The final night of the 2012 Pac 12 Championships didn’t leave for much drama in scoring, but that doesn’t mean the meet failed to excite the fans at the East Los Angeles College Natatorium. There were several Meet Records that nearly went down, and in the races where they weren’t close the times were still extremely fast.
Men’s 1650 Free
Stanford’s Chad La Tourette continued to have his best Pac-12 meet since his freshman year, and topped off a career sweep of the mile with a 14:41.90. This is at least the 2nd career-sweep in this race we’ve seen this year, as Texas’ Jackson Wilcox completed the same thing at Big 12’s earlier this year.
La Tourette blew through this race to a huge victory – winning by more than 25 yards. The three swimmers behind him were all freshman, though, showing that there’s a capable group fighting to take over this Pac 12 mantle after La Tourette’s graduation.
USC’s Cristian Quintero outraced Cal’s Adam Hinshaw to the finish to take 2nd in 14:55.58. Hinshaw was 3rd at 14:55.68. The Golden Bear rookie went into his closing kick first (about 100 yards out) to put some space between him and Quintero, but Quintero ripped into the final 50.
Both of those times will earn invites to NCAA’s. In 4th was Stanford’s Drew Cosgarea in 15:05.14. He held off a trio of more experienced teammates including a 15:05.24 from Michael Zoldos. Altogether, the Cardinal scored five out of the top seven spots in this race.
Men’s 200 Backstroke
Stanford freshman David Nolan completed a sweep of his individual swims at this meet by winning the 200 backstroke in 1:40.70, which is well over a second faster than his previous lifetime best. That was just two-tenths off of the meet record.
Among those that Nolan knocked off in this race is two-time defending champion, and current national-leader, Cory Chitwood of Arizona. Chitwood touched in 1:41.44, ahead of Stanford’s Matt Swanston (1:42.23), USC’s Alex Lendrum (1:42.42), and Stanford’s Matt Thompson (1:42.56). All 5 of those swimmers are in contention for an A-Final at NCAA’s in what might be the most competitive prelim in the entire meet.
As for Chitwood, based on what we’ve seen from him and his teammates in other races at this meet, expect him to be much faster at NCAA’s. He could dip down to a 1:37 and challenge Tyler Clary’s National Record, though I’d guess he comes up short of that.
Men’s 100 Freestyle
Cal’s Vlad Morozov, chasing the Pac 12 legacy of the graduated Nathan Adrian, won his second sprint event in this 100 free in 41.86. That left him only two-tenths away from Adrian’s Pac-12 Championship Record, though Morozov is unshaved. As Texas’ Jimmy Feigen is also chasing his first NCAA Title, this time from Morozov has to put a little bit of heat on him.
The runner-up was Stanford’s Aaron Wayne in 42.77, followed by UC-Santa Barbara’s Chris Peterson in 43.27. For Peterson, that’s a new school record, breaking his own mark from last year’s NCAA Championship.
Men’s 200 Breaststroke
Arizona’s Carl Mickelson swept the breaststroke titles with a 1:53.12 in the 200 breaststroke. He was this year’s only Pac-12 Championship for the Wildcats. That gives him the two fastest times in the country this season.
In 2nd was Cal’s Christian Higgins, who was a big name in high school but hasn’t received a lot of attention this year. He touched in 1:54.57, which is four seconds better than he’s been this season, and a second faster than he’s ever been. Much like the 100, behind Mickelson’s win Cal dominated the scoring in this event. They took four of the top six finishing spots.
Much like in the 400 IM, Arizona’s Austen Thompson came into the meet with a top-two ranking, but mustered only a B-Final out of it. He touched 12th in 2:00.72, roughly seven seconds slower than he was midseason. It’s a bit odd that he and training partner Mickelson seem to be at such vastly different points in their rest at this meet.
Men’s 200 Fly
Tom Shields became the fourth swimmer on the day to finish off a stroke double, when he topped up the 200 fly in 1:41.87. That’s a time that he must be quite pleased with – last year, he set the NCAA Record at this meet but couldn’t repeat it in March. This year, he’s much slower – about a second-and-a-half – though he’s still put up a bunch of great swims like the 45.0 in his 100 fly.
His teammate and freshman Will Hamilton capped off a fantastic meet by placing second in 1:42.84, which is among the top four times in the country this year. Hamilton was likely rested for this meet, but him holding on for 6+ points in this race at NCAA’s will be a great bonus for Cal if they carry him on their roster (they’ve got enough qualifiers to fill out their full 18).
Men’s 400 Free Relay
As a fitting end to this championship, the 400 free relay was exciting all the way to the very end.
Cal went old-school on their relay order and left their superstar Tom Shields on the anchor leg (41.65 split). USC (Vlad Morozov – 42.03) and Stanford (Aaron Wayne – 43.03).
USC took the lead headed into their final leg, with the pressure on freshman Quintero. Stanford handed off 2nd-place to senior Geoff Cheah. But this year, old-school won out, as Shields blew past them both to give Cal the win in 2:51.45.
The Trojans had enough of a lead to hold off Cheah’s 42.91 anchor, and took 2nd in 2:51.70. Stanford was 3rd in 2:52.28.
Besides Shields’ 41, other great splits came from UCSB’s Kevin Ferguson on their anchor in 42.53.
Final Standings
And this marks number 31 in-a-row for the Cardinal. The 121 point win more than doubled their margin of victory from last year, showing how much Cal has lost since last season.
At the end of the day, it seems as thoguh all teams are probably satisfied with their meets. There were no obvious swimmers who missed out on qualification, and all times were about where they needed to be to have a good National Championship meet. Arizona likely would have liked to have been a touch faster, but post-meet comments by head coach Eric Hansen indicate that they’re right where he thought they would be.
1. Stanford University 939.5
2. Univ of CA – Berkeley 808
3. Arizona, University of 543
4. University of So California 517
5. The University of Utah 258.5
6. UC Santa Barbara 251.5
7. Arizona State University 221.5
8. Cal Poly 120
When do psych sheet and then the invited list come out? Any ideas on what the cutoff will be this year?
I assume that they’ll come out around the same time as the women’s – first Tuesday afternoon, then Wednesday/Thursday. The Ohio State Last Chance was the only Sunday meet that ended up happening (Minnesota/Pac-12 couldn’t get enough teams together). Have to assume that the cutoff will be similar to last year – right around 22 spots.
Bagshaw took the 1650 out in 4:17.4 which would have gotten 2nd. Brown’s 1:43 and Gimondi on the relay gives them exactly 18, so they all go that qualified.