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Cal Completes Relay Sweep, Hoffer & Seeliger Split 41s On 4×100 Free

2021 MEN’S PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Cal Bears won the meet-ending 400 free relay to put an exclamation mark on their standout performance at the 2021 Men’s Pac-12 Championships, recording a time of 2:48.66 to lead the field by almost two and a half seconds.

Freshman Bjorn Seeliger proved once again that he’s able to elevate his performance on relays, putting up the fastest split in the field at 41.43 swimming second. That beat out Ryan Hoffer‘s 41.69 anchor leg, though the senior did win the individual event earlier in the session in 41.57.

In that race, Seeliger was only sixth in 43.10 (after going a flat-start best of 43.02 in the prelims). The 21-year-old Swede also had a 41.21 split anchoring the 400 medley relay on Sunday, and had four 18-second 50s over the course of the meet — two individually (18.84, 18.88) and two on relays (18.38, 18.66).

Behind Seeliger and Hoffer, the third-fastest flying split in the 400 free relay field actually came from Cal’s ‘B’ team, where Hugo Gonzalez put up a 42.26. It was Destin Lasco swimming the third leg for Cal’s ‘A’ relay in 42.53, with senior Daniel Carr leading off in 43.01. Senior Nate Biondi also put up a PB leading off the ‘B’ team, clocking 42.93.

Arizona’s Marin Ercegovic had the fastest opening split in 42.49, leading the Wildcats to a second-place finish, and USC’s Nikola Miljenic had a solid 42.30 leg for the Trojans.

Lead-off splits

Swimmer School Split
Marin Ercegovic Arizona 42.49
Nate Biondi Cal ‘B’ 42.93
Mason Gonzalez Stanford 42.97
Daniel Carr Cal 43.01
Finn O’Haimhirgin Utah 43.34
Jan Collazo Torres USC 43.48
Jaek Horner Utah ‘B’ 43.88
Leon MacAlister Stanford ‘B’ 44.17
Tai Combs Arizona ‘B’ 44.36
Mateja Milovanovic Arizona ‘C’ 45.70

Flying Splits

Swimmer School Split
Bjorn Seeliger Cal 41.43
Ryan Hoffer Cal 41.69
Hugo Gonzalez Cal ‘B’ 42.26
Nikola Miljenic USC 42.30
Alexei Sancov USC 42.45
Destin Lasco Cal 42.53
Noah Reid Arizona 42.55
Jonny Affeld Stanford 42.78
Luke Maurer Stanford 42.78
Trenton Julian Cal ‘B’ 42.79
Ogi Maric Arizona 42.97
Preston Forst Stanford 42.99
Hunter Ingram Arizona 43.09
Max Saunders USC 43.12
William Tarvestad Stanford ‘B’ 43.24
Daniel Namir Arizona ‘B’ 43.45
Aldan Johnston Arizona ‘B’ 43.61
Ben Waterman Utah ‘B’ 43.65
Brooks Fail Arizona ‘B’ 43.80
Santiago Contreras Utah 44.09
Neel Roy Stanford ‘B’ 44.09
Zach Yeadon Cal ‘B’ 44.31
Lex Hernandez-Nietling Utah ‘B’ 44.45
Felix Chiun Utah 44.51
Isaac Stump Arizona ‘C’ 44.59
Noah Carlson Utah 45.10
Swum Gwiazdowski Arizona ‘C’ 45.17
Ethan Hu Stanford ‘B’ 45.29
Wyatt Matson Arizona ‘C’ 45.33
Cole Giandinoto Utah ‘B’ 45.67

FINAL TEAM SCORES

  1. Cal, 970
  2. Stanford, 788
  3. Arizona, 644
  4. Utah, 420
  5. USC, 414

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BiondiFan
3 years ago

did anyone see what happened to biondi in prelims? out in 19.8 but then live results says he went 58.3??

edit: just read the prelims live recap and saw that he went for the 50 split so never mind!

Last edited 3 years ago by BiondiFan
NornIron Swim
3 years ago

Honest question about Hoffer…
He was so fast as a high schooler but he hasn’t significantly improved since then. His 100 free pb is from late 2015. Did he physically develop very early or has he had injury problems?
I think there was fair optimism to think he would be able to challenge Dressel’s records.

SwimPhan
Reply to  NornIron Swim
3 years ago

Good honest question and it points to the most difficult part of assessing high school athletes and projecting where they’ll be at the University (D1) level. It’s the question of: who’s an “early physical bloomer” (and ultimately a lower ceiling and best years in high school because athlete is physically peaked ) versus a “late physical bloomer” (high ceiling and significantly best years ahead). You would think with timed based sports like swimming and track that making that assessment would be more quantitative than qualitative. But it can still be a “gut feel” based on an athlete’s performance history.

Willswim
3 years ago

So who joins Hoffer and Seeliger on this relay at the big meet? I’d be hard to ignore the 42.26 Hugo just put up…

Joe
Reply to  Willswim
3 years ago

Have to imagine they just go with the hot hand–hard to say now before you see how fast people go when they’re fully tapered and shaved. They have a lot of options–Biondi, Carr, Gonzalez, Mefford, Julian could all be on the relay if they’re “on”

JCO
Reply to  Joe
3 years ago

Biondi doesn’t have an individual qualifying time. Unless they are 100% using him on a relay, he won’t be at the meet

About James Sutherland

James Sutherland

James swam five years at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, specializing in the 200 free, back and IM. He finished up his collegiate swimming career in 2018, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 2019 he completed his graduate degree in sports journalism. Prior to going to Laurentian, James swam …

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