2024 Women's Pac-12 Championships: Day 2 Prelims Live Recap (original) (raw)

2024 WOMEN’S PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS

Day 2 Prelims Heat Sheets

The last-ever Pac-12 Championships got off to a wild start on Wednesday night as the top two teams in the conference — two-time defending champion Stanford and USC — both suffered disqualifications that left them at the bottom of the standings after the first session of the meet.

Meanwhile, Cal broke its own six-year-old meet record in the 200 medley relay and earned a runner-up finish behind Stanford in the 800 freestyle relay to build a 14-point lead over Arizona State heading into Thursday’s action.

Today’s slate features prelims of the 500 free, 200 IM, and 50 free this morning. There will also be 1-meter diving contested this afternoon along with the 200 free relay later tonight.

There weren’t many tough doubles decision to be made with only three individual events scheduled for Thursday, but USC freshman Minna Abraham did (unsurprisingly) choose the 200 IM (where she’s the No. 5 seed at 1:55.78) over the 500 free (where she’s the No. 9 seed at 4:41.74).

Team Scores After Day 1

  1. Cal – 120
  2. Arizona State – 106
  3. Arizona – 104
  4. UCLA – 102
  5. Washington State – 96
  6. Utah – 92
  7. Stanford – 64
  8. USC – 56

500 Freestyle – Prelims

Top 8:

  1. Lindsay Looney (Arizona State) – 4:38.85
  2. Aurora Roghair (Stanford) – 4:39.61
  3. Deniz Ertan (Arizona State) – 4:39.96
  4. Claire Tuggle (USC) – 4:40.72
  5. Mia Motekaitis (Cal) – 4:41.73
  6. Rachel Klinker (Cal) – 4:41.95
  7. Natalie Mannion (Stanford) – 4:42.57
  8. Kathryn Hazle (Cal) – 4:42.97

Arizona State senior Lindsay Looney posted a season-best 4:38.85 to lead the 500 free prelims by almost a second ahead of top-seeded Stanford junior Aurora Roghair (4:39.61). Looney was just about half a second off her personal-best 4:38.29 that she swam to win the Pac-12 title in this event last year. Roghair has been as fast as 4:37.10 at the Texas Invitational in November.

Looney’s teammate, Arizona State sophomore Deniz Ertan, dipped under 4:40 for the first time this season to qualify 3rd in 4:39.96. The Georgia Tech transfer from Turkey won the ACC title in this event last year in a lifetime best of 4:38.04.

USC sophomore Claire Tuggle will be the lone Trojan in the A-final tonight after qualifying 4th in 4:40.72. Her teammate, sophomore Justina Kozan, came into this event as the No. 2 seed (4:38.47) but placed 10th in prelims with a time of 4:44.43.

Cal placed a trio of swimmers in the A-final: fifth-year Mia Motekaitis (4:41.73), fifth-year Rachel Klinker (4:41.95), and freshman Kathryn Hazle (4:42.97). Hazle knocked almost two seconds off her previous-best 4:44.88 from a couple weeks ago. Before this month, her best 500 free time stood at 4:45.09 from 2022.

Stanford sophomore Natalie Mannion punched her ticket to tonight’s A-final along with Roghair, clocking a time of 4:42.57 that was a few seconds off her season best (4:39.18).

200 IM – Prelims

Top 8:

  1. Caroline Bricker (Stanford) – 1:55.14
  2. Leah Polonsky (Cal) – 1:55.23
  3. Ieva Maluka (Arizona State) – 1:55.53
  4. Lucy Bell (Stanford) – 1:55.82
  5. Rosie Murphy (UCLA) – 1:55.93
  6. Paige MacEachern (UCLA) – 1:55.97
  7. Minna Abraham (USC) – 1:56.48
  8. Charli Brown (Arizona State) – 1:57.72

Stanford freshman Caroline Bricker came out swinging with a personal-best 1:55.14 in prelims, shaving a few tenths off her previous-best 1:55.48 from a couple weeks ago.

Top-seeded Cal junior Leah Polonsky was close behind Bricker with a season-best 1:55.23. The Israeli native has been as fast as 1:54.02 during her 200 IM victory at last year’s Pac-12 Championships.

Arizona State sophomore Ieva Maluka qualified 3rd in 1:55.53, just off her personal-best 1:55.46 that was tied with Polonsky for the top time in the conference before today. The Latvian sophomore dropped almost two seconds off her lifetime best at November’s NC State Invitational.

Stanford sophomore Lucy Bell made it two Cardinal in the A-final tonight along with Bricker, qualifying 5th in 1:55.82. Her season best is 1:55.67 and her lifetime best is 1:54.89 from NCAAs last year, where she placed 12th in prelims before falling to 15th in the final.

UCLA had a strong showing as sophomore Rosie Murphy (1:55.93) and Paige MacEachern (1:55.97) also went sub-1:56 to make the A-final comfortably. Both Bruins dropped more than a second off their best times as Murphy’s previous best was 1:57.45 from earlier this month and MacEachern’s previous best was 1:57.20 from November.

50 Freestyle – Prelims

Top 8:

  1. Eloise Riley (Cal) – 22.09
  2. Anicka Delgado (USC) – 22.17
  3. Caroline Famous (USC) – 22.24
  4. Amy Tang (Stanford) – 22.28
  5. Erin Milligan (Arizona State) – 22.31
  6. Isabelle Stadden (Cal) – 22.33
  7. Maya Wilson (UCLA) – 22.37
  8. Stephanie Akakabota (Cal) – 22.39

Cal fifth-year Eloise Riley dropped a tenth off her season best to lead the 50 free prelims with a time of 22.09 — just a hundredth of a second shy of her lifetime best from 2020.

USC seniors Anicka Delgado (22.17) and Caroline Famous (22.24) took the next two qualifying spots in the heats, both just slightly off their season bests of 22.03 and 22.16, respectively. However, top-seeded Trojan Vasilissa Buinaia failed to make the A-final as the Russian graduate transfer added more than half a second to her season-best 21.95 with a 13th-place finish in 22.58.

The entire A-final was separated by just three-tenths of a second this morning. Stanford junior Amy Tang (22.28) eked past Arizona State junior Erin Milligan (22.31) for the 4th qualifying spot. Cal senior Isabelle Stadden (22.33) and junior Stephanie Akakabota (22.39) joined top qualifier Riley in the A-final, with Akakabota beating senior teammate Emily Gantriis by just .01 seconds for the final spot.

The most impressive A-final qualifier was No. 7 seed Maya Wilson. The UCLA senior had never been under 23 seconds before, but she crushed her best time by .65 seconds to earn a surprising berth in the top 8. Wilson’s best time before today was a 23.02 from November, ranking just 44th among Pac-12 swimmers this season.

In This Story

Claire Tuggle
Isabelle Stadden
Lindsay Looney

About Riley Overend

Riley is an associate editor interested in the stories taking place outside of the pool just as much as the drama between the lane lines. A 2019 graduate of Boston College, he arrived at SwimSwam in April of 2022 after three years as a sports reporter and sports editor at newspapers …

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