ZUMO Performance of the Week: Cal Surprises With NCAA Record In 400 Free Relay

This week’s ZUMO Performance of the Week goes to Cal’s 400 free relay of sophomore Robin Neumann, senior Katie McLaughlin, senior Amy Bilquist, and junior Abbey Weitzeil for their NCAA record-breaking performance at the 2019 Pac-12 Championships!

Swimming on the final night of the Pac-12 Championships, the four Cal Bears touched the wall in 3:07.41 to take down the NCAA record by exactly two-tenths. Neumann led off in a 48.17 and was followed by three impressive splits of 46.5 or better from McLaughlin (46.55), Bilquist (46.30), and Weitzeil (46.39). And while the record itself may have been somewhat unexpected, what may be more amazing is that these four have the opportunity to take the record even lower at NCAA’s later this month. Weitzeil’s split (46.39) was actually a few hundredths slower than her flat start win earlier in the evening (46.35), as was Neumann’s lead-off leg (48.17 vs. 47.78 earlier in the evening).

Event 21 Women 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
==================================================================================
        NCAA: N 3:07.61 3/18/2017 Stanford, Stanford
                         S. Mnuel, K. Ledecky, J. Hu, L. Neal
      Pac-12: M 3:07.61 2017 Stanford, STAN
                         S. Manuel, K. Ledecky, J. Hu, L. Neal
Pac-12 Champ: P 3:08.51 2017 Stanford, STAN
                         S. Manuel, K. Ledecky, J. Hu, L. Neal
                3:14.97 A Standard
                3:16.82 B Standard
   School                           Seed Finals Points
==================================================================================
1 CAL-PC ‘A’            3:11.14 3:07.41NA     64
    1) Neumann, Robin SO             2) McLaughlin, Katie SR
    3) Bilquist, Amy SR              4) Weitzeil, Abbey JR
                23.28 48.17 (48.17)
       1:10.36 (22.19)     1:34.72 (46.55)
       1:56.61 (21.89)     2:21.02 (46.30)
       2:42.79 (21.77)     3:07.41 (46.39)

This foursome’s win also made Cal 5-for-5 on relay wins during at Pac-12’s, something that Weitzeil identified as their goal heading into the race after the meet.

Stanford won all five relays at NCAA’s last season en route to their second straight NCAA Team Championship, and the record that fell this weekend belonged to a star-studded Stanford relay of Simone Manuel, Katie Ledecky, Janet Hu, and Lia Neal that helped secure the Cardinal’s first NCAA Championship title since 1998 in 2017.

But while repeating all five relays again may be a goal for the Bears in a few weeks, it doesn’t seem to be their sole focus.

“The best thing we’ve done this week is to have fun as a team,” added senior Katie McLaughlin. “So, we’re going to keep rolling with that, having fun and enjoying each other throughout the next few weeks.”

Congratulations to Robin Neuman, Katie McLaughlin, Amy Bilquist, and Abbey Weitzeil on earning ZUMO’s Performance of the Week!

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