2022 PAC-12 MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP
Team results after day 3
The final session of the 2022 Pac-12 Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships is here, and with it we’ll see the 200 Backstroke, 100 Freestyle, 200 Breaststroke, and 200 Swing Finals, as well as the 1650 Freestyle Timed Finals and 400 Free Relays .
Cal prepared as best as he could this morning, bringing together 16 Category A finalists. They have a very good chance of catching up with Stanford, who has been leading the competition since day one. Arizona State also had a great morning, but they still have a lot of catching up to do.
Firstly, this is the fastest race of 1650 free rides where Arizona Brooks Fail is the top seed. Stanford Grant Sholts‘, who swam well this week, is also in the fastest swim.
Next comes 200 back, which is Stanford Leon Macalister led this morning. However, he has an uphill battle ahead as the Pac-12 record holder faces Daniel Carr (California) and 2021 NCAA runner-up. Destin Lasko (Cal) also both in final A.
Best Seeding Andrey Minakov (Stanford) was slightly behind in the free 100 this morning, leaving him 9th, fresh out of the championship final. All eyes will be on the B Final to see if the 100 fly champion puts on a special performance in the B Final. The A Final features 50 Free Champions Bjorn Seeliger of Cal and 200 Free Champions Arizona State. Grant House determined to fight it. This morning, California freshman Jack Alexi surged ahead and tied for first place with Seeliger.
california star Rhys Wheatley commanded a chest 200 this morning and is looking to pick up another Pac-12 title. Teammate Hugo Gonzalez he almost swam a personal best this morning, so we’ll see if he has anything left in the tank tonight. ASU Leon Marchandwho was absolutely incredible in all the encounters, also in the mix.
Cal 5 course Trenton Julian led 200 flights this morning. Seeding is tight in today’s A-Final, but Julian’s season best and personal best are the fastest on the field by a solid margin.
MEN. 1650 FREESTYLE – TIME FINALE:
- NCAA – 14:12.08
- Pak-12 – 14:24.35
- Pak-12 Champion –
- NCAA ‘A’ Cut – 14:37.31
Top 3:
Brooks Failthe first-place finisher in the race posted his best time of the season and won the Pac-12 Mile title tonight in 14:41.22. Grant Sholts swam 14:45.38 for second place, marking a season’s best by 10 seconds. Arizona State’s Gordon Mason also came within seconds of his season best, solidifying his place in the national standings, which will be relevant next week when the NCAA invites are handed out.
Speaking of NCAA invitations, USC freshman Daniel Matheson swam a season-best 20 seconds for 4th in 14:51.59. This swim will certainly be fast enough for the freshman to win an NCAA invitation later this month.
Remarkably, Sean Grishop finished 5th in 15:00.90, well below his personal best but 6 seconds faster than his best of the previous season.
MEN. 200m backstroke – FINAL:
- NCAA – 1:35.73, Ryan Murphy, CAL (2016)
- PAC-12 – 1:35.73 Ryan Murphy CA (2016)
- PAC-12 Champion – 1:37.87, Daniel CarrCalifornia (2020)
- NCAA ‘A’ Cut – 1:39.13
Top 3:
In a big event for Cal, 4 swimmers finished in the top 5. Runner-up in the 2021 NCAA. Destin Lasko frustrated teammate Daniel Carr, Pac-12 meeting record holder, at the finish line. Lasko established an early lead in the race, but Stanford’s Carr and Leon McAllister closed out faster than Lasko in the final 50. Lasko was eventually able to hold onto the title and all three men swam season-best results. McAlister’s swim also set a new personal best.
In addition, Lasko, Carr and McAlister are now in the top three players in the NCAA this season.
The Mefford brothers were the next swimmers to finish. Bryce Mefford, in his best race of the competition, swam 1:39.49, his best of the season, to finish 4th. Colby Mefford swam 1:40.81 to finish 5th. His time was faster than his preliminaries, but only a tick off the 1:40.56 he swam in Wednesday night’s time trial.
Cal also placed 7th from Sebastian Somerset, who swam 1:41.02, just short of his preliminaries time of 1:40.70.
Cal had already reduced the lead to 14 points in the team standings after 200 points.
100m FREESTYLE MEN – FINAL:
- NCAA – 39.90, Caleb Dressel, Florida (2018)
- PAC-12 – 40.76, Vladimir Morozov, USC (2013)
- PAC-12 champion – 41.38, Vladimir Morozov, USC (2013)
- Cut NCAA “A” – 41.71
Top 3:
Bjorn Seeliger became the winner of the free sprint tournaments, winning 100 free tournaments after winning 50 free tournaments on Thursday. He swam a new personal best tonight, down 0.14 seconds from his previous time, which was set at the 2021 NCAA. Seeliger led the first 25 yards of the race, splitting 9.16, and basically just kept the lead for the remaining 75 yards.
ASU Grant House, Friday night’s 200 free champion, finished 2nd with a new personal best of 41.82. House’s performance marks his first time under 42 seconds at the event, which puts another tick for the senior, who is on a roll this week. House’s previous best time (42.06) was set earlier this season at the NC State Invite.
UC freshman Jack Alexi swam 41.93 for 3rd, barely touching his preliminaries result. However, it was Alexy’s second swim in 42 seconds.
ASU’s Carter Swift swam with a personal best of 42.16 for 4th place. The swim was 0.14 seconds faster than this morning and it safely puts Swift in the spot to earn an NCAA invite.
After 100 free throws, Cal not only officially became the leader of the team standings, but also leads with 38 points.
MEN. 200m BRUSTER – FINAL:
- NCAA – 1:47.91 Will Leacon, Texas (2017)
- PAC-12 – 1:48.53 2020 Rhys Wheatley, CA (2020)
- PAC-12 Champion – 1:48.86 Rhys WheatleyCalifornia (2021)
- NCAA ‘A’ Cut – 1:52.28
Top 3:
In an unexpected turn of events, the Pac-12 record holder Rhys Wheatley was slightly slower than his preliminary heat, finishing 3rd in today’s final. Wheatley held tight with Leon Marchand of Arizona State and teammate Cal. Hugo Gonzalezbut just couldn’t match their closing speed in the final 50 and succumbed to 3rd at the finish line.
For Marchand, who is only a freshman, the swim was a huge personal best and broke the record of the Arizona State program. Until this morning, ASU’s record was 1:53.54, a time Marchand has now improved by over 3 seconds. The win also marks his 3rd individual title of the week. It was the third place that mattered to Marchand. His split of 28.14 on that lap was significantly faster than Gonzalez and Whitley. Marchand is now ranked 10th in tournament history.
For Gonzalez, the swim was a new personal best and his first under 1:51. Gonzalez is now ranked 11th among the fastest athletes in the history of the SCY 200.
All of the top 6 swimmers in today’s finals were below the NCAA “A” category of 1:52.28. Stanford Daniel Roy swam 1:51.21 for 4th, Chris O’Grady of USC (freshman) 1:51.67 for 5th, and Stanford freshman Ron Polonsky for 1:51.73 for 6th e place.
MEN 200 BUTTERFLY – FINAL:
- NCAA – 1:37.35, Jack Conger, Texas (2017)
- PAK-12 – 1:38.53, Trenton JulianCalifornia (2021)
- PAC-12 Champion – 1:38.53, Trenton JulianCalifornia (2021)
- NCAA “A” – 1:40.44
Top 3:
Cal 5 course Trenton Julian did the job again with another Pac-12 200 fly title. As Julian wanted, he was much faster than everyone in the field, showing the fastest splits in the field in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd 50s of the race. Arizona State’s Alexander Colson was 0.85 seconds clear of Julian in the Final 50, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the lead that Julian had built.
For Colson, the swim was both a personal best and an ASU program record. The previous ASU record holder was actually Léon Marchand, who swam 1:40.86 by invitation midway through the season back in November. Colson also received an NCAA “A” grade for his performance.
Dare Rose of Cal swam with a personal best of 3rd, his second personal best at today’s event. Freshman teammate Gabriel Jett finished 4th in 1:41.42, 0.08 seconds off his previous best time.
Cal also officially sealed the tag team title, 75.5 points clear, with the remaining 400 free relay races remaining.
400m FREESTYLE MEN – TIME FINALE:
- NCAA – 2:44.31 NC State (R. Held, J. Ress, J. Molacek, K. Stewart), 2018
- PAC-12 – 2:46.41, 2019 CAL (Jensen, Sendyk, Hoffer, Seliskar)
- PAC-12 Champion – 2:46.92 California (M. Jensen, P. Sendyk, D. Carr, R. Hoffer) 2020
- NCAA ‘A’ Cut – 2: 50.99
Top 3:
Well… that was the end of the meeting. Cal and Arizona State gave us one of the most exciting relay races in the conference, which, of course, ended with a difference of 0.01 seconds. Before we get into the race between Cal and ASU, I should point out that the Stanford freshman Andrey Minakov led the Cardinal relay with a score of 41.47, which is both a personal best, and tonight he would have won 100 free points individually.
Both Cal and Arizona State have shown exceptional results in the early stages. For ACS, Grant House swam 41.77, swimming another personal best and re-breaking the ASU swim record. In Cal’s relay, sophomore Dylan Hawke led with a time of 42.19, beating the personal best of 42.53 he swam tonight to finish 10th in the 100th free swim. Until today, Hawke’s personal best in the 100 freestyle races was 43.92, a huge improvement for the 19-year-old.
Despite ASU taking the lead by half a second, UC freshman Jack Alexi has a lot to say about it. Alexi shared 41.14 in Stage 2, catching up with ASU’s Carter Swift, who himself posted a fast 41.46. Jack Dolan of ASU got the better of Cal Hugo Gonzalez in the third match, splitting 41.46 to Gonzalez’s 41.70. It got to the anchor, where Cal’s Bjorn Seeliger, the 100 free champion earlier tonight, had the most success.
Competing against a red-hot Léon Marchand of Arizona State, Seeliger blasted home for the Golden Bears with an anchor split of 40.91 and a hand on the wall 0.01 seconds ahead of Marchand at the finish line. To his credit, Marchand did a great job anchoring ASU with a split of 41.26, but it wasn’t enough to win by the smallest margin possible.
Both teams fell well short of the Pac-12 conference record. In addition, Cal and ASU swims are ranked 4th and 5th in history for 400 free relay speeds respectively.
FINAL POSITION OF THE TEAMS