Cal Berkeley was untouchable tonight. The fast swims started in the first event with Caitlin Leverenz just missing the NCAA record in the 400 I.M. and the Bear's finishing the meet with a new NCAA and Pac-12 record in the 400 medley relay. It will be hard for the other schools to catch Cal at this point, as they end the night with close to a 100 point lead.
400 I.M.
It was an absolute perfect swim by Cal Berkeley’s Caitlin Leverenz as she swam her way to a 3:58.46. Just missing Julia Smit's NCAA record by .23 seconds.
Each split got dramatically faster than her splits from the morning. After the fly she was down two seconds, than down three after the back, and going into the free she was under by a total of five seconds from her prelim time.
Second place went to Stanford’s Maya DiRado with an NCAA qualifying time of 4:03.82 and to round off the podium was USC’s Stina Gardell at 4:04:65, also with an NCAA qualifying time.
100 Fly
The Cal Bears’ excitement from Leverenz’s record breaking swim definitely did not settle going into the fly. Senior Sara Isakovic kept the winning going for the Bears as she claimed the Pac-12 title with a strong swim of 51.72.
In second place was Stanford’s Sam Woodward at 51.79 and another Cal Bear, Cindy Tran, with a time of 52.09.
200 Free
Cal’s Liv Jensen took the lead immediately, flipping at the 100 almost a body length ahead of the top seed, USC’s Katinka Hosszu. The two were neck-and-neck at the 150, but Hosszu had a dominating last 50 and a great turn to take her first into the wall.
Hosszu’s finished with 1:43.15, just a little bit faster than her lead-off split from the first night’s 800 free relay. Liv Jensen hung in for second place with 1:44.01 and Stanford’s Andi Murez placed third at 1:44.54.
100 Breast
The entire race was close, even down to the last stroke. From my view it looked as though USC’s Kasey Carlson might have slithered in there first, but that wasn’t the case.
Arizona State University’s Rebecca Ejdervik touched the wall first at 59.77 making that three Pac-12 wins for her in this event. Arizona’s Ellen Baughgardner also got under the minute mark with a time of 59.79 and Carlson finished in third place at 1:00.09.
100 Back
More than half of the event is spent underwater, with Cal’s Cindy Tran leading the trend. Each wall was timed perfectly to break the surface at exactly 15 meters. Tran won the event with a time of 50.65.
Arizona’s Lauren Smart was two seconds behind Tran, finishing with at 52.13, and Stanford’s Betsy Webb was third with a time of 52.28.
400 Medley Relay
The speed of the meet did not stop at the relays. Cal's relay won the event with a new NCAA and Pac-12 record with a time of 3:28.26.
Cindy Tran got the bears to an early lead with her backstroke split of 51.38. The bears held the entire field for more than a few body lengths, except for Arizona who finished two seconds behind at 3:30.18. In third place was Stanford 3:33.70.
Team Scores
1. University of CA - Berkeley 961.5
2. Stanford University 868 3. University of Southern Califor 819
4. University of Arizona 782 5. University of CA - Los Angeles 682.5
6. Arizona State University 556 7. The University of Utah 351
8. Oregon State University 230.5
9. Washington State University 187.5