Cal vs. Stanford (Women)

February 16th, 2019

Spieker Aquatic Complex, Berkeley, California

Meet Results

Team Scores: Stanford 192 – Cal 107

In a historic Bay Area rivalry that has heated up even further over the last two seasons with back-to-back 1-2 national finishes, the Stanford Cardinal showed no mercy, thumping their rivals Cal 192-107 in Berkeley on a rainy Saturday afternoon. With no exhibition swims, Stanford rounded off a perfect 7-0 dual meet season, marking their 5th perfect record in the last 6 years (all during the Greg Meehan era). That means that Stanford seniors Kim Williams, Leah Stevens, and Ella Eastin finished their collegiate careers undefeated in dual meets. Stanford has won 30 consecutive dual meets overall.

Stanford senior Ella Eastin, a front-runner for NCAA Swimmer of the Year, was the show-stopper of the meet. She broke 3 Pool Records in 3 individual swims at the meet:

200 fly – 1:52.13, breaking the 12-year old Pool Record held by another former Cardinal, Elaine Breeden.

200 back – 1:52.01, breaking the 2016 Pool Record set by current Cal Bear Amy Bilquist at 1:53.25.

at 1:53.25. 200 IM – 1:53.86, which crushed the old record of 1:56.95 set by Cal Olympian Caitlin Leverenz in 2011.

But Cal, who are ranked 3rd in the latest SwimSwam Power Rankings, have their fair share of superstars too. That includes junior Abbey Weitzeil, who won the 50 free in 21.99 (one of a handful of swimmers to ever go sub-22 in a dual meet) and the 100 free in 48.06. That 48.06 is the fastest dual meet time in the country this season (again, ignoring the ACC-Big Ten Challenge) for Weitzeil, who leads all swimmers nationally with her 46.49 from the Georgia Invite. It also gives Weitzeil a new Pool Record, breaking the old mark of 48.17 that was set by Stanford’s Simone Manuel in 2017. Weitzeil’s time ties the Cal Dual Meet Record set by the legendary Natalie Coughlin in 2003.

Weitzeil also split 47.55 on her team’s 400 free relay anchor and 21.07 on the anchor of Cal’s winning 200 medley relay (1:37.36). Stanford’s A relay was disqualified in that race, though even with an early exchange by Sttanford freshman anchor Taylor Ruck, Cal still touched about 4-tenths ahead. The breakthrough split for Stanford on the relay was a 23.50 by freshman Amalie Fackenthal (on just a .39 reaction time). If she shows up at NCAAs, that would allow Stanford to use Eastin on the backstroke leg, which, on paper, improves the relay.

Cal celebrated 5 senior swimmers at the meet: Amy Bilquist, Katie McLaughlin, Alexa Cacao, Jenna Campbell and Phoebe LaMay. Bilquist, who was injured for much of the fall semester, continued her spring build with a season-best of 52.16 in the 100 backstroke. That’s just .01 from her Cal dual meet record in the event: a significant development given that she was a second off her 2017 mid-season time at the Georgia Invite in 2018.

McLaughlin also polished off her dual meet career in style, winning the 200 free in 1:45.59 to top a heated battle with Stanford’s Brooke Forde and Cal freshman Isabel Ivey, who were 2nd and 3rd in 1:45.62 and 1:45.70, respectively. McLaughlin later added a win in the 100 fly, where she touched in 52.66.

The Stanford women finished the day with a 3:13.24 win in the 400 free relay, including rolling-star splits of 47.75 from Lauren Pitzer and 47.13 from Taylor Ruck. The sophomore Pitzer is a key leg for the Cardinal in their quest for a 3-peat: she was a prelims-only swimmer on this relay at NCAAs last year, but her Saturday split was a full second faster than she went at that meet, and would’ve been fast enough to crack Stanford’s title-winning lineup. While she can’t replace Simone Manuel alone, she can help cover for the graduation of the versatile Janet Hu.

Press Releases:

Courtesy Stanford Athletics:

BERKELEY, Calif. – Not one. Not two. But three pool records for senior Ella Eastin as No. 1 Stanford women’s swimming and diving defeated No. 6 Cal, 192-107, at Spieker Aquatics Complex on Saturday afternoon.

Stanford (7-0, 7-0 Pac-12) finished the dual meet season undefeated for the fourth straight year as seniors Kim Williams, Leah Stevens and Eastin finished their careers undefeated.

The two-time defending national champions, which have won 30 consecutive dual meets, won six swimming events and swept the podiums in both diving events.

Freshman diver Carolina Sculti won on both boards. She tallied a score of 323.55 on the 1-meter and was followed by junior Haley Farnsworth (312.08) and freshman Daria Lenz (309.75). On the 3-meter, Stanford took the top four spots. Sculti won with another impressive score of 340.80, while Farnsworth was the close runner-up again at 332.18, Lenz earned bronze at 322.95 and Mia Paulsen was fourth at 294.90.

Eastin earned her first pool record of the day with a finish of 1:52.13 in the in the 200-yard butterfly — that topped a 12-year-old mark held by Elaine Breeden. She then finished the 200 backstroke in 1:52.01 to top the standard set by Amy Bilquist in 2016, and capped the day with the fastest 200 individual medley in the facility’s history at 1:53.86.

Junior Megan Byrnes led a Stanford sweep in the 1,000 freestyle. Her winning time of 9:45.83 was just ahead of freshman Morgan Tankersley (9:47.19) and Stevens (9:47.71).

Meanwhile, freshman Allie Raab bested the field in the 100 breaststroke with a finish of 1:01.33, while sophomore Lauren Pitzer was first in the 500 free with a season-best time of 4:41.68.

Stanford moves on to the postseason. The Pac-12 Conference Championships are set for Feb. 27-March 2 in Federal Way, Wash., and the NCAA Championships will be March 20-23 in Austin, Texas.

Courtesy Cal Athletics:

BERKELEY – In its final home dual-meet of the season, the Cal women’s swimming & diving team picked up six victories, including a pool record in the 100 free from Abbey Weitzeil, but the Golden Bears fell to Stanford, 192-107, Saturday on a raining afternoon at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

Cal got off to a strong start with wins in three of the first four events, beginning with the 200-yard medley relay. Amy Bilquist, Ema Rajic and Maddie Murphy handled the first three legs, but Stanford held a lead by nearly three-quarters of a second when Weitzeil hit the water for her anchor leg. With a 21.07 split on her 50 free, she brought the Bears all the way back, touching first in 1:37.36.

Seniors Katie McLaughlin and Bilquist then gave Cal back-to-back victories in the 200 free and 100 back. McLaughlin, teammate Isabel Ivey and Stanford’s Brooke Forde were locked in a title battle throughout the 200 free, and the trio all finished within 0.11 seconds of each other. McLaughlin got her hand in first in 1:45.59 to Forde’s 1:45.62 and Ivey’s 1:45.70.

Bilquist then led from the start in her 100 back. Finishing in 52.16, she established a season best and was only 0.01 off her own Cal dual-meet record from 2017.

Cal closed out the first half of the meet when Weitzeil sprinted to victory in the 50 free. Her time of 21.99 is the second fastest ever by a Golden Bear in a dual meet, topped only by her 21.92 from the Cal-USC dual two weeks ago.

Weitzeil followed up with an even more impressive swim in the 100 free, covering the distance in 48.06. Not only did her time match the Cal dual-meet record first set by Natalie Coughlin in 2003, but it broke the Spieker Aquatics Complex mark of 48.17 by Stanford’s Simone Manual from two years ago.

The Bears’ final win of the afternoon came in the 100 fly, when McLaughlin earned her second victory of the meet. She finished in 52.66, with Ivey taking third in 53.56 and Murphy fourth in 53.89.

The meet served as the final home competition for five Golden Bear seniors – Bilquist, McLaughlin, Alexa Cacao, Jenna Campbell and Phoebe LaMay.

Cal next moves into the championship portion of its season, going to the Pac-12 Championships Feb. 27-March 2 in Federal Way, Wash., before traveling to Austin, Texas for the NCAA Championships March 20-23.