The Pan Pacific Swimming Championships hardly began in Tokyo before Stanford junior and Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky lowered her own championship meet record to 1:55.16 Wednesday night in the preliminaries of the 200 free.
Ledecky, who won four titles at the Pan Pacs four years ago, looks to repeat that performance this weekend. This is just her second Pan Pacs and she’s already tied for sixth with most titles in Pan Pac history. Stanford grad Jenny Thompson owns 12 titles and former Cardinal Janet Evans has nine.
Ledecky will also be swimming the 800 free, an event in which she holds the world record at 8:04.79. She also has an eye on her meet record of 8:11.35. Ledecky has 19 of the top 20 fastest times in the history of the event.
Stanford sophomore Brooke Forde qualified for the finals in the 400 individual medley, swimming 4:40.76, the fifth-fastest in prelims.
Cardinal junior Katie Drabot placed 11th in the 200 free with a time of 1:58.09.
Stanford’s Ella Eastin, Simone Manuel, Abrham DeVine and Grant Shoults are also scheduled to swim later in the weekend.
Indiana’s Ray Looze, a Serra-San Mateo grad, is the USA’s head men’s coach.
By Palo Alto Online Sports/USA Swimming
By Palo Alto Online Sports/USA Swimming
By Palo Alto Online Sports/USA Swimming