FEDERAL WAY, Wash. – The Arizona women’s swim team kicked off the Pac-12 Championships in impressive fashion by winning the 200 medley relay to open the night inside Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center on Wednesday.
The team of Lauren Smart, Ellyn Baumgardner, Megan Lafferty and Margo Geer finished with a time of 1:36.22 to edge USC and Stanford for Arizona’s first Pac-12 relay title since 2010. The time ranks as the fifth fastest in the country this season.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats placed fourth in the only other event of the night – the 800 free relay. The team of Bonnie Brandon, Geer, Leticia Lelli and Monica Drake posted a time of 7:04.51 to finish behind Stanford, Cal and USC.
After the two events, Arizona sits in second place in the team standings with 116 points, just two points behind Stanford, who sits atop the leaderboard after the first night with 118 points.
Arizona State is in fifth with 100 points after finishing fifth in both of Wednesday night's finals.
“I’m really proud of our relay teams tonight,” Arizona coach Eric Hansen said. “I thought we swam really hard even though we were a little tired and unshaved. We are just trying to position ourselves for March (NCAA Championships), and I think we are in a really good place right now.”
Thursday’s competition will feature the 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free along with men’s and women’s diving.
