The preview below is courtesy of SwimSwam contributor, Loretta Race. View her full preview by clicking here.
The men’s 500 sees Utahs Bence Kiraly (4:17.40) as its top seed in the event, leading heat 5 of 5 this morning. He will be flanked by last night’s fastest 200 free splitter in the 800 free relay event, USC’s Cristian Quintero, who sits as the 7th seed, as well as Cal sophomore Long Gutierrez from Cal. Adam Hinshaw leads heat 4 of 5 this morning in the event, as the senior from Cal is positioned as the 2nd seed with his time of 4:18.74. Stanford’s Jimmy Yoder and Cal’s Ryan Kao are listed as exhibitioning the event.
Later in the morning we will be treated to one of several match-ups between heavyweights Stanford senior David Nolan and Cal sophomore Ryan Murphy in the 200 IM race. Look for them to go head-to-head in lanes 4 and 5, respectively out of the prelims’ final heat. Murphy’s Cal teammate Jacob Pebley will be right in the mix as well, sitting as the 10th seed, but right next to Murphy to have a pace-setter during the contest. Josh Prenotfrom Cal will lead heat 5 of 6, situated in the middle of the pool in his heat to set-up his evening swim against the mega-stacked field.
The 50 free is the third individual event on the docket for today, which contains several big names gunning to get to the wall in a frenzied first place. Look for Arizona’s Brad Tandy, Cal teammates Tyler Messerschmidt and Seth Stubblefield, as well as Utah’s Nick Soedel as just some of the top players to make a move in the event. Murphy was technically on the psych sheets for the event, but is a not-too-terribly surprising scratch for the race. Tandy is the only swimmer coming into the meet already having an NCAA automatic qualifying time, which means virtually everyone will be firing on all cylinders to make the most of their prelim swims in an effort to get the cut, but also position themselves in the best spot to take a shot at the PAC-12 title.
PAC 12 MEN
- Dates: Wednesday, March 4th – Saturday, March 7th; Prelims 11AM/Finals 6PM
- Location: Federal Way, WA (Pacific Time Zone)
- Defending Champion: California (results)
- Live Results
- Psych Sheets
- Day 2 Prelims Heat Sheet
- Live Video: N/A
- Championship Central
Catching Up:
Men’s 500 Freestyle – Prelims
USC’s Reed Malone dropped 10 seconds from his season best time to claim the top seed in the men’s 500 freestyle for this evening. Danny Thompson from Stanford was the only other in the field under 4:16 at 4:15.45.
Cristian Quintero qualified third for USC at 4:16.15, but I expect he will be much quicker in the final tonight. This meet is very important for Quintero specifically. At this point, the NCAA database has Quintero listed as having an NCAA automatic qualifying time in the 200 freestyle with a converted time from the short course World Championships on Dec 3rd, but he was not eligible during the first semester. Given the timing of the meet, I am unsure if that time will count towards NCAA qualifying. His time of 4:16.15 should make the meet, however, so it may not matter afterall. He had the fastest time in the NCAA last year at 4:10.02, so I expect him to drop down towards that time this evening.
Utah’s Bence Kiraly finished fourth with his time of 4:17.87.
Joining them in the A final will be Drew Cosgarea (STAN), Liam Egan (STAN), Pawel Furtek (USC), and Trent Williams (CAL).
It took a 4:20.61 to make the A final, a 4:23.58 to make the B final, and a 4:29.09 to make the C final.
Men’s 200 IM – Prelims
After putting 3 swimmers up in the 500 free, Stanford placed 5 guys in the A final of the 200 IM. David Nolan had the fastest time of the morning with a 1:42.29. His teammates, Tom Kremer, Curtis Ogren, Gray Umbach, and Max Williamson finished 4th through 7th this morning to earn their final swims.
Cal’s Josh Prenot and Ryan Murphy qualified 2nd and 3rd at 1:43.48 and 1:43.51, respectively. USC was the only other team to earn an A final swim in the event. Morten Klarskov qualified 8th at 1:45.30.
It took a 1:45.30 to make the A final, a 1:47.79 to make the B final, and a 1:50.14 to make the C final of the 200 IM.
Men’s 50 Freestyle – Prelims
USC’s Santo Condorelli claimed the top seed in the men’s 50 free with an impressive .6 drop to finish with a time of 19.27. His teammate, Dylan Carter, also finished in the top 8 at 6th to give USC two A final swimmers.
Zona’s Brad Tandy finished second at 19.37, and Cal’s Seth Stubblefield qualified third at 19.44. Tyler Messerschmidt and Fabio Gimondi were the second and third swimmers to qualify for the final for Cal. Messerschmidt is fifth at 19.59 and Gimondi is eighth at 19.71.
Utah’s Nick Soedel had the fourth fastest time at 19.50. Stanford qualified one swimmer into the A final as well. Sam Perry finished seventh at 19.69.
It took a time of 19.71 to make the A final, a 20.01 to make the B final, and a 20.64 to make the C final.
I’m pretty sure Brad Tandy has lost one scy 50 since he came to America. That was at a duel meet exhibition against Matt Targett before he had broken 20 yet. He’s gotta be the favorite.
I hope these guys are planning on swimming faster in the finals because based on last years invited times, not many are in this years field as yet.
500 free 2014 inv. 4:18.31 4 only under the time
200 IM 1:44.72 6 under the time
50 free 19.46 3 under the time plus 2 already at or under before PAC 12’s
Not impressed as yet
Do time trials take place in the morning or at night? Any results for today?
i imagine the studs from Cal (Prenot, Murphy, Katis, Lynch and Pebley) are not shaved like many Texas and Georgia guys. I think most of UF, Stanford, Michigan and USC looked to be all shaved. We will see if this gives them an edge come NCAA’s?!
Always pulling for Seth Stubblefield. Never rule him out. 18 second 50 last year. He’s always in the mix.
Cory Bolleter went 19.39 at American SC. Likely going to make it.
50 free title is going to be interesting tonight. 19.5 to be in the top 4 for the 50 is pretty dang fast. I feel like no matter how it goes, we’re going to see at least 3 guys under 19.3 or 4. This makes me excited for that 100. Also important to remember is that Soedel swam sub 42 last year, and I’m honestly expecting him to take the 100 free, and challenge Santo for first in the 50. Santo uses a straight arm in the 50, so I don’t expect his fast prelims from mean he’s going to be a gigantic threat in the 100. Prediction:
19.19 in Soedel’s 50 free, with Condorelli finishing 2nd in around… Read more »
Dont know how you can have the defending ncaa co-champion outside of the top two… Brad Tandy for the win with an 18.9
Good point, I totally overlooked Tandy. Incredibly deep field for this 50 free today. Top 5 guys could all reasonably place top 3 later this month at NCAAs.
It’s going to take sub 19 to place top 3 at NCAA, and currently only Tandy and Stubblefield have done so.
Also:
Ryan Murphy seems like he’s a sleeper for the 200 IM. You’d think that he would have the fastest backstroke in the IM, as he did at NCAAs last year, but he was almost 6 tenths slower on the backstroke(26.09) than Nolan (25.5), giving me a reason to believe he’s gonna push it in the evening session. He’ll crank out a 24 split for the backstroke,and Nolan won’t be able to reel him in on the breast to catch him on the free. Not to mention that Murphy was a 24.4 going home on the free. Nolan was 25.0. Murphy takes the IM in 1:41 high tonight.
It will be interesting to see how rested he is. Trying to get a gage from last night’s performance don’t give a ton of clarity. His 200 medley relay split of 21.21 is comparable to his 2014 split of 21.32. He split a 20.90 at NCAA. His best in the 200 IM was done during prelims of NCAA last year where he went 1:42.24.
I think that Nolan’s experience in the 2IM gives him the win here. He’s the 3x defending PAC-12 Champion, and there’s no way he loses it on the 4th round. The scy 2im has always been his best race, and he’s swam it every way possible, from taking it out in 46-mid and hanging on like he did in high school, to taking it easier on the front half, and stealing the win in the freestyle like he did at 2013 NCAA’s. Additionally, Nolan took the PAC-12 title in 1:41-mid last year, when he had a down-year at NCAA’s. A 1:41-high won’t take the win tonight. I’m sorry, but this race belongs to David Nolan
Hard to pick against Nolan. He’s won the last three 200 IM Pac-12 titles. And, his free splits are matched by very few. Was good to see Murphy’s free split this go-around, but I’m thinking Nolan was saving quite a bit. I agree with “Paul” on this one…chances are quite good David Nolan swims away with his 4th 2IM title. This consistently looks like Nolan’s best race…so good on all the legs. Murphy seems to have the same “lock” in the 200 back, though Nolan will certainly be there. The 100 back will be the closest race between the two, in my opinion. Curious to see how that one shakes down.
As for the rest of the prelims, seems like… Read more »
Couple thoughts… I) If we go by last year’s results, Soedel did not improve in the evening sessions (he replicated his prelim 50 FR, but was slower in the 200 and 100). ii) You seem to have omitted the reigning co-national champion from contention in the 50 free. Not sure I’d count him out. iii) Malone was a 4:12 last year in finals after putting up a 4:15 in the prelims, so I’m guessing he will have a say in the final as well.
Excited to see Thomson and Malone get a rematch in that 500 free tonight! Hopefully it will be as entertaining as was watching those two at IHSA state back in the day!