Pac-12 Weekly Preview: Cal, Stanford face USC, UCLA

Katie Ledecky. Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Last week, the Cal and Stanford women did a weekend swap meet against Arizona and Arizona State.

This week, the Golden Bears and Cardinal will do the same thing with USC and UCLA.

On Friday, Stanford will face UCLA and Cal will face USC.

On Saturday, Stanford will face USC and Call will meet UCLA.

This is a big week to see how the Pac-12 will shape up as the conference meet draws nearer and nearer.

Both Cal and Stanford are coming off of two big wins last week, while USC and UCLA were off last week.

All of the Golden Bears contributed on Saturday against Arizona.

Senior Noemie Thomas was one of nine Bears to take first place in at least one individual event, prevailing in the 100-yard butterfly in 52.28, a nearly third-of-a-second improvement from Friday’s meet vs. Arizona State. She currently ranks third nationally in the 100 fly.

Junior Amy Bilquist claimed the 100 and 200 backstroke, sophomore Abbey Weitzeil won the 50 and 100 free, freshman Ali Harrison prevailed in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, freshman Briana Thai took first on the 1-meter and 3-meter springboards, and junior Katie McLaughlin won the 200 fly and 500 free.

Cal closed out the day by winning the 200 free relay in 1:30.94, while taking fifth in the race was an all-senior squad composed of Jasmine Mau, Thomas, Valerie Hull and Maija Roses.

Stanford also was dominant last weekend.

On Saturday against Arizona State, Stanford senior Janet Hu won two events and set a pool record to guide No. 3 Stanford women’s swimming and diving to a 176-113 victory over Arizona State at a crowded Avery Aquatic Center on Saturday afternoon.

In addition to Hu, freshman Grace Zhao, sophomore Katie Ledecky, junior Ella Eastin and senior Simone Manuel also won multiple individual events as Stanford was victorious in every swimming event.

That is a lot of star power for USC and UCLA to overcome.

But the Trojans have Louise Hansson, Riley Scott and Maddie Wright leading the team to a strong season.

Meanwhile, UCLA diver Eloise Belanger has been dominant on the boards.

On Friday, the Oregon State women face Washington State in a Pac-12 dual meet.

On Saturday, Arizona Faces Texas in a non-conference showdown.

Also on Saturday, Utah faces BYU and Oregon State faces Idaho.

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