Cal 400 Free Relay Crushes NCAA Record

The Cal women surged to an NCAA record to win the 400 free relay at the 2019 Women’s Pac-12 Championships to close the meet on Saturday night in Federal Way, Washington.

The Bears clocked a 3:07.41, beating the previous mark set by Stanford at the 2017 NCAA championships (3:07.61).

Sophomore Robin Neumann, of the Netherlands, started the race off with a 48.17 split. Senior Katie McLaughlin followed with a 46.55. The last two legs were completely crushed as Amy Bilquist clocked a 46.30 before Abbey Weitzeil went a 46.39.

Stanford’s Taylor Ruck, Lauren Pitzer, Anya Goeders and Ella Eastin finished second in 3:10.43, followed by USC’s Louise Hansson, Jemma Schlicht, Laticia Transom and Marta Ciesla (3:13.10).

It was a huge race for the Bears. The previous record was held by Stanford’s team that had Olympians Katie Ledecky, Simone Manuel and Lia Neal as well as national champion Janet Hu on it — one of the most dominating relay squads ever assembled.

Now Cal’s quartet has the fastest.

Event 21  Women 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
==================================================================================
         NCAA: N 3:07.61  3/18/2017 Stanford, Stanford
                          S. Mnuel, K. Ledecky, J. Hu, L. Neal
       Pac-12: M 3:07.61  2017      Stanford, STAN
                          S. Manuel, K. Ledecky, J. Hu, L. Neal
 Pac-12 Champ: P 3:08.51  2017      Stanford, STAN
                          S. Manuel, K. Ledecky, J. Hu, L. Neal
                 3:14.97  A Standard
                 3:16.82  B Standard
    School                           Seed     Finals       Points 
==================================================================================
  1 CAL-PC  'A'                   3:11.14    3:07.41NA       64  
     1) Neumann, Robin SO             2) McLaughlin, Katie SR         
     3) Bilquist, Amy SR              4) Weitzeil, Abbey JR           
                 23.28        48.17 (48.17)
        1:10.36 (22.19)     1:34.72 (46.55)
        1:56.61 (21.89)     2:21.02 (46.30)
        2:42.79 (21.77)     3:07.41 (46.39)
  2 STAN-PC  'A'                  3:12.08    3:10.43 A       56  
     1) Ruck, Taylor FR               2) Pitzer, Lauren SO            
     3) Goeders, Anya FR              4) Eastin, Ella SR              
                 22.55        46.76 (46.76)
        1:09.59 (22.83)     1:34.73 (47.97)
        1:57.07 (22.34)     2:22.97 (48.24)
        2:45.75 (22.78)     3:10.43 (47.46)
  3 USC-CA  'A'                   3:11.96    3:13.10 A       54  
     1) Hansson, Louise JR            2) Schlicht, Jemma SO           
     3) Transom, Laticia FR           4) Ciesla, Marta SO             
                 23.07        47.66 (47.66)
        1:10.98 (23.32)     1:36.15 (48.49)
        1:59.36 (23.21)     2:24.29 (48.14)
        2:47.42 (23.13)     3:13.10 (48.81)
  4 ASU-AZ  'A'                   3:19.30    3:14.57 A       52  
     1) Curry, Camryn SO              2) Teijonsalo, Fanny SR         
     3) Nordin, Emma SO               4) Runge, Cierra JR             
                 23.83        49.30 (49.30)
        1:12.60 (23.30)     1:37.97 (48.67)
        2:01.36 (23.39)     2:26.70 (48.73)
        2:49.76 (23.06)     3:14.57 (47.87)
  5 UA-AZ  'A'                    3:15.42    3:15.01 B       50  
     1) Stone, Jamie SO               2) Konopka, Katrina SR          
     3) Nations, Taylor SO            4) Sutherland, Ashley SR        
                 23.66        49.35 (49.35)
        1:12.35 (23.00)     1:37.80 (48.45)
        2:01.12 (23.32)     2:26.75 (48.95)
        2:49.58 (22.83)     3:15.01 (48.26)
  6 UCLA-CA  'A'                  3:18.86    3:17.21         48  
     1) Liu, Kenisha JR               2) Okada, Amy JR                
     3) Grover, Claire FR             4) Andrew, Olivia SO            
                 23.43        48.57 (48.57)
        1:12.34 (23.77)     1:38.38 (49.81)
        2:01.66 (23.28)     2:27.37 (48.99)
        2:50.95 (23.58)     3:17.21 (49.84)
  7 UTAH-UT  'A'                  3:20.37    3:20.81         46  
     1) Casarin, Ianire SR            2) St. John, Gillian SR         
     3) Fernandes, Aryanna FR         4) Lott, Sarah JR               
                 24.33        50.94 (50.94)
        1:14.21 (23.27)     1:40.24 (49.30)
        2:03.78 (23.54)     2:30.15 (49.91)
        2:54.27 (24.12)     3:20.81 (50.66)
  8 WSU-IE  'A'                   3:22.76    3:22.07         44  
     1) Larson, Chloe SO              2) Bokowy, Payton FR            
     3) Balmaceda, Sophia FR          4) Fountaine, Keiana FR         
                 23.85        50.04 (50.04)
        1:14.46 (24.42)     1:41.33 (51.29)
        2:05.36 (24.03)     2:31.74 (50.41)
        2:55.44 (23.70)     3:22.07 (50.33)
  9 OSU-OR  'A'                   3:27.29    3:23.97         42  
     1) Anderson, Felicia JR          2) Hoejberg, Amanda FR          
     3) Swail, Lindsay FR             4) Letrari, Arianna JR          
                 24.70        51.09 (51.09)
        1:15.26 (24.17)     1:42.19 (51.10)
        2:06.26 (24.07)     2:33.12 (50.93)

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

Name*

Email*

3 Comments

Oldest

Newest Most Voted

Inline Feedbacks

View all comments

Cam Dole

5 years ago

Judith Dole

Scott Young

5 years ago

They broke the record by 0.2 seconds…not exactly “crushing” the record. I get that the previous record was set by the Olympians from Stanford, but come on…

Ken Minneman

5 years ago

Reply to Scott Young

I came to say the same thing. I looked at the times expecting a 1 second drop. A great relay to be sure but calling a 0.2 second drop in a 400 “crushing” the previous record is a bit much.