2020 MEN’S PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, March 4 – Saturday, March 7 (Diving Feb. 26-29)
- Federal Way, WA (Pacific Time Zone)
- Defending Champion: Cal (2x) (results)
- Championship Central
- Estimated NCAA Invite Times
- Diving Recap
- NCAA ‘A’ Cuts
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
The first swimming events of the men’s 2020 Pac-12 Championships take place tonight, with swimmers competing in the 800 free relay and 400 medley relay. USC comes in with a lead as the diving events were completed last week. You can read about the current scores after diving here. Cal, the 2-time defending Pac-12 and reigning NCAA Champions, will defend their titles in both relays.
There are a few swimmers entered in time trials tonight, including Cal’s Hugo Gonzalez. There’s a chance he’ll drop out, since he’s possibly already qualified for NCAAs in the 400 IM even ahead of this meet. However, he may be swimming it in order to drop that event from his Pac-12 schedule on Saturday in favor of the 200 back. Gonzalez could be toying with the idea of swimming the 200 breast instead of the 200 back at NCAAs.
MEN’S 800 FREE RELAY
- Pac-12 Record: Cal, 2019, 6:07.31
- Meet Record: Cal, 2019, 6:10.94
- NCAA Record: Texas, 2019, 6:05.08
- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 6:17.18
- 200 Free 2019 NCAA Invite: 1:34.21
- 200 Free ‘A’ Cut: 1:32.05
- 2019 Champion: Cal – 6:10.94
- GOLD: Cal, 6:11.47
- SILVER: ASU, 6:12.17
- BRONZE: Arizona, 6:14.80
It was a tight race at the start as Cal’s Zheng Quah (1:33.31), ASU’s Jack Dolan (1:33.33), and Arizona’s Daniel Namir (1:33.66) all lead off in 1:33s. That was a lifetime best for Quah by about 4 tenths. Dolan, a freshman, dropped over a second, and Namir shaved a couple of tenths off his best.
ASU took the lead on the 2nd leg as Carter Swift split a 1:32.65. Jorge Iga split a 1:32.97 fro the Wildcats to pull them into 2nd, while Bryce Mefford split a 1:33.44 for Cal. Daniel Carr battled back with a 1:32.48 to take the lead for Cal. Trenton Julian anchored them to seal the win in 1:32.24. The Bears posted a 6:11.47 for the gold.
ASU held on for silver in 6:12.17, with Cody Bybee anchoring in 1:32.79. Arizona (6:14.80) took the bronze as Brooks Fail anchored in 1:34.16. Stanford (6:15.79) was 4th after Jack Levant‘s 1:33.57 on the 2nd leg and Grant Shoults‘ 1:32.48 anchor. USC’s Alexei Sancov led off in 1:34.20, The Trojans (6:21.40) rounded out the top 5 ahead of Utah (6:26.49). Freshman Finn O’Haimhirgin led off the Utes in a lifetime best 1:36.40.
MEN’S 400 MEDLEY RELAY
- Pac-12 Record: Cal, 2017, 3:01.51
- Meet Record: Cal, 2009, 3:03.30
- NCAA Record: Texas, 2017, 2:59.22
- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 3:05.95
- 100 Back 2019 NCAA Invite: 46.06
- 100 Back ‘A’ Cut: 44.95
- 2019 Champion: Cal, 3:04.09
- GOLD: Stanford, 3:06.81
- SILVER: Utah, 3:07.49
- BRONZE: Arizona, 3:08.04
**UPDATE: Cal and Arizona State, after initially touching 1st and 2nd, were disqualified.**
Cal appeared to take down an 11-year-old Meet Record to defend their title in 3:02.85. Ethan Young led them off in 46.05, clipping his lifetime best to move up to #25 in the NCAA this season. That swim stands as the disqualification occurred later on. Reece Whitley followed with a 50.65 breast split. Ryan Hoffer swam a 44.59 on the fly, and Pawel Sendyk anchored in 41.56. They were ultimately disqualified for an early takeoff on the fly leg.
ASU had appeared to take silver, but were also disqualified, with reigning 100 back champion Zach Poti leading off in 44.93. That tied his lifetime best from 2019 Pac-12s and makes him the 7th-ranked man in the NCAA. Since they were disqualified, like Cal, for an early takeoff on the fly, Poti’s swim will not be nullified. Teammate Carter Swift had anchored in 41.39.
Stanford took the gold with their 3:06.81, highlighted by Hank Poppe‘s 51.33 breast split that moved them ahead of Arizona (3:08.04). Utah (3:07.49) was 2nd with a 42.07 anchor from Liam O’Haimhirgin to swim past Zona.
The Wildcats (3:08.01) took bronze, with Noah Reid posting a 45.31 on the fly. Notably, Sam Iida had their fastest breast split (52.72) from the C relay. USC’s Nikola Miljenic had the fastest split of the non-disqualified teams as he anchored in 41.89. The Trojans put up a 3:09.56 for 4th.
TEAM SCORES THROUGH DAY 1
Cal and ASU came into the meet with a deficit to make up. With the relay DQs, they’ll have to make that up on day 2. ASU is currently in 5th, while Cal is in 6th. This could wind up impacting the team race, as things could potentially be tight between Stanford, Arizona, and ASU later on. USC holds their lead through day 1, just 4 points ahead of Stanford.
- USC 167
- Stanford 163
- Arizona 159
- Utah 134
- ASU 81
- Cal 68
I sort of jokingly commented on the SwimSwamDiveDove article earlier this week on how 7% of respondents polled could have possibly choosen Stanford over Cal in the PAC12’s. I thought of a bunch of CAL exhibition swims, diving scoring only, etc. I didn’t even consider CAL DQing on relays!!! GAME ON! GO CARDINAL!
I would love to see the video of that medley relay!
Crazy! #1 and #2 relays got DQ’ed. Stanford was a lucky winner on this one. So how did Dan Schemmel do on his first year so far? A, B, C grade?
A lot left to see but so far I would be happy. Solid swims and a stellar recruiting class in year one. I would say that’s all positive!
Team Schemmel!
Put Carr in on back and with a full taper and no DQ of course, could CAL take down the NCAA 400 medley record?
Probably not. That Texas record is ridiculous. Carr is probably good for a 44 high split. Don’t think Whitley, Hoffer, and Sendyk can drop another 2 seconds combined to come close.
Doesn’t look like any team is close to that this year. Unless anyone plans on having a 43.low fly split.
If only someone were 43+ midseason…
Texas this year could put up something pretty incredible. Their only “weak” or unproven leg is BR. 44.9 bk from katz, 50.9 from Corbeau, 44.0 from Rooney or Jiang, and a 40.5 from Krueger. 3:00.3 and it doesn’t seem crazy at all. If Katz drops from MN invite this fall… and Jiang has already been 44.2 so he could potentially be 43.7?
Jiang has already been 43.8 in the fall.
And they have options at breaststroke and backstroke. And fly and free for that matter (the most solid slot is Krueger at free). Pretty much they are loaded for this relay.
Ethan Young swam a 46.0, which would likely qualify for NCAAs, but the relay was DQ’d for something outside of his leg. Does his swim count?
No
Binky stands corrected. See page 95:
http://www.csoaofficials.com/csoaquiz/rulebook.pdf
@Binky, that actually made me laugh out loud. Love the name.
It should, but I’m not 100% on that.
The article above says yes
I believe it does. I recall a couple of years back that Baker’s leadoff time still counted when Cal was DQed at NCAAs.
I don’t think it counts but not positive!
The time counts…..from the NCAA rulebook, note the end of the note below:
RULE 9 / BONA FIDE COMPETITION 91
Note 2: A time standard, consideration standard or an optional-entry standard may be achieved over an initial distance within any individual or relay race that is conducted according to the criteria established for bona fide competition. This rule applies to competitors who are eligible to score in regularly scheduled and scored events, and to exhibition competitors in such events (see Rule 5-5-1). This rule does not apply to competitors in time-standard trials (see Rule 5-5-2) or to competitors in nonstandard events in invitational meets (see Rule 8-3). That is, time standards, consideration standards and optional-entry standards may not… Read more »
Cal really only had one relay in the 400 medley. Its too bad they DQ
In all conference meets, only one relay is allowed to score. Entering B-relays only functions to give kids swims. Even if they had entered other relays, they wouldn’t have been scored.
I thought that only one relay can score for he team. So if the B relay beats the A relay or the A relay DQ’s (like here), then the B relay will score for the team.
I believe non-A relays are simply unofficial
That’s correct. A B relay wouldn’t have been able to score, even if the A is disqualified.
Wow, Ryan Hoffer didn’t care to even shave his beard.
Or leave on time
Uh oh. That start by Hoffer on the fly leg looked a little early.
Him and Evan Carlson had a little contest.
He and Evan