2017 Women's Pac-12 Championships

Pac-12 Day Two Prelims: Stanford Puts 4 Up In 500 Free, Ledecky Drops 4:28

Pac-12 Day Two Prelims: Stanford Puts 4 Up In 500 Free, Ledecky Drops 4:28

Day two prelims of the 2017 Women's Pac-12 Swimming & Diving Championship featured Katie Ledecky in the 500 freestyle, Ella Eastin in the 200 individual medley, and Simone Manuel in the 50 freestyle.

Feb 23, 2017 by Tiffany Sudarma
Pac-12 Day Two Prelims: Stanford Puts 4 Up In 500 Free, Ledecky Drops 4:28
Day two prelims at the 2017 Women's Pac-12 Swimming & Diving Championship at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center is done and dusted. After a blistering start to the meet with an NCAA record being set last night, swimmers continued to perform well in the morning session today--lots of good races were set up for more mayhem tonight.

500 FREESTYLE


Four Stanford swimmers finished strong in the 500 freestyle during prelims to swim in the A final tonight. Katie Ledecky--always killin' the game--broke Cierra Runge's Pac-12 Conference and Meet record with a 4:28.37. Should we expect her to go under 25 tonight? Probably.

Let's not forget about the other three Stanford ladies… Katie Drabot finished second with a 4:37.49, Megan Byrnes finished third with a 4:39.66 and Leah Stevens with the fifth finish at 4:40.36. Should be expecting some good points for the Cardinal tonight.

Cal put one swimmer, Katie McLaughlin, into the A final with a 4:40.03, so they'll be relying on her to minimize the lead Stanford will gain from this event.
Other schools represented in the a final tonight include Hannah Cox from Arizona, Kat Simonovic from ASU, and Tatum Wade from USC.

200 IM


Cal and Stanford each put three up in the A final for the 200 IM today. As expected, Ella Eastin (Stanford) and Kathleen Baker (Cal) are set up for a battle tonight. Eastin finished first with a 1:54.76 and Baker finished second with a 1:54.87 cutting it close for the top seed. USC freshman Louise Hansson from USC, who excelled last night in the leadoff leg of the 800 freestyle relay, is lurking in the third position after the morning with a 1:55.43. The rest of the A final in the 200 IM will include Kirsten Vose (USC), Ally Howe (Stanford), Kim Williams (Stanford), Celina Li (Cal), and Kleaton Blovad (Cal).

50 FREESTYLE


Cal fights back a bit, putting three up to Stanford's two. Abbey Weitzel, the American Record holder, has an explosive start and will look to leverage that in order to win the race tonight. She finished the morning swim with a 21.40 ahead of Simone Manuel's 21.60. Swimone is obviously dangerous considering she threw down the fastest 50 split of all time yesterday with a 20.78. Dark Horse to win: Farida Osman with a 21.73 tonight to get ready for tonight's battle. Keep in mind the NCAA record is 21.21 by Olivia Smoliga from 2016. Let's see if any records will be set tonight. 

--

FloSwimming's best content, delivered to your inbox!

Don't miss breaking news, feature stories, event updates, and more. Sign up for the FloSwimming mailing list today.