UPDATE: Cal All-American Sarah Darcel Out of 2020 Pac-12s with Knee Injury

2020 PAC-12 WOMEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, February 26 – Saturday, February 29
• Federal Way, WA (Pacific Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: Stanford (3x) (results) (diving)
• Live Video
• Women’s Fan Guide
• Estimated NCAA Invite Times
• NCAA ‘A’ Cuts
• Championship Central
• Psych Sheets
• Heat Sheet
• Live results

The 2020 women’s Pac-12 Championships sets the stage for a showdown between 2019 NCAA Champion Stanford and 2019 runner-up Cal. In the Swimulator projections, which score a mock Pac-12 meet based on season best times, they were separated by just 15 points. However, a notable absence may have a big impact on the team outcome.

UPDATE FRIDAY: Darcel is out with a knee injury.

Cal’s Sarah Darcel scratched the 200 IM ahead of day 2. SwimSwam has now confirmed with Cal that Darcel won’t be competing this weekend. She’s back home recovering from an injury, but the Bears are hopeful that she’ll be able to join them at the NCAA Championships next month. Her season best in the 200 IM is a hundredth faster than what it took to make NCAAs in 2019, while her season-best 400 IM is over half a second faster than what it took last season. She’s currently ranked 29th in the 200 IM and 30th in the 400 IM.

Darcel brought in 79 points for the Bears at Pac-12s last season. She’s their 2nd highest returning scorer, behind only NCAA Champion Abbey Weitzeil (96 points). That leaves the Bears with some holes to fill. Last season, Darcel was the bronze medalist in both IM events. She also placed 5th in the 200 fly.

Following her medal-winning performance at the Pac-12 meet in 2019, Darcel scratched out of the NCAA Championships. As a freshman in 2018, Darcel was the Pac-12 silver medalist in the 200 IM. She placed 5th in the 400 IM and won the 200 fly B final. Darcel was a 2018 NCAA Championships finalist in the 400 IM and also scored in the 200 IM.

With Stanford anticipated to have an edge in diving, this could make it more difficult for Cal to challenge for the title. The Cardinal is the 3-time defending champion. Cal did kick off the meet with an advantage through day 1. They finished just ahead of Stanford, 2nd to the Cardinal’s 3rd, in the 800 free relay. They then won the 400 medley relay while Stanford took another bronze.