500_Free_Podium500_Free_Podium
Chuck Arelei
Women's Swimming & Diving

Ledecky, Manuel Win on Day Two

Day 1 Recap | Day 2 Results

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. – Behind a plethora of scorers, and victories from Katie Ledecky and Simone Manuel in the 500 and 50-yard freestyles, respectively, No. 1 Stanford took over the lead on Day Two of the Pac-12 Swimming and Diving Championships at Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center.   

"This is so much fun," Ledecky said. "Stanford has such a great swimming legacy. We all love representing Stanford and what the Stanford women's swim and dive team is all about—winning and competing with the best, and so far we are off to a good start."

"I'm happy to win, but I'm glad to get points on the board for my team," Manuel said. "We just want to fast as swim as we can, as best we can, and see our work pay off."

After Thursday's events, defending champion Stanford leads with 611.5 points. Cal is close behind with 510.5 points. Arizona State is third with 354.
 Plenty of Trees in the 500 FreeStanford swept the podium and took five of the top seven spots in the 500 free. Ledecky stopped the clock at 4:26.09 – the third-fastest swim all-time in the event behind two of her previous bests. Junior Ella Eastin flew to a finish of 4:34.04 – the second-fastest time in the nation this year and the second-fastest time in school history, both behind Ledecky. Freshman Lauren Pitzer was third with the program's fifth-fastest finish of all-time at 4:40.70.

Not to be outdone, sophomore Megan Byrnes was fifth at 4:39.05, and sophomore Erin Voss set a career-best with a seventh-place effort of 4:40.70. Junior Leah Stevens was even faster in the B final. She won the race with a time of 4:37.44 which now stands as the seventh-fastest time in school history.

Freshman Hannah Kukurugya also made the B final, and finished 14th overall at 4:44.33.

Among the nine fastest individuals in the 500 free in school history, seven are now currently on the team.
 

Manuel Goes Back-to-BackManuel, who missed the Fall season due to injury, fell to Cal's Abbey Weitzeil in the 50 free at the dual meet on Feb. 10, and was second to Weitzeil in the prelims. However, in the final, Manuel flew to a meet-record finish of 21.20 for her second straight conference title in the event.

Hu also made the A final and was fourth. She hit the wall at 21.98 and broke 22 seconds for the second time in her career. Senior Alex Meyers won the C final with the fastest swim of her collegiate career at 22.63. Freshman Lauren Green was 21st overall at 22.78, and Lindsey Engel was the fifth Cardinal to score in the event with a 23rd-place finish of 22.89.

Scoring DepthIn the first diving event of the week, Olympian Kassidy Cook was the runner-up on the 1-meter. The senior and Woodlands, Texas, native finished with a finals score of 320.90 – just 3.5 points behind UCLA's Eloise Belanger. Freshman Mia Paulsen also made the finals and scored in her first postseason event with an eighth-place finish of 268.45. Haley Farnsworth was 10th (265.70), Abby Gardner was 11th (259.65) and Sammy Gallagher was 22nd (224.50).  

In the 200 individual medley, freshman Brooke Forde was third (1:54.98) and moved into sixth in the Stanford record books. Senior Ally Howe was fourth (1:55.12), sophomore Katie Drabot was fifth (career best, 1:55.15) and junior Kim Williams was seventh with a career-best finish of 1:55.74.

Stanford was second to Cal in the 200 free relay. Hu, Manuel, Pitzer and Howe finished in 1:26.81.

Up NextFriday preliminaries begin at 10:30 a.m. PT and finals are set to start at 6 p.m. Friday's events include the 400 individual medley, 100 butterfly, 200 free, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke, 3-meter diving and the 400 medley relay. Coverage of the prelims and finals will be streamed live on Pac-12.com/live/championships and the Pac-12 Now app.


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