California junior Celina Li is an IM specialist, making the final of the 200 IM at the 2012 Olympic Trials and placing in the top 16 in both IMs at the NCAA championships. So, perhaps it’s no surprise that she was able to take down her teammates in the annual Queen of the Pool competition at California Polytechnic State University, though it was not an easy journey to her third-straight crown.
The meet featured 100 yards of all four strokes, plus a 100 IM. The men of California and Cal Poly typically participate in the meet with their female counterparts, but not this year.
Li won only the 100 IM, and was second in the 100 fly and 100 breast. She placed in the top five in the 100 back and 100 free. Overall, her combined time through all five events was 4:47.80, just 34 hundredths of a second ahead of runner-up Kelly Naze. Senior Elizabeth Pelton was almost three seconds behind Li, placing third with a combined time of 4:50.69.
Going into the final event, the 100 IM, Li had an advantage of just five hundredths of a second over Naze. That put a lot of excitement into the 100 IM, where Li’s winning time of 57.12 pipped Naze by just 29 hundredths of a second.
The meet started off with freshman Katie McLaughlin showing off her butterfly talents with a respectable 54.81 in the 100 fly. McLaughlin comes into the Cal family as the current national high school record holder in the 100 fly (51.53) and was a part of the 200 fly final at the world championships and a gold medalist in the 800 free relay. Naze was second with a 55.18, while Li placed third with a 55.99.
Former 100 back NCAA champion Rachel Bootsma won the 100 back with a 56.00. Pelton took second with a 56.39, and Naze was third in 56.49, just .01 ahead of freshman Amy Bilquist.
Marina Garcia won the 100 breast handily with a 1:04.11, more than a second ahead of Li’s 1:05.80. Cal Poly’s Sage Speak was third overall with a 1:06.27. The freshmen took the top two spots in the 100 free, as Bilquist touched in 51.26 over McLaughlin’s 51.51.
Taylor Gun was the top overall swimmer for Cal Poly, finishing 13th overall with a combined time of 5:04.68.
2015 Cal Poly women vs. California Queen of the Pool – Results
