2018 Men’s Pac-12 Championships: Day 4 Finals Live Recap

2018 MEN’S PAC-12 SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, February 28 – Saturday, March 3
• Federal Way, WA (Pacific Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: Stanford (2x) (results)
• Live Results
• Live Video
• Championship Central
• NCAA Qualifying

Tonight marks the final night of competition at the 2018 Men’s Pac-12 Championships in Federal Way, Washington. Swimmers are set to compete for individual titles in the 1650 free, 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, and 200 fly. We’ll also see finals of the 400 free relay at the end of the session.

Cal’s Andrew Seliskar, who won the 200 fly last season, is changing things up this time around as he’ll battle for a title in the 200 breast. Defending champion True Sweetser and the Stanford distance crew will headline the men’s mile. Utah’s Liam O’Haimhirgin topped the 100 free prelims and will face off with defending champ Cameron Craig of ASU, as well as a handful of top-notch sprinters from Cal and USC.  Freshmen Daniel Carr (Cal) and Robert Glinta (USC) lead the way in the 200 back, but Stanford’s Abrahm DeVine and fellow Cal freshman Bryce Mefford are among the contenders as well. The Cal men dominated the 200 fly this morning with 5 swimmers making the top 8, but Arizona’s Justin Wright is also a title threat.

MEN’S 1650 FREE:

• Pac-12 Meet Record: 14:35.97- Erik Vendt (USC), 2003
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 14:40.75
• 2017 NCAA Invite Time: 14:56.84

1. GOLD: Nick Norman, Cal, 14:39.77
2. SILVER: Sean Grieshop, Cal, 14:43.35
3. BRONZE: Johannes Calloni, Stanford, 14:45.80

Cal’s distance crew has arguably been its weakest group over the past few years, but the Bears went 1-2 tonight.  Nick Norman led the way with a 14:39.77; that’s a best time for him by over ten seconds.  That’s also a best time for 2nd place finisher Sean Grieshop; his previous best time was from late 2014.

While Cal got the top two spots, Stanford showed its incredibly depth in this event by taking the rest of the top 8.  Freshman Johannes Calloni led his team with a 14:45.80, also a best time for him.

MEN’S 200 BACK:

• Pac-12 Meet Record: 1:38.34- Ryan Murphy (Cal), 2015
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:39.66
• 2017 NCAA Invite Time: 1:41.74

1. GOLD: Abrahm DeVine, Stanford, 1:40.11
2. SILVER: Robert Glinta, USC, 1:40.57
3. BRONZE: Daniel Carr, Cal, 1:40.72

Abrahm DeVine earned his second title of the meet with a victory in the 200 back, after having previously won the 200 IM on Thursday.  It was a bit of a bounce back swim for DeVine, who was disqualified yesterday in the 400 IM after initially finishing 2nd.

A pair of freshman were the other two men under 1:41 tonight.  USC’s Robert Glinta was actually in the lead after the first 50, and while he couldn’t hold off DeVine, he did keep Cal freshman Daniel Carr at bay to earn 2nd, with Carr finishing 3rd.  Another Cal freshman, Bryce Mefford, was the only other man under last year’s NCAA invite time, although all four of those had already likely punched their NCAA tickets prior to this swim.

MEN’S 100 FREE:

• Pac-12 Meet Record: 41.38- Vlad Morozov (USC), 2013
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 42.11
• 2017 NCAA Invite Time: 42.76

1. GOLD: Santo Condorelli, USC, 41.98
2. SILVER: Justin Lynch, Cal, 42.21
3. BRONZE: Cameron Craig, ASU, 42.34

USC Trojan Santo Condorelli broke 42 for the first time outside of last year’s NCAA championships.  He went 42.7 here last year, so whether tonight’s time is an ill portent for anyone not named Caeleb Dressel or whether that just means he was just more rested this year than last won’t be clear until later this month.  What is clear is that now twelve men have gone under 42 so far this season, and there are several more who have best times under that mark, meaning that we could very well see multiple guys go 41-something in prelims at NCAAs and miss out on the A-final.

Justin Lynch went 42.21 to earn 2nd, while last year’s champion, Cameron Craig finished 3rd in 42.34.

MEN’S 200 BREAST:

• Pac-12 Meet Record: 1:51.80- Kevin Cordes (Arizona), 2014
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:52.94
• 2017 NCAA Invite Time: 1:54.54

1. GOLD: Andrew Seliskar, Cal, 1:51:30
2. SILVER: Brennan Pastorek, Stanford, 1:54.57
3. BRONZE: Sam Iida, Arizona, 1:54.77

Andrew Seliskar led from wire-to-wire, ultimately winning by a whopping three seconds.  That’s a Pac-12 Meet Record and a new lifetime best for the Cal junior, with his previous best time of 1:51.57 coming almost exactly three years ago as a National Age Group record-setting time.  The incredibly versatile Seliskar focused on fly his first two years at Cal (in addition to IM), but with NCAAs looking wide open with Will Licon graduated, and with Cal already having a very strong fly group, it makes sense to have Seliskar go after the 200 breast this year.

Seliskar was the only man under last year’s NCAA invite time tonight, although 2nd place finisher Brennan Pastorek, a Stanford freshman, was under that mark this morning, before going 1:54.57 tonight.  Another freshman, Arizona’s Sam Iida, finished 3rd tonight in 1:54.77.

MEN’S 200 FLY:

• Pac-12 Meet Record: 1:40.31- Tom Shields (Cal), 2011
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:41.44
• 2017 NCAA Invite Time: 1:43.09

1. GOLD: Zheng Quah, Cal, 1:40.24
2. SILVER: Justin Wright, 1:41.26
3. BRONZE: Trenton Julian, 1:41.69

Cal’s Zheng Quah closed in 26.37 to earn his first win of the meet.  That time bumps him to #2 in the NCAA this season, just ahead of tonight’s 2nd-place finisher, Arizona’s Justin Wright, whose 1:41.26 was a bit off the 1:40.57 he swam at last fall’s Texas Invite.  Considering Wright already had his NCAA invite in hand, and didn’t need to be full rested here, both men should be in the thick of things in this race at NCAAs later this month.

Quah’s time was also a new Pac-12 meet record, with the old record of 1:40.31 dating back to 2011 and belonging to 2016 Olympian Tom Shields.

But the biggest story of this race might’ve been Cal freshman Trenton Julian‘s swim.  His 3rd-place time of 1:41.69 should also guarantee him a NCAA invite.  He ‘s been a bit overlooked in the absolutely loaded freshman class that Cal has, but he’s now knocked over four seconds this season off of his best 200 fly time coming into college.

MEN’S 400 FREE RELAY:

• Pac-12 Meet Record: 2:48.16- Cal, 2011
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 2:52.10

1. GOLD: USC, 2:50.18
2. SILVER: Stanford, 2:50.82
3. BRONZE: Arizona, 2:51.20

All week it’s looked like none of the top teams or swimmers were showing all their cards, and this culminated in a 400 free relay that felt a bit lackluster compared to the other big conference meets.

USC led from beginning to end, getting a 42.18 leadoff by Santo Condorelli, and then splits of 42.36, 42.33, and 43.31 from Dylan Carter, Ralf Tribuntsov, and Justin Nguyen, for an overall time of 2:50.82.

Stanford finished 2nd in 2:50.82, highlighted by a 42.16 split by Sam Perry, and Arizona finished 3rd in 2:51.20, led by Chatham Dobbs‘s 42.31 leadoff.

With the team championship already locked up, Cal chose not to run its real ‘A’ team, which presumably would consist of Seliskar, Lynch, Ryan Hoffer, and Michael Jensen, and instead swam Kyle Coan, Bryce Mefford, Trenton Julian, and Nick Silverthorn, a combination which finished last in 2:54.40.

FINAL TEAM SCORES:

1. Cal, 971
2. Stanford, 769
3. USC, 549.33
4. Arizona State, 391
5. Arizona, 387
6. Utah, 295.66