Lucy Bell Sets 2 PBs, Wins 3 Races as Stanford Tops California
Lucy Bell was a difference-maker for Stanford Saturday, winning three events with two best times as the Cardinal topped California, 154-145.
Bell helped the No. 3 Cardinal hold off the fifth-ranked Golden Bears, spoiling senior day in Berkeley.
In the process, Bell lowered her program record in the 200 breaststroke. She went a best time of 57.60 seconds to win the 100 breast, her first time breaking 58 seconds. It was enough to hold off the Cal school record set by freshman Silje Slynstadli at 58.21, downing the 2021 mark of 58.45 set by Ema Rajic.
Bell lowered her Stanford record in the 200 breast to 2:03.72. With teammate Lucy Thomas second and Caroline Bricker fourth, it was 15 big points for the Cardinal.
Bell also won the 200 individual medley in 1:52.50, .03 off her best time. It was enough to deny Cal’s Teagan O’Dell a third win.
Thomas was part of a thrilling opening win in the 200 medley relay for the Cardinal. Alana Berlin, Thomas, Torri Huske and Annam Olasewere went 1:34.54, edging Cal by .01 seconds.
Huske powered a mid-meet surge by winning the 50 free and 100 free. Her time in the 50 of 21.56 edged Mary-Ambre Moluh’s 21.93. In the 100, Huske went 46.62 to win.
Stanford added major points in the 100 fly, led by Gigi Johnson’s winning time of 50.76. It paces a 1-2-3 sweep, with Annie Jia second and Ella Jablonski third. Bricker was second in the 200 fly, .03 behind Cal’s Mia West, and also third in the 200 IM.
Stanford got a huge boost in diving via Molly Gray. She won 1-meter with a score of 314.10, then tallied 329.63 on 3-meter to top Cal’s Violet Williamson by 1.2 points in a significant swing. (Williamson’s score on 3-meter was the fourth-highest in program history.) Olasewere, Johnson, Thomas and Huske finished off the meet with a time of 3:09.60 to win the 400 free relay.
Cal started the meet strong. Camille Henveaux won the 1,000 free in 9:41.54. Claire Weinstein followed with a victory in the 200 free in 1:42.13, improving her Spieker Aquatics Complex record. Weinstein won the 500 free in 4:38.65 with Henveaux second, and Weinstein also finished third in the 100 free.
O’Dell won the 100 backstroke in 50.51 seconds, the ninth-fastest time in program history. Her winning result in the 200 back of 1:51.13 was also ninth in program history, where she paced a podium sweep with Moluh and Finley Anderson. O’Dell went 1:53.19 to finish second in the 200 IM, the seventh-best time in Cal history.
West won the 200 fly in 1:53.32, edging Bricker by .03 seconds. That time and her runner-up 47.72 in the 100 free both rank eighth in Cal history.
