California Narrowly Misses NCAA, American Records in 400 Medley Relay

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

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The California Golden Bears won the 400 medley relay on Thursday night at the 2019 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships with a 3:25.24 for their second relay win of the night.

Amy Bilquist (50.84), Ema Rajic (58.53), Katie McLaughlin (50.00) and Abbey Weitzeil (45.87) won the title for the Golden Bears as Bilquist got them off to a lead on the first leg. Indiana’s Lilly King (55.67) pulled the Hoosiers within the lead at the halfway point and fellow senior Christie Jensen (51.47) hung on to that lead through 300, but it was not enough for junior Shelby Koontz (47.68) on the anchor leg. The Hoosiers finished in second place for the second straight year with that swim.

King’s breaststroke split was the second fastest split of all-time after her 55.66 from Big Tens last month.

Top seed Michigan was in seventh place at the halfway point and crawled its way back into contention with Maggie MacNeil (50.34) and Siobhan Haughey (46.51) on the back half for the Wolverines.

Indiana’s team of Morgan Scott (52.19), King (55.67), Jensen (51.47) and Koontz (47.68) finished in second at 3:27.01 as Big Ten rival Michigan was third at 3:27.49. The Wolverines had Taylor Garcia (52.50), Miranda Tucker (58.14), MacNeil (50.34) and Haughey (46.51) swimming for them.

Cal’s win tonight also ends Stanford’s five-year winning streak in the event as the Cardinal placed sixth at 3:28.45.

The quickest splits outside the top three came from Stanford’s Ella Eastin (51.43), Minnesota’s Lindsey Kozelsky (57.25), Virginia’s Morgan Hill (50.67) and Stanford’s Taylor Ruck (45.80). NC State’s Sophie Hansson (57.37) and Louisville’s Mallory Comerford (45.96) also had impressive splits on the breaststroke and freestyle legs.

NC State (3:27.86), Louisville (3:28.22), Stanford (3:28.45), Minnesota (3:29.94) and Virginia (3:30.01) also placed in the top eight.

Cal now has four NCAA titles in the 400 medley relay. The 2019 team joins the likes of the teams from 2007, 2011 and 2012 as winners of the event for the Golden Bears.

 Event 7  Women 400 Yard Medley Relay
==================================================================================
         NCAA: I 3:25.09  05-Mar-18 Stanford
                          A Howe, K Williams, J Hu, S Manuel
         Meet: M 3:25.09  15-Mar-18 Stanford
                          A. Howe, K. Williams, J. Hu, S. Manuel
     American: A 3:25.09  15-Mar-18 Stanford
                          A Howe, K Williams, J Hu, S Manuel
      US Open: O 3:25.09  15-Mar-18 Stanford
                          A Howe, K Williams, J Hu, S Manuel
         Pool: P 3:27.17  21-Mar-19 Michigan, Michigan-MI
                          T Garcia, M Tucker, M MacNeil, S Haughey
                 3:32.20  AUTO NCAA A Standard
                 3:34.35  CONS NCAA B Standard
    School                        Prelims     Finals       Points 
==================================================================================
                                === A - Final ===                                 
 
  1 California                    3:28.03    3:25.24P        40  
     1) Amy Bilquist SR               2) r:0.25 Ema Rajic FR          
     3) r:0.34 Katie McLaughlin SR    4) r:0.24 Abbey Weitzeil JR     
    r:+0.77  24.76        50.84 (50.84)
        1:17.98 (27.14)     1:49.37 (58.53)
        2:12.31 (22.94)     2:39.37 (50.00)
        3:00.86 (21.49)     3:25.24 (45.87)
  2 Indiana                       3:27.89    3:27.01P        34  
     1) Morgan Scott FR               2) r:0.24 Lilly King SR         
     3) r:0.28 Christie Jensen SR     4) r:0.19 Shelby Koontz JR      
    r:+0.71  24.97        52.19 (52.19)
        1:17.94 (25.75)     1:47.86 (55.67)
        2:11.51 (23.65)     2:39.33 (51.47)
        3:01.71 (22.38)     3:27.01 (47.68)
  3 Michigan                      3:27.17    3:27.49         32  
     1) Taylor Garcia SR              2) r:0.09 Miranda Tucker JR     
     3) r:0.37 Maggie MacNeil FR      4) r:0.47 Siobhan Haughey SR    
    r:+0.60  25.00        52.50 (52.50)
        1:19.32 (26.82)     1:50.64 (58.14)
        2:13.88 (23.24)     2:40.98 (50.34)
        3:03.41 (22.43)     3:27.49 (46.51)
  4 NC State                      3:28.20    3:27.86         30  
     1) Elise Haan SR                 2) r:0.31 Sophie Hansson FR     
     3) r:0.15 Kylee Alons FR         4) r:0.30 Ky-lee Perry JR       
    r:+0.74  24.86        51.53 (51.53)
        1:18.27 (26.74)     1:48.90 (57.37)
        2:12.34 (23.44)     2:40.35 (51.45)
        3:02.79 (22.44)     3:27.86 (47.51)
  5 Louisville                    3:28.47    3:28.22         28  
     1) Alina Kendzior SR             2) r:0.18 Mariia Astashkina SO  
     3) r:0.34 Grace Oglesby JR       4) r:0.20 Mallory Comerford SR  
    r:+0.66  25.00        51.71 (51.71)
        1:19.09 (27.38)     1:51.16 (59.45)
        2:14.85 (23.69)     2:42.26 (51.10)
        3:04.07 (21.81)     3:28.22 (45.96)
  6 Stanford                      3:30.19    3:28.45         26  
     1) Ella Eastin SR                2) r:0.37 Allie Raab FR         
     3) r:0.15 Amalie Fackenthal FR   4) r:0.15 Taylor Ruck FR        
    r:+0.78  25.40        51.43 (51.43)
        1:18.95 (27.52)     1:50.49 (59.06)
        2:14.46 (23.97)     2:42.65 (52.16)
        3:04.39 (21.74)     3:28.45 (45.80)
  7 Minnesota                     3:29.93    3:29.94         24  
     1) Emily Cook SO                 2) r:0.13 Lindsey Kozelsky JR   
     3) r:0.35 Tevyn Waddell JR       4) r:0.29 Zoe Avestruz SR       
    r:+0.74  25.27        52.31 (52.31)
        1:18.72 (26.41)     1:49.56 (57.25)
        2:13.39 (23.83)     2:41.20 (51.64)
        3:04.40 (23.20)     3:29.94 (48.74)
  8 Virginia                      3:29.71    3:30.01         22  
     1) Megan Moroney JR              2) r:0.21 Alexis Wenger FR      
     3) r:0.00 Morgan Hill JR         4) r:0.50 Kyla Valls SO         
    r:+0.62  25.41        52.47 (52.47)
        1:19.34 (26.87)     1:50.51 (58.04)
        2:13.88 (23.37)     2:41.18 (50.67)
        3:04.54 (23.36)     3:30.01 (48.83)

Women - Team Rankings - Through Event 7                      
 
  1. Stanford                        173.5   2. California                        173
  3. Michigan                          129   4. Louisville                        100
  5. Texas                              87   6. NC State                           86
  7. Southern Cali                      83   8. Minnesota                          76
  9. Tennessee                          69  10. Virginia                           66
 11. Indiana                            54  12. Auburn                             52
 13. Arizona                          48.5  14. Texas A&M                          44
 14. Wisconsin                          44  16. Kentucky                         31.5
 17. UCLA                               31  18. Arkansas                           29
 19. Georgia                            28  20. Arizona St                         25
 21. Florida                            21  22. Ohio St                            18
 23. Duke                               16  24. Missouri                           14
 25. South Carolina                   13.5  26. Lsu                                13
 27. Kansas                             11  28. Purdue                              7
 29. University of Miami                 3  30. UNC                                 2

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