2014 PAC 12 Championships – 200 FREE RELAY – Reported by Jared Anderson
Most of those sprinters were back in action on the 200 free relay, which happened after a short break. Cal rolled to a win, going 1:16.67, which sits fourth in the NCAA. Seth Stubblefield came back with another great swim in a tough double, anchoring in 18.85, the fastest split of the field.
Cal also got nice splits from the other three swimmers. Tyler Messerschmidt went a tick faster than he did in the open event with a 19.42. Freshman Ryan Murphy was 19.3 and Tony Cox put up a 19.0.
USC took second in 1:17.43. Cristian Quintero anchored, splitting 18.89 to keep up with Stubblefield, although Cal’s lead was too big to overcome. Quintero did run down Arizona, though, who led early on Brad Tandy’s 19.12 leadoff.
That split for Quintero shows off some impressive range. The junior was the fastest 500 freestyler in the building, but also put up the second-fastest 50 free split of the field. That’s a multi-purpose freestyler who makes a coach’s relay selections that much easier across every distance.
Zona went 1:17.65 for third. After a bit of a dropoff, Arizona State took fourth with a 1:18.68 before Stanford finished with a 1:18.74. Stanford had Dave Nolan lead off; he went 19.35.