FEDERAL WAY, Wash. (February 28, 2024) – Washington State opened the 2024 Pac-12 Conference Championships with a pair of impressive relay events to sit in fifth place after day one of the championships held at Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center Wednesday evening.
 
After two events, WSU sits in fifth place with 96 points, just behind UCLA but leading Utah, fifth-ranked Stanford and fourth-ranked USC.

"It was a solid beginning for the Cougs to start off the Pac-12 Championships. As we got into the Championships, the first day was filled with a lot of energy and emotion," head coach Matt Leach said. "I feel like we handled that first session well and will look to build off of each day. We had some first time athletes step up and a few really strong swims from our veterans. We are excited about tomorrow and continuing to build off of today!"
 
The Cougars opened the night with their 200 medley relay team of Anna Rauchholz, Emily Lundgren, Skylar Brgoch and Emma Wright finishing sixth, just behind UCLA and over a half-second faster than Utah. The 1:39.79 was a couple tenths of a second away from the school record.
 
In the evening's second event, the 800 free relay team of Dori Hathazi, Sam Krew, Angela Di Palo and Mira Szimcsak also finished sixth, just behind Arizona and nearly a full second ahead of Utah. The 7:13.62 was less than a second behind the WSU school record.
 
The Pac-12 Championships continue Thursday with morning prelims for the 500 free, 200 IM and 50 free while the evening session will see the finals for the 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free and 200 free relay.