UrsusArctosCalifornicus said:

---

I'm not certain whether Sophie's signed up for "relay only" duty, or instead will be in charge of cheering duties??

---

First, the good news

V. happy that my initial comments on Sophie were apparently dead wrong lol.

According to Meet mobile, Krivokapic-Zhou will be joining Izzy going for that tough 100 Fly-100 Back double on Day 3, then will go on to race the 200 Back on Day 4.

Ema seems to have dropped the 200 IM - perhaps to focus on relay duties (400 MR) tomorrow?

Now for the gloomier spot of news - Sarah's not listed anywhere...

Darcel was a projected scorer on the 200 IM, a strong candidate for the A finals in the 400 IM (Bears will not have any representatives in that event now, as with the mile - both events where the Furdettes are particularly expected to pile on a bunch of points with their top end depth there).

Wondering if Sarah bowing out (for whatever reason) had bumped Sophie up to an official invite from her original alternate status?!

bearz012 said:

---

Wow Tennessee really underperformed tonight, after receiving much hype (Erika Brown split only a 1:43.3 after spliting a 1:42 low at SECs). Perhaps this will give Abbey a clearer path towards 50 free victory , as well as victory in our 200 medley relay!

Here are some great splits I saw tonight, probably means that team and/or the swimmer hit their taper:
- Stanford's Taylor Ruck with another 1:39 split

Disappointing splits:
- Stanford's Katie Drabot's 1:43.99 lead-off is exactly one second slower than she was last year.

---

Well I did vainly try to make a case for recruiting Erika back on the 2016 recruiting thread aeons ago haha, but in this case am not too disappointed by her underperformance tonight if it'll lead to Bears scoring more points

Similarly with Drabot who was formerly recruited by Teri but chose instead to succumb to the Dark Side - KD projected by SS to claim runner-up in the 500 Free, to beat Katie McL by 3 spots in the 200 Free, and take 3rd over Bug in the 200 Fly, so this could help Cal...

OTOH, other than Ruck's nerves & inexperience with NCAAs, Meehan seems to have got Taylor's taper down quite well, so we may be seeing some outstanding times from her over the next few days...

Robin Neumann, Katie McLaughlin, Isabel Ivey and Amy Bilquist broke the Cal 800 free relay record Wednesday.

School-Record Relay

Bears Open NCAA Championships With Runner-Up Finish In 800 Free Relay

• Results

AUSTIN, Texas - Cal kicked off the NCAA Championships by setting a school record in the 800-yard free relay, as the Golden Bears touched the wall in 6:50.12 to take second place in the opening race of the meet Wednesday.

Sophomore Robin Neumann led off with a 1:42.94 split, which is a personal best for her and ranks as the ninth-fastest 200 free in school history. Isabel Ivey, Katie McLaughlin and Amy Bilquist followed to complete the relay. Cal's time broke the previous mark of 6:50.18 set in 2015 and was more than half a second faster than the Bears' winning time at the Pac-12 Championships three weeks ago.

Stanford won the race in 6:47.22

Cal is back in the water Thursday with prelims in the 200 free relay, 500 free, 200 individual medley, 50 free, 400 medley relay and 1-meter diving.

---------

• UPDATES ->

Robin


Katie McL

https://instagr.am/p/BvQPr-vFVwt

2018 A FINALIST SARAH DARCEL OUT OF NCAAS; TEAMMATE IN AS NEXT ALTERNATE


Sarah Darcel, who scored 12 points as a freshman last year, is scratched out of the 2019 NCAA Championships. Her teammate Sophie Krivokapic-Zhou is the next alternate, and has been added to the meet, NCAA documents indicate.

Darcel was 8th in the 400 IM last year and 16th in the 200 IM, scoring 12 points. She also competed in the 200 fly, taking 29th. This year, she was projected to score 12 more, coming in with the 12th seed in the 200 IM and the 10th seed in the 400 IM, along with 27th in the 200 fly.

New psych sheets were uploaded to USA Swimming's NCAA information page at some point today before the meet began. Darcel no longer appears on the updated psych sheets, and in her place is Krivokapic-Zhou. A new alternates list now shows Krivokapic-Zhou as a selected swimmer.

Though Cal's roster ultimately remains the same size, the scratch is a blow to their scoring chances. Krivokapic-Zhou is a longshot to score: the sophomore is seeded 38th in the 100 back, 53rd in the 200 back and 60th in the 100 fly. Fortunately, Darcel wasn't on any of Cal's A relays at Pac-12 and shouldn't affect their relay lineups at all.

swimmer19 said:

---

2018 A FINALIST SARAH DARCEL OUT OF NCAAS; TEAMMATE IN AS NEXT ALTERNATE


Sarah Darcel, who scored 12 points as a freshman last year, is scratched out of the 2019 NCAA Championships. Her teammate Sophie Krivokapic-Zhou is the next alternate, and has been added to the meet, NCAA documents indicate.

Darcel was 8th in the 400 IM last year and 16th in the 200 IM, scoring 12 points. She also competed in the 200 fly, taking 29th. This year, she was projected to score 12 more, coming in with the 12th seed in the 200 IM and the 10th seed in the 400 IM, along with 27th in the 200 fly.

New psych sheets were uploaded to USA Swimming's NCAA information page at some point today before the meet began. Darcel no longer appears on the updated psych sheets, and in her place is Krivokapic-Zhou. A new alternates list now shows Krivokapic-Zhou as a selected swimmer.

Though Cal's roster ultimately remains the same size, the scratch is a blow to their scoring chances. Krivokapic-Zhou is a longshot to score: the sophomore is seeded 38th in the 100 back, 53rd in the 200 back and 60th in the 100 fly. Fortunately, Darcel wasn't on any of Cal's A relays at Pac-12 and shouldn't affect their relay lineups at all.

---

That explains why she was not in any of the photos but Sophie was. Fortunately that Sophie was the next alternate though chances for her to score will be slim. Any idea for the reason she dropped out?

I compared the Pac 12 & NCAA 800 free relays. Both Stanford & Cal swam the exact same four swimmers. Cal improved its time by 0.5 seconds while Stanford unbelievably lowered their time by 4.5 seconds. The Bears beat the Cardinal by a second previously but tonight the Cardinal dominated the Bears by 3 seconds. USC's results were similarly impressive to grab third place. Troy was not listed in the top eight teams predicted to finish in the 800 free relay above. Pac 12 sweeps 1-2-3! GO BEARS!

On me way out, morning sessions can be followed here:

https://swimswam.com/2019-womens-ncaa-championships-day-2-prelims-live-recap/

Let's (f) go Bears!

Bears take top seed in 2FR!

Cal (1:26.25) was the fastest team through, with Maddie Murphy leading off in 22.20. Katie McLaughlin (21.37) and Amy Bilquist (21.57) took on the middle legs, while 50 free American Record holder Abbey Weitzeil anchored in 21.11. That secured the heat 3 win and the top seed for the Bears.

Robin adds ~2sec to take 26th in the 500 with a 4:41.25. Cassidy adds 4 seconds to end up at a 4:49.99, at 57th place

Furds got 2U/2D so not as bad as we initially thought, but still lots of points. Hoping all of our IMers and sprinters can score to narrow the gap

Izzy and Keaton both in B-final for 2 IM, Alicia the second alternate. Furd's Eastin leading A-final (no other Stanford swimmers in A or B final, though). Haughey DQed.

Abbey and Amy both in the A-final tonight! 21.24 for Abbey (seeded 1st), then Brown (21.3), MacNeil (21.49), Billy (21.60) as top 4 seeds. Maddie in the B final (22.05).

Cal seeded third going into tonight's 400 MR relay

Some morning splits, now that prelims are wrapping up:

Event 2 Women 200 Yard Freestyle Relay
====================================================================
1 California 1:26.00 1:26.25Pq
1) Maddie Murphy JR 2) r:0.21 Katie McLaughlin SR
3) r:0.27 Amy Bilquist SR 4) r:0.24 Abbey Weitzeil JR
r:+0.64 10.63 22.20 (22.20)
32.35 (10.15) 43.57 (21.37)
53.69 (10.12) 1:05.14 (21.57)
1:14.92 (9.78) 1:26.25 (21.11)
2 Louisville 1:27.47 1:26.72Pq
3 Tennessee 1:26.51 1:26.89 q
4 Stanford 1:27.42 1:26.91 q
5 Michigan 1:26.84 1:26.92 q
6 NC State 1:26.15 1:27.12 q
7 Texas 1:26.84 1:27.33 q
8 Auburn 1:27.05 1:27.40 q

B-Final: USC, Missouri, Duke, Ohio State, Texas A&M, Arizona, UNC, Georgia

Event 3: 500 free
Stanford: 2 up (Forde, Pitzer) / 2 down (Tankersley, Drabot)
Top seed: Runge

Cal: finishes of 26 (Neumann, 4:41) and 57 (Bayer, 4:49.99)

Event 4: 200 IM
Stanford: 1 up (Eastin) / 0 down
Cal: 0 up / 2 down (Ivey, Blovad), Wilson just losing the swim-off for first alternate to IU's Looze

Event 5: 50 free
Stanford: 0 up / 1 down (Goeders)
Cal: 2 up (Weitzeil, Bilquist) / 1 down (Murphy)

Event 7 Women 400 Yard Medley Relay
====================================================================
=== Preliminaries ===

1 Michigan 3:26.92 3:27.17Pq
2 Indiana 3:26.60 3:27.89Pq
3 California 3:26.41 3:28.03Pq
1) Keaton Blovad JR 2) r:0.24 Ema Rajic FR
3) r:0.27 Katie McLaughlin SR 4) r:0.39 Abbey Weitzeil JR
r:+0.69 25.40 52.26 (52.26)
1:19.66 (27.40) 1:51.00 (58.74)
2:14.19 (23.19) 2:41.26 (50.26)
3:03.59 (22.33) 3:28.03 (46.77)
4 NC State 3:27.81 3:28.20Pq
5 Louisville 3:29.02 3:28.47Pq
6 Virginia 3:29.54 3:29.71 q
7 Minnesota 3:32.06 3:29.93 q
8 Stanford 3:30.24 3:30.19 q

--

Quick thoughts from the morning:
Excited to see what the Bears can put together tonight in the 2 relays (200 FR and 400 MR).
50 freestyle shaping up to be a great match-up between Abbey, Tenn's Erika Brown, Comerford, Billy, et al -, of course with Maddie putting in her best effort in the B-final too.
500 freestyle altogether not great for us (hopeful spot for next year, mayhaps, with a gamut of distance studs coming in?), and 200 IM hurting a little bit without Thleen, though glad to see Izzy and Keeks in the B-final. Admirable effort for Alicia in her prelims swim, then swim-off for alternate.

Go Bears!

Are we subbing Amy in tonight? Great swim for Ema, 58 split!

Rushed back to check on results, cheers to all for the live updates & great analysis + breakdown!

Quick thoughts b4 I'm out of the door again...

200 FR - Cal's 1:26.25 makes it to the #4 spot on Cal's ALl-Time Top 10 list. Only faster relays have been the 2018 NCAA edition (1:25.50), 2017 NCAAs (1:25.59) & 2019 Pac-12s (1:26.00). Nice split by Bug. Abbey has more in the tank forfinals, let's get the bread tonight! (incorrect expression?? lol)

500 Free - Bears weren't projected to score in this event. Robin's 4:39.34 lifetime best from 2019 Pac-12s finals wouldn't have quite make the B finals, and Cassidy was clearly fully rested @ Pac-12s in order to increase her chances of an invite. Both did upgrade their positions from their original seeds - Robin from from #27 to #26, and Cass from #63 to #57.

Furdettes crammed 2 ups (A finals) & 2 downs (B finals), will be looking to put some distance over us after this event, maybe 40+ pts?! Though could have been worse, as LSJU had 7 swimmers entered in this event, and Drabot who was the runner-up at last year's nationals ended up in the B final.

200 IM - Izzy's PB from 2019 Pac-12s would have been A final worthy, but a good prelims effort to lead the B final scoring charge nonetheless. Keeks joined in the fun, went & upgraded her non-scoring #18 seed to #14 (B final)! Oh sooo close for our English lass Alicia in her NCAA debut - her 1:55.77 personal record from 2018 UGA Invite would have earned qualification for the B. Will miss Sarah's presence & contribution here. Trees have only 1 qualifier for this evening - unfortunately for us, that's in the form of Ella Eastin, who's favoured to win it all, being the NCAA & American record holder, so will gain some additional points ahead of us.

50 Free - Billy with a 21.60 PB in prelims (prev best = 21.64 @ 2019 Pac-12s), yasss! Madds with a season best of 22.05 to earn a scoring berth in the B final tonight - cheering for her to challenge her outstanding 21.76 lifetime best as a froski @ 2017 NCAAs!

Oh, and I reckon Abbey will be eyeing her American record tonight...but her path to the podium will definitely not be a jaunt in the woods with some very capable competition - will we get to be privileged to witness a record or two going down?! LSJU managed a single qualifier (B final), Anya Goeders seeded @ #13 - so a golden opportunity to reduce the scoring gap here (but the Trees will respond in the diving portion of the competition straightaways).

400 MR - 3:28.03 is over 2 seconds faster than Cal's prelims effort @ 2018 NCAAs (Keeks, Ali, Nono, Katie). Billy coming in for Keeks should be good for around a 2 sec drop...Ema a brilliant morning swim with her 58.74 leg (her fastest breast split ever), will just need to stay in the 58 sec range to give our ace back-half duo of Bug & Abbey to do what they do best. Bears will look to upgrade their 3rd place finish from last year, though the competition will be massively stiff from several other teams boasting top-of-the-class legs.

Furdettes did make A finals @ #8, will prob. be less of a factor in this relay in spite of Ruck's fearsome anchor on free, cos of their relatively vulnerable fly & back components, with Zoe not looking as good as advertised on breast (Zhao or Raab possible replacements tonight?). Ella will however transform their back leadoff to a strength by coming in for Lucie, and Amalie will bring some improvements over Drabot on fly.

2019 W. NCAAS FINALS PREVIEW: FASTEST 2 50 FREESTYLERS EVER SET TO BATTLE TONIGHT:



CLASH OF THE TITANS IN WOMEN'S 50 FREE:

Tonight's 50 free will feature the 2 fastest women in history: Cal's Abbey Weitzeil, the American Record holder and fastest ever, and Tennessee's Erika Brown, the NCAA Record holder and #2 all-time. Weitzeil put up the 8th fastest performance in history this morning, with Brown clocking in just a few hundredths shy of that. Brown, the SEC champion, set the NCAA Record last month at the SEC Championships with a scorching 21.15. That broke the mark formerly held by 2018 champion Simone Manuel.

Weitzeil was just a hundredth shy of that record a week later, posting a 21.16 to win the Pac-12 Championship title in a new conference record. The only time anyone has ever swum faster was when Weitzeil set the American Record at 21.12 back in 2016. She set the record at the American Short Course Championships, which was held in this same venue.

Go, Abbey!

UrsusArctosCalifornicus said:

---

Furdettes did make A finals @ #8, will prob. be less of a factor in this relay in spite of Ruck's fearsome anchor on free, cos of their relatively vulnerable fly & back components, with Zoe not looking as good as advertised on breast (Zhao or Raab possible replacements tonight?). Ella will however transform their back leadoff to a strength by coming in for Lucie, and Amalie will bring some improvements over Drabot on fly.

---

..still would love if they had been bumped out of the A final.

A few pictorials & race videos from this morning's session...

-------

https://instagr.am/p/BvSDhZVli7V

200 Free Relay - Heat 3 (Madds/Bug/Billy/Abbey in Lane 4)




200 IM - Heat 7 (Alicia in Lane 1)


200 IM - Heat 9 (Izzy in Lane 6, the only freshie of entire field to qualify for this final, Keeks in Lane 7)


50 Free - Heat 5 (Billy in Lane 5 - watch her priceless reaction at the end lol)


50 Free - Heat 6 (Madds in Lane 1, Abbey in Lane 4)




400 Medley Relay - Heat 3 (Keeks/Ema/Bug/Abbey in Lane 4)




https://instagr.am/p/BvSLl8lA8lF

-------

STANFORD LEADS DAY 2 A/B FINALISTS

(Front page photo of the Furdettes not included here )

-------

DAY 2 PRELIMS RELAY ANALYSIS: BIG DECISIONS SEEM TO PAY OFF

(Front page photo of the Trees removed )

-------

Correct me if I'm mis-interpreting these results as diving isn't exactly my forte haha - but from these unofficial live results, it appears to me that Phoebe has outshined expectations by earning a berth in the B finals of the 1 metre springboard championships, where she placed 7th, contributing valuable points (2?) to the Golden Bears tally!

https://secure.meetcontrol.com/divemeets/system/livestats.php?event=stats-5856-7142-9-Finished

3 Furdette divers had also made the consolation finals to help out LSJU in the team race (#3, 4 & 8 in this B final) - but AFAIK, the A finals this evening will be a Trees-free zone... :p

Finals time, Go Bears!!

Cal won! 20.49 SPLIT FOR ABBEY! American record as well

Wow, new NCAA, American & school record!!!!

Even sweeter that our Bears' 1:24.45* in the 200 Free relay sooo effortlessly took out LSJU's former NCAA/AR of 1:25.43 from 2018 NCAAs! :p

Roll on you Bears!!

*Sorry, I was just so shooook at those times that I accidentally had our relay going faster by a full 0.1 of a sec...should be 1:24.55...but still a MASSIVE record & win haha

1:24.55, beating LSJU's record by a second. 20.8 split for Billy !! Amazing job

#gobears

BEARS!!

Maddie (21.82), McL (21.37), Billy (20.87), Abbey (20.49) = 1:24.55

200 Free Relay (LSJU took 3rd)


Furdettes will close the scoring gap in a hurry in the next couple of events - 500 Free (where we don't have a finals swimmer, as will be the case in the 400 IM tomorrow, and the 1650 Free on Saturday) & the 200 IM.

Bears will fire back in the 50 Free, and the 400 Medley Relay though

CAL'S 200 FREE RELAY BREAKS EVERY RECORD IN THE BOOKS


Cal went 1:24.55 to break the NCAA, American, US Open, and pool records in the 200 free relay. Current photo via Jack Spitser/Spitser Photography


The Cal team of Maddie Murphy, Katie McLaughlin, Amy Bilquist, and Abbey Weitzeil set new American, NCAA, US Open, and pool records in the 200 free relay Thursday night at the 2019 Women's Division I NCAA Championships.

Murphy led off in 21.82, McLaughlin went 21.37, Bilquist went 20.87, and Weitzeil anchored in 20.49 for a final time of 1:24.55. Weitzeil's split was the second-fastest relay split off all-time, behind only Simone Manuel's 20.45 from last year; Manuel and Weitzeil now combine to own the four fastest splits of all-time. Bilquist's 20.87 is the 10th-fastest split ever.

Michigan finished second in the race Thursday with a 1:26.25 and Stanford was third in 1:26.50.

The Stanford team of Janet Hu, Simone Manuel, Lauren Pitzer, and Ally Howe held the previous records with their 1:25.43 from last year.

------

WEITZEIL THROWS DOWN 20.49 FOR 2ND FASTEST 50 SPLIT EVER IN 200 FR



The Cal Bears posted an awe inspiring 1:24.51 to shatter the NCAA and American Records in the 200 free relay tonight.

The relay tore past the rest of field on the back half of the race, thanks to an insane 41.36 on the back 100 between Amy Bilquist and Abbey Weitzeil. Bilquist split a huge lifetime best of 20.87, while Weitzeil blasted a 20.49 on the anchor leg.

Weitzeil's split comes in as the 2nd fastest split in history. Keep in mind, relay splits don't have an official database, but as far as we can tell, only Simone Manuel has split faster, and she only has done so one time. Manuel's fastest split came in at 20.45, which she swam to anchor Stanford's winning 200 medley relay at NCAAs last year. We had Weitzeil's previous fastest split at 20.57, which was also the 2nd fastest split all-time, until tonight of course.

We also have Erika Brown and Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace tied for the 3rd fastest performers for the 50 free off a relay start, both having split 20.80. Their splits are tied for the 5th fastest splits of all time.

For her part, Bilquist's split tonight comes in as the 10th fastest split of all time, and makes her the 7th fastest performer ever.

------

wow izzy 1:53.87 to win the B Final!!!!

Massive lifetime best for Izzy, 1:53.87, as she comes out tops in the B final of the 200 IM! Prev. best was a 1:54.31 from 2019 Pac-12s. Gets a hug from Teri...awwww

Not to be outdone, Keeks also lowered her personal record from 1:55.62 (also from 2019 Pac-12s) to 1:55.46, claiming 3rd in consols!

Oh btw, thank you very much Beata for taking out Eastin (by over a full sec) for the 200 IM title! Yuri can coach...

Maddie with a 21.91 to win the B final! Glad to see her get back to her freshman year times & get over her soph year slump!

Madds - 21.91 to win the 50 Free B final! Well done!!

FINALLY! 21.02 AR for Abbey!!!

Is the event being televised or streamed anywhere?

Wowowoww - You did it, Abbey!!! 21.02-> new NCAA, AR, US Open, Pool & School record in the 50 Free, all in one fell swoop!!!

ABBEY!!

New PB for Amy as well!! 21.52

NYCGOBEARS said:

---

Is the event being televised or streamed anywhere?

---

ESPN-3

http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3492316/ncaa-womens-swimming-and-diving-championships