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Final relay of the conference championships will have the NCAA record holders in red as massive favourites, once again (cue the hisses & boos, haha :p) - but reckon our fave team in blue & gold (boisterous cheers erupt from the unbiased crowd here lol) are in with a bloody brill chance of an upset...or at least to keep it close!

Here's some recent historical data for the 400 Free Relay:

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Cal

3:09.08 - 2017 NCAAs (#3) - Amy Bilquist (47.55), Kathleen Baker (47.72), Abbey Weitzeil (46.93), Farida Osman (46.88)

3:10.15 - 2017 Pac-12s (#3) - Kristen Vredeveld (48.38), Amy Bilquist (47.13), Kathleen Baker (47.55), Farida Osman (47.09)

3:10.95 - 2017 UGA Invite (#1) - Amy Bilquist (47.94), Katie McLaughlin (47.91), Valerie Hull (48.47), Abbey Weitzeil (46.63)

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Furd

3:07.61 - 2017 NCAAs (#1) - Simone Manuel (46.02), Katie Ledecky (47.59), Janet Hu (47.63), Lia Neal (46.37) - NCAA & American record

3:08.51 - 2017 Pac-12s (#1) - Simone Manuel (46.47), Katie Ledecky (48.10), Janet Hu (47.45), Lia Neal (46.45) - Pac-12 Champ Meet record

3:11.59 - 2017 Art Adam (#1) - Janet Hu (47.79), Katie Ledecky (47.77), Ella Eastin (48.09), Lauren Pitzer (47.94) - No Manuel due to injury

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Furdettes lose Neal, and Bears Farida, from last season.

Would imagine Greg Meehan will go with Manuel, Ledecky, Hu, and Eastin or Pitzer in some order, with Simone as anchor?

The Dream Team is a possible lineup for Bears. Abbey on the anchor leg, Amy + Thleen (they both have the gruelling-on-the-legs 200 Back finals beforehand, but fortuitously do have a solid block of time to swim down and adequately manage their recovery).

Katie possibly as the 4th member since her sprint speed has been on game this season - whilst she has the tiring 200 Fly finals to race as the immediately preceding swim event, the diving portion of the meet should provide a welcome break, and McL's courageous efforts on the 4x200m Free @ Kazan 2015 immediately following her 200m Fly race is solid proof that such a tough double is quite feasible for someone of her calibre!

However I can see Robin making a really compelling case for her inclusion on the squad after dropping almost a sec from her 100 Free PB @ prelims this morning! If Neumann can break the 48 sec barrier @ finals this evening, then I'd reckon she would have made her case for deserving to be given a chance on this relay team.

Considerably further back in the queue for consideration would arguably be Val, Madds, Keeks, Sarah...and ?

Thoughts or rebuttals?


#fullsend


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UPDATE:

https://instagr.am/p/BfmlFxDAg20
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Have me hands rather full watching the live broadcast of finals & multi-tasking, so here's just a quick update courtesy of Cal W Swim - some PBs achieved too which aren't mentioned in these tweets.

Anyway, bearz012 or anyone please feel more than welcome to provide a proper & better formatted writeup if you feel like doing so - see yer later

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Yaaaaazzz...Roll on you Bears!!!

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UrsusArctosCalifornicus said:

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Yaaaaazzz...Roll on you Bears!!!

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Dream Team Relay!!!!!

UrsusArctosCalifornicus said:

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Yaaaaazzz...Roll on you Bears!!!

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Yep ..dream team wins 400 fr relay

1 CAL-PC 'A' 3:10.95 3:09.04 A 64
1) Bilquist, Amy JR 2) McLaughlin, Katie JR
3) Baker, Kathleen JR 4) Weitzeil, Abbey SO
22.84 47.79 (47.79)
1:10.43 (22.64) 1:35.22 (47.43)
1:57.61 (22.39) 2:22.69 (47.47)
2:44.45 (21.76) 3:09.04 (46.35)
2 STAN-PC 'A' 3:11.59 3:09.76 A 56
1) Hu, Janet SR 2) Ledecky, Katie SO
3) Meyers, Alex SR 4) Manuel, Simone SR
22.72 47.57 (47.57)
1:10.97 (23.40) 1:35.65 (48.08)
1:58.10 (22.45) 2:23.63 (47.98)
2:45.57 (21.94) 3:09.76 (46.13)


Cal's B team would have also would had been an A qualifier. Could have gone faster despite Murphy's unusually slow anchor.

CAL-PC 'B' 3:29.99 x3:13.96 A
1) Hull, Valerie SR 2) Neumann, Robin FR
3) Blovad, Keaton SO 4) Murphy, Maddie SO
23.37 48.76 (48.76)
1:11.69 (22.93) 1:36.87 (48.11)
1:59.50 (22.63) 2:24.84 (47.97)
2:48.13 (23.29) 3:13.96 (49.12)

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KATHLEEN BAKER POSTS 3RD FASTEST 200 BACK EVER WITH 1:48.2



Baker's swim tonight marked the 3rd fastest performance of all time.

The only swimmers to have gone faster are former Cal swimmers Elizabeth Pelton, the American Record holder, and Olympic gold medalist & World Record holder Missy Franklin.

Baker now owns 3 of the top 10 all-time performances, with her 1:48.33 from last season's Pac-12 sitting at #4. Her swim from last season's NCAAs is #8.

Cal now owns 9 of the top 10 performances in the event.


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Oh, btw did I mention, Relays = Bear Territory!!!

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OBear073akaSMFan said:

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Cal's B team would have also would had been an A qualifier. Could have gone faster despite Murphy's usually slow anchor.

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Indeed, Bears 'B' team of Val, Robin, Keeks & Madds would have finished 4th in the A final with that time, just behind $C! Impressive depth!

Right decision to use Katie instead of Robin, the frosh's turn will come in good time.

McL's 200+ distance swims haven't dazzled at conference (but which I feel will fall in place with more rest before NCs), but her 100 & shorter races have been quite on point, plus her experience & gutsy drive made Ledecky in the adjacent lane look quite ordinary, imo

Speaking of being on point, did anyone else notice that Thleen's lashes were spectacularly on fleek as always in that 200 Back post-race interview from Pac-12 Network?


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CAL TAKES TWO MORE TITLES AT PAC-12S


Kathleen Baker earned a Pac-12 title in the 200 back - the sixth year in a row a Bear has won the event.


FEDERAL WAY, Wash. Cal captured two more titles on the final night of the Pac-12 Championships Saturday, with Kathleen Bakerrepeating in the 200-yard backstroke and the Golden Bears closing out the competition with a school-record in the 400 free relay.

Baker set a meet record with the fastest time in the country in the 200 back, touching in 1:48.27. The reigning NCAA champion, she ranks third all-time in the event, and the two ahead of her are both Golden Bears. Elizabeth Pelton owns the American record of 1:47.84, and Missy Franklin went 1:47.91.

Baker also extended Cal run in the 200 back at the Pac-12 meet to six years in a row. Pelton earned the crown in 2013 and '14, Franklin in 2015, current junior Amy Bilquist in 2016 and Baker the past two years.

"I try to let my adrenaline take me the first 100 (yards)," Baker said. "I'm still working on coming home a little stronger and I think it'll help when I get a little more rest coming into NCAAs. I'm super happy that's a best time. Honestly, I'm out here having fun with my teammates. We had a lot of backstroke Bears in my heat and it was a lot of fun to hang out in the ready room with them."

In addition to Baker, Bilquist placed fourth Saturday in 1:50.23, while Keaton Blovad posted the No. 10 time in school history in took seventh in 1:53.31.

Cal wrapped up the championships with a strong swim in the 400 free relay. Bilquist led off, followed by Katie McLaughlin, Baker and Abbey Weitzeil, who touched the wall in a school-record 3:09.04 for the fastest time in the country so far this season. The victory gave the Bears wins in four of the five relays during the meet.

"Overall, I thought we had a really good, solid meet," head coach Teri McKeever said. "We had people step up in a number of different ways. I'm particularly proud of our relays. We come out of here with the top time in the country in four of the five relays, along with a couple of school records. We also had a finalist in every event, and every swimmer and diver scored for us during the meet."

Weitzeil set her own school record in the 100 free. Although she placed second to Simone Manuel of Stanford (by 0.20 seconds), Weitzeil touched in 46.63 to nip Franklin's Cal mark of 46.66 from the 2015 season.

Two other Golden Bears were in the 100 free final, with freshman Robin Neumann swimming a PR 48.09 for third place and Valerie Hull coming in fifth in 48.67.

In the 200 breaststroke, Cal had two swimmers move up in the school's all-time top 10 performers' list. Freshman Ali Harrison took sixth in 2:10.56, which puts her fourth in Cal history, while senior Maija Roses was 11th in 2:10.86, good for sixth best.

Senior Noemie Thomas tied her lifetime best in the 200 fly, finishing fifth in 1:53.77. In addition, McLaughlin was eighth and Sarah Darcel claimed the B final in a PR 1:55.26.

In other events, Chenoa Devine was seventh in the 1650 free in 16:16.20, and Phoebe LaMay paced Cal's divers on platform with a 12th-place showing.

Overall, Cal finished second in the team standings with 1,487 points. Stanford captured the title with 1,776.5 points, while Arizona State was third (996 points) and USC fourth (948.5).

Cal returns to action at the NCAA Championships March 14-17 in Columbus, Ohio.

• RESULTS => http://calbears.com/documents/2018/2/24//Day4FinalResults.pdf

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Thoughts and feelings from the Pac 12 Championships.

-Winning four of five relays and having the best time in the nation on those relays! Woo Hoo!!!

-Props to the freshman for coming up huge. They definitely surpassed my expectations. Robin was 8th in the 500 Free, third in the 200 Free, and 3rd in the 100 Free. Sarah was 2nd in the 200 IM, 4th in the 400 IM, and 9th in the 200 Fly. Ali was 5th in the 100 Breast and 6th in the 200 Breast. Sophie K-Z was 6th in the 100 Back. Danie was 13th in the 200 IM and 14th in the 400 IM.

-IMHO, Katie should drop the 500 Free and do the 100 Fly and 200 Free double on day 2. Boots used to do the 100 Fly and 100 Back double, so it's definitely doable.

-Unfortunately, the only senior that is going to make NCAA's is Noemie.

-Dream Team is pretty darn good. :P

Cal class 2017 is far better than what swim-websites ranked and projected.
The following freshmen made Pac-12 A finals.

Cal:
Neumann, Robin (500 FR, 200 FR, 100 FR)
Darcel, Sarah (200 IM, 400 IM)
Harrison, Ali (100 BR, 200 BR)
Krivokapic-Zhou (100 BK)

Furd:
Forde, Brooke (200 IM, 400 IM, 200 BR)
Pitzer, Lauren (500 FR, 200 FR)
Zhao, Grace (100 BR, 200 BR)
Kukurugya, Hann (400 IM)

solobear said:

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Cal class 2017 is far better than what swim-websites ranked and projected.
The following freshmen made Pac-12 A finals.

Cal:
Neumann, Robin (500 FR, 200 FR, 100 FR)
Darcel, Sarah (200 IM, 400 IM)
Harrison, Ali (100 BR, 200 BR)
Krivokapic-Zhou (100 BK)

Furd:
Forde, Brooke (200 IM, 400 IM, 200 BR)
Pitzer, Lauren (500 FR, 200 FR)
Zhao, Grace (100 BR, 200 BR)
Kukurugya, Hann (400 IM)

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Yeah, the Furds 2017 recruiting class was way over rated. Unfortunately, that can not be said about their 2018 recruiting class .

https://instagr.am/p/Bfm9u0mDJiA

https://instagr.am/p/Bfm4KAOAGZY

solobear said:

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Cal class 2017 is far better than what swim-websites ranked and projected.
The following freshmen made Pac-12 A finals.

Cal:
Neumann, Robin (500 FR, 200 FR, 100 FR)
Darcel, Sarah (200 IM, 400 IM)
Harrison, Ali (100 BR, 200 BR)
Krivokapic-Zhou (100 BK)

Furd:
Forde, Brooke (200 IM, 400 IM, 200 BR)
Pitzer, Lauren (500 FR, 200 FR)
Zhao, Grace (100 BR, 200 BR)
Kukurugya, Hann (400 IM)

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Teri can spot talent,recruit, and develop that talent. 'SC has recruited well, but has had a fair amount of attrition and many of the ones who stayed haven't improved. Like Cal alumna Carol Capitani, but she's consistently recruited well at UT and the Horns aren't a consistent top five team yet. Seems silly for UVa to be teasing and overhyping a recruiting class when they don't have the advantages that UT and 'SC have.

Will be rough to lose the class of 2019 after next season, but a fair amount of young Bears still have upside and I like the recruiting talent already in the pipeline too.

Really still think that Stanford's 2018 class has stars but not all of them are as great. I think Taylor, lucie, and Zoe will be as great as they were predicted to be but the rest (Allie, Anya, Morgan, and Amalie) haven't shown great results this year at least, however they'll still be solid for sure.

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PAC 12 WOMEN'S SCORING BREAKDOWN

• Stanford thoroughly dominated this meet beating second place Cal by nearly 300 points. Stanford's top single event score came in the 400 IM where they scored a ridiculous 176 points by going 1-2-3-5-6-7-10. They also scored 168 in the 500 free, and 140 in the 200 free. Cal had the highest non Stanford single event score with 143 in the 100 back.
• By Swimulator power points the top 10 swims of the meet in order were Ella Eastin's 1:49.51 200 fly, Katie Ledecky's 4:26.09 500 free, Simone Manuel's 21.2 50 free, Manuel's 46.43 100 free, Ledecky's 1:40.71 200 free, Manuel's 1:40.78 200 free, Ledecky's 3:56.53 400 IM, Abbey Weitzeil's 46.63 100 free, Weitzeil's 21.41 50 free, and Eastin's 3:57.32 400 IM.
• The top scoring class were Stanford's sophomores with 426 points. They were closely trailed by Stanford's seniors with 422.5. The top freshmen class was again Stanford's with 410. The top non Stanford class was Cal's freshmen with 359.
• Stanford returns the most individual points with 1066, but Cal is close behind with 1024.5. Stanford is graduating a ton more individual points than Cal (422.5 vs 169.5), but Stanford doesn't have that many more open roster spots to fill. Cal graduates 4 swimmers, and Stanford loses 5 swimmers and 2 divers. This meet could come down to the best recruiting class next year from these two teams.
• Stanford put 45 individuals in A finals and had 70 individual scoring performances. Cal had 31 A finals and 67 scoring performances. Arizona St got 3rd despite only 11 A finals appearances (the same number as 6th place UCLA) because they jammed the B final with 26 appearances.

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Cal women's swim claims 2nd at Pac-12 Championships




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https://instagr.am/p/BfoqzGLAvgB

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