As the Pac-12 Conference concludes its final year of existence, the Olympic Games that earned it the nickname “The Conference of Champions” may be the most sentimental of the conference championships. Members of the Pac-12 have won 17 of 41 NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships, with Cal (4), Stanford (11), USC (1) and Arizona (1) coming out on top. reigns supreme. Any team in her Pac-12 is expected to win his NCAA this year, but the relative parity of the University of California, Stanford, and USC made it a very interesting contest.
In the end, the recently restructured California swimming and diving team used its depth to win the final Pac-12 team title. For some reason, this was only his sixth in Cal program history. The program has already signed a highly anticipated class that will arrive in Berkeley for the 2026 season and is expected to win an NCAA title, but this conference title is the highest honor for this team, and the team Most of them had to reaffirm their commitment to the team. Terry McKeever's post-scandal show.
It’s so much fun to watch our student-athletes get so excited about achieving our team goal of winning the Pac-12 championship. The depth of the program was the difference for the Golden Bears.
At the end of 21 events over four days, Cal came out on top.
Final standings for 2024 PAC-12 teams:
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Cal 1397.5
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USC 1291
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stanford 1283
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UCLA 1089
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ASU 990.5
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Utah 628.5
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arizona 514
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Washington State 498.5
Although the Golden Bears won only five titles, compared to USC's nine (eight swimming, one diving) and Stanford's four, the depth of this team helped them win the B and C finals. earned a large number of points. Many of these unsung heroes don't race in the NCAA, so this event was the pinnacle of their aspirations.
Congratulations to the California Women's Swimming and Diving Team!
https://twitter.com/CalWSwim/status/1764145463450820917
https://twitter.com/Pac12Network/status/1764144449620259311
We will focus on the five individual titles won by the Cal Bears. Of course, these were won by student-athletes who would compete in his NCAA Championships three weeks later. They will not be resting for this competition and are expected to drop their times to peak at the NCAAs. These could also be the “Caribbean” of Paris in 2024.
The Cal Bears won the tournament's opening 200-yard medley relay. Cal State backstroke star Isabel Stadden entered the transfer portal after McKeever's firing, but has since elected to return, giving Cal State an early lead. Jade Nether, a sophomore at Cal and a transfer from Arizona State, held USC at bay in the breaststroke. Mia Cragg and Stephanie Akakabota were able to hold off the pre-tournament favorites, the USC Trojans, and set a new Pac-12 record for the event.
The versatile Stephanie Akakubota spoke to Pac-12 Networks after her win.she didn't know she was on the show of She attended Carnegie Hall many times as a tween.
Junior Mia Krach won the 100-yard butterfly, earning her first Pac-12 individual title. Although Cal entered the tournament in top seed time, this was perhaps Cal's most surprising win of the week. She swam her 11th best time in the country for this win.
https://twitter.com/CalWSwim/status/1763757916505747499
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Isabel Stadden won her first Pac-12 title in the 100-yard backstroke. Stadden held off USC's Caroline Famous in a close contest.
https://twitter.com/CalWSwim/status/1763770195745943712
https://twitter.com/CalWSwim/status/1763773163010474330
While Stadden's win in the 100-yard backstroke was a bit of a surprise, it was less alarming to see her touch the wall first in the 200-yard backstroke again. She won her third career 200-yard back Pac-12 title Saturday night.
https://twitter.com/CalWSwim/status/1764122248041132194
Stadden in the 200-yard back is Cal's best chance to win an individual NCAA title this year. She is still aiming for her first NCAA title, as she has finished third, fourth and third in the last few NCAA Championships. She will definitely be faster if she rests in the NCAA.
https://twitter.com/CalWSwim/status/1764135831126901136
Graduate student Rachel Klinker won the 200-yard butterfly Pac-12 title for the second time in her collegiate career. Klinker had a great performance at the World Aquatics Championships in Qatar last month, but of course that was in a long-course, Olympic-like meter race (NCAA races are held in short-course yard pools).
https://twitter.com/CalWSwim/status/1764135487860851063
This was the last individual event of the tournament.
https://twitter.com/CalWSwim/status/1764138891647549713
Unlike the California women's team, the California men's swimming and diving team has a good shot at winning the NCAA title, which would be their third straight, but will likely be considered an underdog against the Arizona State Sun Devils. right. But Cal won't be at full strength heading into next week's men's Pac-12 Championship.
Somewhat controversially, especially among many non-California commenters on SwimSwam, Dave Durden plans to have his top swimmers race in the long course meter event in Illinois instead. Jack Alexie, Dare Rose, Destin Lasko and Gabriel Jett all sit out the Pac-12.. Darden famously did this in 2016 when Ryan Murphy, Josh Prenott and Jacob Pebley all sat out the Pac-12. There is no doubt that the move paid off, as the entire trio became Rio's 2016 “Caribbeans”.
Nevertheless, the Cal Bears will compete for the individual Pac-12 title next week, even though the Pac-12 team title will almost certainly go to ASU. We plan to find out the results of that match around this time next week.
Roll on the bears!
