FEDERAL WAY, Wash. -- Senior Ella Eastin had quite a day. On Thursday morning, she was named the Pac-12 Women's Swimming and Diving Scholar Athlete of the Year. On Thursday night, at the Pac-12 Championships, she swam the 10th-fastest 500-yard freestyle of all-time for her ninth career conference title.
Following two days of competition and seven of 21 events at the conference championship meet, Stanford has moved into first place with 583.5 points. Cal is second with 455.5, followed by Arizona State (349) and USC (322).
Eastin finished the 500 free in 4:32.89. It marked the second-fastest time in school history, trailing only six-time Olympic medalist Katie Ledecky. Eastin took control over the first 200 yards (1:49.19) and finished even faster in the final 200 (1:48.34). It was the seventh individual conference crown (two relays), and the first in this event, for the Irvine, California, native and human biology major with a 3.74 GPA.
This is the third straight year a Stanford swimmer has won the 500 free, matching the longest Pac-12 title streak in this event (USC, 2011-13). Prior to Eastin, Ledecky was tops in this event each of the last two years. Overall, it was Stanford's 11th conference title in the 500 free, accomplished by eight different swimmers.
And that wasn't all in the 500 free. Sophomore Lauren Pitzer posted the third-fastest time in school history and earned silver behind Eastin. Pitzer stopped the clock at 4:34.30. That was just seconds before freshman Morgan Tankersley hit the wall in fourth place at 4:37.00 (sixth-fastest all-time at Stanford) and junior Erin Voss finished sixth at 4:38.29 (10th fastest).
Last 500-yard Free of her career and its the 10th-fastest...ever. ?? Of all-time. All the swimmers. Ever.
— Stanford WSwim/Dive (@stanfordwswim) March 1, 2019
?? @ella_eastin#Pac12Swim | #GoStanfordpic.twitter.com/u7xUWvJFeH
Stanford's divers opened the second day with a splash -- figuratively only. Stanford had three divers reach the finals on the 1-meter, more than any other school. Freshman Carolina Sculti earned the bronze in her first career Pac-12 event with a score of 313.10. Fellow rookie Daria Lenz was fifth at 278.60, while junior Haley Farnsworth was seventh at 258.30.
Stanford also scored three times in the 200 individual medley. Sophomore Brooke Forde was fourth at 1:55.11, while freshman Allie Raab was sixth (1:55.97) and junior Katie Drabot was eighth (1:57.29).
Freshman Taylor Ruck scored in the 50 free with a sixth-place effort (22.24), while the 200 medley relay placed second in 1:27.42 behind three freshmen and a sophomore (Amalie Fackenthal, Ruck, Pitzer and Anya Goeders).
The four-day championship meet continues through Saturday inside Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center. The third day of competition begins with swimming prelims at 10:30 a.m., and finals at 6 p.m. on Friday. Events include the 400 individual medley, 100 butterfly, 200 free, 100 breaststroke, 100 back and 400 medley relay. Diving prelims on the 3-meter begin at 12:15 p.m. with the finals slated to start after 6 p.m.