TUCSON, Ariz. – Led by three second-place event finishes, the Arizona women's swimming and diving team wrapped up the Pac-12 Championships with a strong showing on Saturday night inside Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center. The Wildcats finished fifth in the team competition.
The Wildcats got off to a strong start to the night as freshman Tjasa Oder gave the team a momentum boost in the opening event for the second straight day. After earning a fifth-place finish in the 400 IM last night, Oder backed up that performance with a second-place finish in the 1650 free with a time of 15:59.88. Even more impressive was that it was her first time swimming the 1650 in competition.
Bonnie Brandon followed up Oder's second-place finish with a second-place finish of her own in the 200 back as she recorded a time of 1:52.50, finishing just behind winner Elizabeth Pelton of Cal (1:52.18).
In the next event, defending NCAA champion Margo Geer earned a third-place finish in the 100 free with a time of 47.68. Cal's Missy Franklin took home the victory and a new Pac-12 meet record with a time of 47.17. Meanwhile, Grace Finnegan (48.81) and Alana Pazevic (48.82) went 3-4 in the “B” final.
The Wildcats had two members of the team earn spots in the final of the 200 breast as Emma Schoettmer earned a fourth-place finish in 2:09.91 with freshman Sara Borendame placing sixth in 2:12.59. Eve Sarris placed third in the “B” final with a time of 2:14.39.
Ashley Evans earned a fourth-place finish in the 200 fly to close out the individual events on the night. Evans clocked in at 1:55.93. Elizabeth Pepper placed second in the “B” final with a time of 1:57.90.
In men's diving, Rafael Quintero closed out a solid week with a second-place finish in the platform competition with 424.95 points.
Arizona closed out the evening with a second-place finish in the 400 free relay as Brandon, Geer, Pazevic and Finnegan finished with a time of 3:11.90 to finish just behind Cal (3:11.49).
Cal won the team championship with 1552.5 points followed by Stanford (1364), USC (1327), UCLA (936.5) with Arizona (933.5) rounding out the top-five. Utah (758), Arizona State (461.5), Washington State (346) and Oregon State (309) rounded out the rest of the field.
The Wildcats will prepare for the NCAA Championships that will be held from March 20-22 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
For continued coverage of Arizona Wildcat swimming and diving, visit ArizonaWildcats.com and be sure to follow the team on Twitter @ArizonaSwimming.
