You are working on Staging1

2020 Men’s Pac-12 Championships: Day 3 Finals Live Recap

2020 MEN’S PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS

The 2020 men’s Pac-12 Championships continue tonight with finals of the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, and 200 medley relay. Stanford holds the team lead, but Cal, ASU, and Arizona look to make moves tonight. Utah will battle USC for the 5th spot.

ASU’s Zach Poti is the defending champion in the 100 back and set the Pac-12 Meet Record in prelims. Cal freshman Jason Louser dropped 5 seconds in the 400 IM heats and will race teammate Hugo Gonzalez as the top 2 seeds in the final. Teammate Ryan Hoffer is chasing his 2nd title of the meet in the 100 fly against top seed Cody Bybee of ASU and teammate Zheng Quah, the defending champion.

MEN’S 400 IM

  • Pac-12 Record: Abrahm DeVine (Stanford), 2017, 3:35.29
  • Meet Record: Andrew Seliskar (Cal), 2017, 3:38.65
  • NCAA Record: Chase Kalisz (Georgia), 2017, 3:33.42
  • 2019 NCAA Invited: 3:43.42
  • NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 3:39.16
  • 2019 Champion: Mike Thomas (Cal), 3:39.83
  1. GOLD: Hugo Gonzalez, Cal, 3:36.60
  2. SILVER: Jason Louser, Cal, 3:41.98
  3. BRONZE: Sean Grieshop, Cal, 3:42.18

Hugo Gonzalez swam his fastest time since 2018 SECs tonight, shattering Andrew Seliskar’s Meet Record by 2 seconds. Gonzalez dominated the race in 3:36.60. Freshman Jason Louser was off his best from prelims but earned his first individual Pac-12 medal with a 3:41.98 for silver.

The Bears swept both IM podiums at this meet. Sean Grieshop ran down Arizona’s Etay Gurevich (3:43.19) on the final 100 to take bronze in 3:42.19. Teammate Chris Jhong was 5th for the bears in 3:43.51. Arizona State’s Ben Olszewski dropped a lifetime best 3:44.62 for 6th. From the B final, Arizona’s Sam Iida had the 6th fastest time of the night, clocking a 3:44.49 to win the heat.

MEN’S 100 FLY

  • Pac-12 Record: Austin Staab (Stanford), 2009, 44.18
  • Meet Record: Austin Staab (Stanford), 2011, 44.66
  • NCAA Record: Caeleb Dressel (Florida), 2018, 42.80
  • 2019 NCAA Invited: 45.90
  • NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 45.05
  • 2019 Champion: Zheng Quah (Cal), 45.13
  1. GOLD: Ryan Hoffer, Cal, 44.85
  2. SILVER: Cody Bybee, ASU, 45.19
  3. BRONZE: Zheng Quah, Cal, 45.24

Cal’s Ryan Hoffer had a breakthrough swim here, posting his first lifetime best in the event since 2018 NCAAs. Hoffer raced to a 44.85, coming within 2 tenths of the Pac-12 Meet Record set by Stanford’s Austin Staab back in 2009. Teammate Zheng Quah, the 2019 champion, took bronze this season in 45.24. Pawel Sendyk (45.48) was just off the podium in 4th.

ASU’s Cody Bybee, who dropped half a second in prelims, took another few tenths off his best for silver in 45.19. Teammate Evan Carlson clipped his best for 7th in 46.24. Noah Reid (46.15) of Arizona out-touched USC’s Nikola Miljenic (46.16) by a hundredth for 5th.

MEN’S 200 FREE

  • Pac-12 Record: Andrew Seliskar (Cal), 2019, 1:30.14
  • Meet Record: Andrew Seliskar (Cal), 2019, 1:31.07
  • NCAA Record: Dean Farris (Harvard), 2019, 1:29.15
  • 2019 NCAA Invited: 1:34.21
  • NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:32.05
  • 2019 Champion: Andrew Seliskar (Cal), 1:31.07
  1. GOLD: Trenton Julian, Cal, 1:33.17
  2. SILVER: Jack Dolan, ASU, 1:33.29
  3. BRONZE: Julian Hill, ASU, 1:33.56

Cal’s Trenton Julian and ASU freshman Jack Dolan were neck-and-neck the whole way through. Julian took a lead of 6 hundredths at the halfway mark and held on to his lead to win in 1:33.17 to Dolan’s 1:33.29. Both men lowered their lifetime bests from earlier in the meet.

Another ASU freshman, Julian Hill, dropped a second for bronze in 1:33.56. He held off a final 50 charge from teammate Carter Swift (1:33.64), who dropped a few tenths off his best. The Sun Devils made up half of that final, with freshman Andrew Gray (1:34.66) narrowly missing his best from prelims.

Arizona’s Daniel Namir was 5th tonight in a lifetime best 1:33.96. The 5th fastest time of the night, however, came from Stanford’s Jack LeVant, who won the B final in 1:33.79.

Scoring Update:

Cal leads by nearly 100 points with 436. Arizona State (342) has moved into 2nd, while Arizona (336) is 3rd. Stanford is now in 4th place with 324.5. USC (232.5) reamins in the top 5, but the Utes (221) are closely behind.

MEN’S 100 BREAST

  • Pac-12 Record: Kevin Cordes (Arizona), 2014, 50.04
  • Meet Record: Carsten Vissering (USC), 2019, 50.78
  • NCAA Record: Ian Finnerty (Indiana), 2018. 49.69
  • 2019 NCAA Invited: 52.52
  • NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 51.67
  • 2019 Champion: Carsten Vissering (USC), 50.78
  1. GOLD: Reece Whitley, Cal, 50.85
  2. SILVER: Hank Poppe, Stanford, 52.33
  3. BRONZE: Brennan Pastorek, Stanford, 52.37

Cal’s Reece Whitley blew away the field, breaking 51 for the first time to win it in 50.85. That was just 7 hundredths shy of the Pac-12 Meet Record set by USC’s Carsten Vissering last season. Whitley is now the 10th fastest performer in history in this event. Teammate Karl Arvidsson was just 3 hundredths shy of his best with a 52.62 for 4th place.

Stanford’s Hank Poppe (52.33) and Brennan Pastorek (52.37) raced for the silver. Poppe came from a tenth behind at the halfway mark to just out-touch Pastorek at the finish. Utah’s Andrew Britton was also under 53 tonight, breaking the barrier for the first time  in 52.95.

MEN’S 100 BACK

  • Pac-12 Record: Ryan Murphy (Cal), 2016, 43.49
  • Meet Record: Zach Poti (ASU), 2020, 44.14
  • NCAA Record: Ryan Murphy (Cal), 2016, 43.49
  • 2019 NCAA Invited: 46.06
  • NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 44.95
  • 2019 Champion: Zach Poti (ASU), 44.93
  1. GOLD: Zach Poti, ASU, 44.98
  2. SILVER: Daniel Carr, Cal, 45.18
  3. BRONZE: Bryce Mefford, Cal, 46.11

Arizona State’s Zach Poti snapped the Cal winning streak, using his front-half speed to take the edge over the Bears’ Daniel Carr. Poti was off his Meet Record from this morning, but still the only man under 45 to defend his title in 44.98.

Carr was 2nd in 45.18, followed by teammate Bryce Mefford (46.11). Arizona’s Thomas Anderson was tied with Mefford at the final flip, but wound up just off the podium in 46.28. Stanford’s Benjamin Ho, who flipped 3rd at the 50, rounded out the top 5 in 46.42. That was within hundredths of his lifetime best from prelims.

MEN’S 200 MEDLEY RELAY

  • Pac-12 Record: USC, 2018, 1:21.82
  • Meet Record: Cal, 2017, 1:22.31
  • NCAA Record: Texas, 2017, 1:21.54
  • NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:24.30
  • 2019 Champion: Cal, 1:23.44
  1. GOLD: Cal, 1:22.16
  2. SILVER: ASU, 1:22.75
  3. BRONZE: Utah, 1:25.76

The Bears broke their own former Meet Record tonight and were within a few tenths of the overall Pac-12 Record. Daniel Carr led off in 20.62, handing off to Reece Whitley for a 23.52 breast split. Pawel Sendyk put up a 19.75 on the fly. Ryan Hoffer then closed in 18.27 as they won the race in 1:22.16. That’s the fastest in the NCAA this season, nearly a second faster than any team swam before today.

ASU took the silver in 1:22.75. Cody Bybee gave them the fastest fly split of the field as he came through in 19.73. Freshman Jack Dolan anchored for the Sun Devils in 18.54. Utah (1:25.76) was 3rd with a 23.58 breast split from Andrew Britton and a 19.16 anchor from Liam O’Haimhirgin.

Arizona and Stanford were both DQed here. The Cardinal had an early exchange going into the breast leg, while the Wildcats had an early jump on the breast-to-fly exchange. With those DQs, ASU moves further ahead into 2nd place.

TEAM SCORES THROUGH DAY 3

  1. Cal 576
  2. ASU 414
  3. Arizona 387
  4. Stanford 385.5
  5. Utah 296
  6. USC 279.5

In This Story

50
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

50 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Jmanswimfan
4 years ago

SwimSwam comment section: ha ha Texas got this easy
Cal: hold my beer

Jay Ryan
Reply to  Jmanswimfan
4 years ago

Still I count only about 14 Cal NCAA qualifiers and I ran thru the top times last might and TEXAS has 24 in solid positions as qualifiers. Jeez, they can likely only bring 16 due to diver spots, so it the numbers will equalize it a bit. In the end, the quality of the performances at Indy will dictate the meet, but leaving 8 guys at home? They have 7 who qualified in the Backstroke alone!! That seems like a tough pill to swallow at Texas. I just hope that Jack Collins with his 14:45 mile gets to go since he was left behind last year and is a senior.

jmanswimfan
Reply to  Jay Ryan
4 years ago

Cal will likely have 3 finalists in the 400 IM two A guaranteed 1 B at least and two finalists potentially 1-2 finish in the 50 free. Cal is still incredibly solid.

Facts
4 years ago

That Cal 200 medley relay time is incredible. Wasn’t paying that much attention to the other conference meets, is that the fastest time in the country?

Bearly Breathing
Reply to  Facts
4 years ago

From article, it’s the fastest in the NCAA this season by nearly a second.

Facts
Reply to  Bearly Breathing
4 years ago

Yeah sorry, I was a bit impatient. Posted before the article was updated.

AJW
Reply to  Bearly Breathing
4 years ago

I mean it’s really only .6 bc ASU was a 1:22.7

Reply to  AJW
4 years ago

Good catch. I’ll fix it

Reid
4 years ago

USC is hilariously both in last place and the only team not to DQ a relay.

Hint of Lime
Reply to  Reid
4 years ago

I was gonna say — between both medley relays at this meet, basically all of the teams in this conferences are taking turns DQing a relay LOL

Bearly Breathing
Reply to  Reid
4 years ago

And they led after diving with 110 pts.

297.5 – 110 = not a lot of swimming points

Three Rivers Swim Coach
Reply to  Reid
4 years ago

With USC’s production, do you think Coach was asked to leave??

Bearly Breathing
Reply to  Three Rivers Swim Coach
4 years ago

My guess is no. The men’s team really only fell off the map the last year or so. But I’m sure other people here know more about his retirement than I do.

IHATELARRYSCOTT
4 years ago

Lol not even showing the 200 medley relay because…they would rather showcase something that already happened rather than something happening live

AJW
4 years ago

Someone tell this announcer Gonzalez’s time trial time in the 200 breast lol. She just said breaststroke “isn’t his forte”.

Gator
Reply to  AJW
4 years ago

Huuuuuuuuggoooooooo!!!!

Coach Mike
4 years ago

Last night’s broadcast was so much more enjoyable. Stationary camera with no commentary, showing every single heat including time trials. Even got to see the poor kid from Utah TT the 200 IM without backstroke flags and almost knock himself unconscious at 75.

This is terrible.

Bearly Breathing
4 years ago

Should I be worried about Michael Jensen? Let me know.

Reid
Reply to  Bearly Breathing
4 years ago

Going to say yes, and that he scratched the fly to time trial the 50 free.

Swimminisgood
Reply to  Bearly Breathing
4 years ago

I don’t think one needs to worry – his best event is the 100 free, and he’s right on his sprint times from last year. I think he’ll have a solid swim tomorrow and will get a time to get him into the meet.

Jmanswimfan
Reply to  Bearly Breathing
4 years ago

Justin Lynch type of performer sad to see.

Swimnerd
Reply to  Bearly Breathing
4 years ago

Been worried about the kid since 2015 Juniors.

Bearly Breathing
Reply to  Swimnerd
4 years ago

You made me download the results from that meet. Damn what an amazing meet he had!

Coach Mike
4 years ago
Hint of Lime
Reply to  Coach Mike
4 years ago

Did the session start early? Guess I missed the 4 IM race

AJW
Reply to  Hint of Lime
4 years ago

Nope the straight up skipped it lol. Coverage didn’t begin until 6:30 when the meet started at 6:00.

AJW
Reply to  AJW
4 years ago

…aaaand not showing B finals either. What a disappointment

IHATELARRYSCOTT
Reply to  AJW
4 years ago

This is the most classic Pac 12 Networks stream ever. Who cares about good tv? It’s all about making the worst possible experience for fans

Coach Mike
Reply to  Coach Mike
4 years ago

Last night was so much more enjoyable. Stationary camera with no commentary, showing every single heat including time trials. Even got to see the poor kid from Utah TT the 200 IM without backstroke flags and almost knock himself unconscious at 75.

This is terrible.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

Read More »