Forrest Frazier, Will Tarvestad Pick Up Wave I Trials Cuts At Cal Invite

2021 PC CAL Aquatics 2021 LCM Invite

• May 29, 2021
• Berkeley, CA
• LCM (50m)
• Results

Cal and Stanford University swimmers raced a long course invite meet on Saturday in Berkeley, with the athletes vying for various Olympic Trials cuts and personal best times.

Two swimmers, Forrest Frazier and Will Tarvestad, got under the Wave I standard for the first time inside the qualifying period to advance them to this week’s Trials competition.

Frazier, who is coming off of his freshman season at Cal, swam to a time of 1:03.05 in the men’s 100 breaststroke, putting him under the Wave I cut of 1:03.29. The 19-year-old has actually been as fast as 1:02.63 in the event, but that came in July 2018, prior to the beginning of the Trials qualifying period (November 2018).

Tarvestad, a rising junior at Stanford, went 22.95 in the men’s 50 freestyle to crush both the Wave I standard (23.19) and his previous best time (23.36, which was set the week prior at the Longhorn Invite).

With those performances, both swimmers find themselves on the Wave I psych sheets, with that meet set to kick off on Friday.

Also competing in the men’s 50 freestyle alongside Tarvestad was Neel Roy, a native of India who is also a rising junior with the Cardinal. Roy tied Tarvestad in 22.95, which improves his previous best of 23.55 and puts him just over half a second outside of the Indian National Record (22.43).

Another international swimmer, Stanford’s Leon MacAlister out of Australia, had the meet’s top performance FINA points wise, clocking 55.22 in the men’s 100 backstroke. MacAlister had set a PB the week prior at the Longhorn Invite in 55.09. MacAlister also hit a PB of 23.01 in the 50 free.

Adding a new event to her Wave I Trials lineup was rising Cal junior Sarah DiMeco, the lone female competing in the event, who put up a time of 4:16.73 in the 400 free to dip under the 4:16.89 cut. DiMeco’s previous best time of 4:17.46 was set back in 2018.

The 20-year-old adds the 400 to her schedule after having already qualified in the 800 in July 2019 (8:47.31). DiMeco was also incredibly close to the Wave I standards in the 200 fly (.01 off) and 1500 free (.11 off) in previous swims.

OTHER MEET HIGHLIGHTS

• Dare Rose (1:50.06), Grant Shoults (1:50.10) and Zach Yeadon (1:50.56) had a tight battle in the men’s 200 free, with Shoults swimming his fastest time since July of 2018, and Yeadon hitting a new best time. Though they were off here, Shoults and Yeadon have Wave II cuts in other events, while Rose has it in this event, having gone 1:49.26 in 2019.
• Cal’s Colby Mefford hit a new PB in the men’s 200 back, clocking 2:01.84 to improve on his 2:02.01 from 2019, which had already earned him the Wave I standard. In the 200 fly, Mefford was a half second off his best of 2:00.35 in 2:00.85. Will MacMillan (2:00.90) took second in his fastest swim inside the qualifying period, though he has the Wave II cut in the 200 free.
• Stanford’s Jon Cook (2:18.07) edged out Ethan Dang (2:18.08) in the men’s 200 breast. Cook owns a best time of 2:15.77 from the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, where he represented the Philippines, while Dang has been as fast as 2:15.13 and has the Wave I cut.
• Cardinal Shane Blinkman achieved a best time in the 100 back in 56.50, getting him under the Wave I cut of 56.59, though he holds a Wave II cut in the 200 IM.