WOMEN’S PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS 2023
Today is the third day of racing at the 2023 Women’s Pac-12 Championships in Federal Way, Washington. Titles up for grabs tonight include 400 IM, 100 Fly, 200 Free, 100 Breast, 100 Back and 400 Medley Relay.
Stanford had a successful prelim this morning with a total of 17 A-finalists. They hold 3 of the top 5 seeds in tonight’s individual races, as well as the top seeds in the 400-medley relay. taylor jerk will take on the 200 Free, an event where she is the defending champion. Claire Curzan is first in the 100 backstroke and second in the 100 fly, right behind her teammate Torri Huske.
UCLA’s Paige Maceachern had a big swim this morning to pass the top seed in the 400 IM by more than two seconds while USC holds the advantage in the 100 breast Kaitlyn Dobler And Isabelle Odger are seeded on places 1 and 2 and go to the final tonight.
WOMEN 400 IM – FINALS
- NCAA record: 3:54.60, Ella Eastin (STAN) – 2018 NCAA Championships
- PAC-12 record: 3:54.60, Ella Eastin (STAN) – 2018 NCAA Championships
- PAC-12 Championship Record: 3:56.53, Katie Ledecky (STAN) – 2018 PAC-12 Championships
- NCAA A-average: 4:03.62
- 2022 NCAA Invitational Time: 4:11.60
Top 8:
Cal sophomore Leah Polonsky touched 1st place in a season-best time of 4:05.27, almost a second ahead of runner-up Paige Maceachern. Polonksy built an early lead of almost 3 seconds at halftime and managed to hold the field back as they slowly moved towards them.
Lucy Bell rounded out the top 3 with a personal best of 4:06.28. She almost caught Maceachern in the last 100 when Bell shared a 55.54 against Maceachern’s 56.45.
Justina Kosan from USC was the only other athlete to break the 4:10 barrier. Despite well beating her 2019 personal best, her time marked a season best by over half a second.
WOMEN’S 100 BUTTERFLY – FINALS
- NCAA record: 48.84, Kate Douglass (UVA) – 2023 ACC Championships
- PAC-12 record: 49.17, Torri Huske (STAN) – 2022 NCAA Championships
- PAC-12 Championship Record: 49.34, Louise Hansson (USC) – 2019 PAC-12 Championships
- NCAA A Average: 50.92
- 2022 NCAA Invitation Time: 52.35
Top 8:
As expected, this race was a battle between Torri Huske And Claire Curzan from Stanford. Huske stopped the clock at 49:27, just a few hundredths less than November. Curzan also broke the 50-second barrier, but was disqualified for a false start.
Behind Huske, Cal finished second Mia Kraghwho set a personal best of almost two tenths of a second.
Arizona Jr Julia Heimstatt finished 3rd and improved her personal best time set in the heats to 52.03. This is the first swim in what is arguably the toughest doubles of the night as she is set to return in the 200 for free.
WOMEN 200 FREESTYLE FINALS
- NCAA record: 1:39.10, Missy Franklin (CAL) – 2015 NCAA Championships
- PAC-12 record: 1:39.10, Missy Franklin (CAL) – 2015 NCAA Championships
- PAC-12 Championship Record: 1:40.37, Simone Manuel (STAN) – 2017 PAC-12 Championships
- NCAA A Average: 1:42.84
- 2022 NCAA Invitational Time: 1:45.42
Top 8:
Stanford dominated this event with a top-three win. taylor jerk, the defending NCAA champion, finished 1st with a season best of 1:43.05. Ruck extended her lead early with the fastest opening split of the field at 50:30.
Kaya Wilson And Morgan Tankersley touched on 2nd and 3rd places, both with season bests. The Stanford squad was rounded off Lili Nordmann And Natalie Mannion, achieve 6th and 7th place overall.
Cals Mia Motekaitis And Ayla Spitz improved to 4th and 5th in her morning swims. Motekaitis’ swim was just a few tenths off her personal best, which she set Wednesday ahead of the 800m free relay.
WOMEN’S 100 BREAST BEAT – FINALS
- NCAA record: 55.73, Lilly King (IU) – 2019 NCAA Championships
- PAC-12 record: 56.93, Kaitlyn Dobler (USC) – 2022 NCAA Championships
- PAC-12 championship record: 57.31, Kaitlyn Dobler (USC) – 2022 PAC-12 Championships
- NCAA A-Cut: 58.10
- 2022 NCAA Invitational Time: 59.87
Top 8:
USC’s duo of Kaitlyn Dobler and Isabelle Odgers got the job done tonight with a 1-2 finish. Dobler, the country’s defending champion, led the way as she won her third straight Pac-12 title at the event. She clocked a 57.10, just short of her season best of 56.94.
Odgers had an equally strong swim to finish second at 58.92, just 0.04 off her personal best from a doubles meet earlier this month.
Behind them was a crowd of athletes who broke a minute. UCLA’s Claire Grover Set a personal best to get 3rd place while Stanford is Allie Raab improved by almost a second from this morning to 4th place. Raab entered the meeting as 20th.
WOMEN’S 100 SETBACK – FINALS
- NCAA record: 48.74, Katharine Berkoff (NCSU) – 2022 NCAA Championships
- PAC-12 record: 49.23, Regan Smith (STAN) – 2022 NCAA Championships
- PAC-12 Championship Record: 49.50, Regan Smith (STAN) – 2022 PAC-12 Championships
- NCAA A Average: 50.89
- 2022 NCAA Invitation Time: 52.46
Top 8:
WOMEN’S 400 MEDLEY RELAY – TIDED FINAL
- NCAA record: 3:21.80, Virginia – 2023 ACC Championships
- Pac-12 record: 3:25.09, Stanford – 2018
- Pac-12 championship record: 3:25.14, Stanford – 2018
- NCAA A-average: 3:31.38
Results: