability to have new swimmers step up each meet.

Florida Gulf Coast at USC (women)

After finishing third at last week’s SMU Classic, the USC women host Florida Gulf Coast on Friday. The Trojans won their opening dual meet against Washington State earlier this month and look to keep that winning streak going. Facing the strong competition at the SMU Classic will do nothing but help USC moving forward. Louise Hansson won the 200 IM with a meet record at SMU and will be vital to the Trojans all season.

Arizona State at Utah

The Utah divers took a strong step at a meet in Hawaii last week and will look to build on that performance. Amanda Casillas took first in both the 3-meter and the 1-meter boards. On the 3-meter, she scored 295.60 while on the 1-meter, she tallied a score of 295.60. Lauren Hall took second in both events (3-meter, 281.35; 1-meter, 251.80) and four Utes qualified for NCAA zones. Divers will be key as Utah hosts Arizona State this weekend.

Arizona State at BYU

The Sun Devils won’t have much time to analyze their performance at Utah on Friday because they have to compete at BYU on Saturday. This will be an important early test for Arizona State if they want to make some waves in the Pac-12.

UCLA vs. UC-Santa Barbara, San Diego, Oregon State

After taking fourth at the SMU Classic, the UCLA Bruins return home to host Oregon State, San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis, and Florida Gulf Coast University for their Breast Cancer Awareness Meet.

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