Pac-12 Weekly Recap: Stanford Sweeps Twice; Cal, Utah Win Big

The No. 3 Stanford women’s swimming and diving won every swimming event en route to a Pac-12 road victory. On Saturday, Taylor Ruck won three individual events to lead the Cardinal over Arizona State, 198-96.

Stanford (4-0, 4-0) has won 27 straight dual meets, including a string of 25 straight Pac-12 dual meet victories since 2015.

Ruck began with a win in the 200-yard freestyle (1:45.09). She then won the 50 free (22.65) ahead of three more Cardinal, and bested the field in the 200 backstroke (1:53.06), including Ella Eastin‘s 1:53.33.

On the boards, junior Haley Farnsworth won on the 1-meter with a score of 299.03, and freshman Carolina Sculti won on the 3-meter at 356.70.

Freshman Amalie Fackenthal pulled off a pair of victories in the 100 free (49.53) and 100 fly (53.83), while fellow freshman Zoe Bartel earned the top spot in both breaststroke races. She won the 100 with a time of 1:01.53 and was first in the 200 with a finish 2:12.76.

Meanwhile, sophomore Brooke Forde pulled off an impressive double of her own with wins in the 500 free (4:43.71) and 400 individual medley (4:04.06).

Junior Megan Byrnes won the 1,000 free (9:45.30), and freshman Lucie Nordmann was tops in the 100 back (53.30), while Eastin (1:53.62) won the 200 fly over junior Katie Drabot (1:54.92).

Against Arizona in a 195-99 win, eight different Cardinal won an event, led by two victories apiece from senior Eastin, Forde and Bartel.

Eastin won the 100-yard backstroke as the Cardinal took the top four spots. The 2018 NCAA Swimmer of the Year finished in 52.85 — just ahead of Ruck (53.45). Eastin also claimed the 500 free in 4:46.04, again edging out Ruck (4:49.00).

Forde won the 1,000 freestyle as Stanford swept the podium.

In the men’s meet, No. 7 Stanford capped a convincing road trip to Arizona with a 176.5-121.5 win at No. 15 Arizona State on Saturday at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center.

Stanford’s distance freestyle group flexed its muscle in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a one-two-three finish, led by James Murphy (9:08.19) with True Sweetser (9:14.44) in second and Matthew Hirschbherger (9:14.85) in third.

Jack Levant (1:36.14) won the 200-yard freestyle by over 1.5 seconds.

Stanford claimed the top four spots in the 100-yard breaststroke, led by Matt Anderson (54.29). Hank Poppe (55.62), Brennan Pastorek (55.28) and Daniel Roy (55.45) completed the top-four sweep. Alex Liang (1:47.50) and Will Macmillan (1:47.78) finished one-two in the 200-yard butterfly and Zdroik (20.19) was Stanford’s fastest swimmer in the 50-yard freestyle before the first break.

Stanford dominated the second breaststroke event of the day, the 200-yard breaststroke, with Roy (1:58.05) winning by nearly three seconds. Pastorek (2:00.88) and Anderson (2:01.14) rounded out the All-Stanford podium.

Stanford made it two podium sweeps in a row with another strong showing in the 500-yard freestyle. Sweetser (4:25.16) led the way followed by Murphy (4:26.01) and Hirschberger (4:29.12) before Zdroik (47.32) won the 100-yard butterfly.

Stanford took the top four spots in the final individual event, the 400-yard individual medley. Abrahm DeVine (3:53.23) beat out Liang (3:45.44), Calloni (3:56.90) and Roy (3:58.24).

Arizona State’s Zach Poti also took home two individual wins on the day in the 100 back and 200 back, earning a sweep of the backstroke events for the second time this season.

Check out complete Pac-12 coverage here.

Cal sweeps Arizona

The Cal men’s swimming and diving team wrapped up a successful split squad weekend with a 164-127 dual meet victory over Arizona and a 194-99 victory at the UC San Diego Invitational on Saturday.

Senior Andrew Seliskar and sophomore Daniel Carr led the win over the Wildcats in Tucson, as Seliskar captured the 200 butterfly in a time of 1:43.78 and the 500 freestyle with a mark of 4:23.86. Carr, meanwhile, swept the backstroke events with a 47.67 in the 100 and 1:45.07 in the 200. Cal took the top three spots in the 100 backstroke, with Zheng Wen Quah (48.11) and Ryan Hoffer (48.51) finishing behind Carr.

The Bears won all of the individual events at the UCSD Invitational, including sweeping the top three spots in the 200 backstroke with junior Andy Song (1:45.09), junior David Puczkowski (1:48.90) and freshman Kyle Millis (1:50.62) taking top honors.

Freshman Chris Jhong won the 400 individual medley in a time of 3:51.12

In the women’s meet, Cal senior Katie McLaughlin won three events and Cal out-pointed Arizona, 179-118, to wrap up the Golden Bears’ final road dual meet of the season with a decisive victory Saturday.

Amy Bilquist and Sarah Darcel also claimed two events apiece for Cal, which returns home to host UCLA and USC next Friday and Saturday at Spieker Aquatics Complex. The Bears’ final home dual is Feb. 16 vs. Stanford.

After the Bears touched first in the opening 200-yard medley relay, McLaughlin posted Cal’s first individual win of the afternoon with a time of 1:46.81 in the 200 free. In the following race, Bilquist earn the victory in the 100 back in 54.06, just ahead of freshman Isabel Ivey, who swam the first of her three second-place finishes with a time of 54.98.

Abbey Weitzeil, the nation’s leader in the 50 free, beat the field to the wall with a time of 22.68, with Maddie Murphy right behind in 23.22.

McLaughlin added a win in the 100 free (49.29) and a later victory in the 100 butterfly in 52.59, while Darcel’s two wins were in the 200 breaststroke (2:18.04) and 400 individual medley (4:20.23). Cal closed out the day with a first-place result in the 400 free relay.

Arizona’s Hannah Cox won the 1,000 free for the sixth time this season with 10:09.92. Mallory Korenwinder took first in the 100 breast with 1:02.90. Mackenzie Rumrill earned gold in a come-from-behind win in the 200 fly with 1:59.38 and Kirsten Jacobsen placed first in the 500 free with 4:54.93.

Delaney Schnell and Eric Correa completed the sweep for the Cats in diving. Schnell earned 342.45 in the 1m and 317.10 in the 3m. Freshman Correa finished with 319.35 in the 1m and 335.48 in the 3m.

Utah sweeps BYU

The Utah swimming and diving teams swept BYU in their annual Deseret First Duels this afternoon. The men honored their seniors with a 181-119 triumph while the women were also victorious, 197-103.

It was a fitting start as senior Daniel McArthur began the day leading off the 200 medley relay. He went on to win the 100 back in 48.77, the 200 back in 1:48.81 and the 200 IM in 1:51.65.

Classmate Chris Taber took the 200 fly in 1:52.25 and fellow senior Austin Phillips won the 200 free (1:40.77). He then swam the anchor leg of the winning 400 free relay, teaming with Felix Chiun, Liam O’Haimhirgin and David Fridlander to capture the final event of the day in 3:00.32.

Nick Becker won a pair of events for Utah, claiming the top spot in the 500 free (4:38.52) and the 1000 free (9:35.28). Harrison Wayner was the best performer in the 200 breast with a time of 2:04.56 and Tony Chen picked up where he left off last night, winning the three meter dive with a score of 367.58

Wayner’s sister, Darby, won three events for the women’s team, taking the 100 breast in 1:03.31, the 200 breast in 2:20.83 and the 200 IM in 2:06.72. She was not the only multi-event winner on the day as Aryanna Fernandes, Sarah Lott and Sara McClendon made significant impacts for the Utes.

McClendon exceled in her distance events, winning the 1000 free in 10:18.06 and 500 free in 5:03.15. Lott won the 100 back in 54.93 and 200 back in 2:00.16 and Fernandes topped the 200 fly in 2:02.46 and then returned to take the 100 fly in 54.94.

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Kristine Murphy Grim

5 years ago

Go Bears also sweeping Arizona schools!