Stanford sophomore Ella Eastin<\/strong>\u00a0won a tight dual with Cal’s\u00a0Kathleen Baker\u00a0<\/strong>to win her second straight Pac-12 title in the 200 IM Thursday night, but she couldn’t hold off teammate\u00a0Katie Ledecky<\/strong> in the 400 IM\u00a0Friday as Ledecky set a new American record in the event.<\/p>\n

After the race, Eastin spoke with\u00a0Swimming World<\/em> about how she competes against Baker in the 200 IM and how it felt to watch Ledecky go right by her in the 400 IM final. Eastin also reacted to teammate\u00a0Allie Szekely’s\u00a0<\/strong>breakout effort in the 400 IM and\u00a0Ally Howe’s\u00a0<\/strong>surprising American record in the 100 back.<\/p>\n

Eastin also looked ahead to Saturday’s race in the 200 fly where she could go up against longtime friend and fellow Southern California-native\u00a0Katie McLaughlin<\/strong>. Eastin explained why she was looking forward to racing McLaughlin after the Cal sophomore was slowed by an injury last season.<\/p>\n