Junior diver Stephanie Phipps, a two-time All-American, won the 3-meter springboard title on Thursday at the Pac-12 Championship, hosted at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Washington.
Phipps placed fourth in the morning preliminary session, over thirty points behind Arizona’s Samantha Pickens, but posted a 345.20 in the finals to secure her first conference title. Pickens wound up finishing a narrow second, just 0.60 points behind Phipps.
In the pool, the Cardinal swimmers carried their momentum from a stellar performance on Day One and currently remain atop the point standings with 439.5 total points. USC trails Stanford by over 40 points while Arizona sits farther back in third with 343.5 points. Coming in fourth with 330.5 points, defending national champion Cal has a lot of catching up to do.
Sophomore sprint specialist Maddy Schaefer just missed out on a gold medal with a second-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle, clocking a blistering time of 22.12. Junior Maya DiRado touched the wall in fourth in the 200-yard individual medley. Although DiRado could not hold off Cal freshman sensation Elizabeth Pelton and Olympic bronze medalist Caitlin Leverenz, DiRado’s time was well under the automatic NCAA qualifying time.
Day Three of the Pac-12 Championship resumes tomorrow.