2015 Men’s Pac-12 Championships: Day 2 Finals Real-Time Recap

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 
  • Live Video: N/A
  • Finals Heat Sheets: Unavailable at time of publishing
  • Championship Central

Catching Up:

500 FREESTYLE – FINALS

USC amped up the power during tonight’s 500 freestyle final, as they packed a 1-2 punch with Cristian Quintero and Reed Malone taking first and second place in the race.  Quintero’s effort of 4:11.25 scored a new meet record, an NCAA automatic qualifying time and also now ranks him as the second-fastest 500 freestyler in the country.  Malone’s 4:11.30 also cleared the previous meet record (held by Quintero at 4:12.56 from last yer), as well as clears the NCAA qualifying standard.  A swift 37 points to start the night for the Trojans.

Utah’s Bence Kiraly time of 4:14.67 just narrowly missed the 4:14.59 qualifying standard, but seeing how last year’s invite time was 4:18.31, he should make the NCAA meet no problem.  Especially as the time lands him 8th in the country and third in tonight’s race.  Stanford’s Danny Thomson was second out of this morning’s prelims and still dropped about a half second in tonight’s contest, touching the wall in 4:14.98.

Stanford freshman Liam Egan (4:19.65), USC freshman Pawel Furtek (4:17.91) and Stanford senior Drew Cosgarea (4:18.34) finished in 5th, 6th, and 7th places, respectively, while Cal junior Trent Williams represented the only swimmer in the field who added time from prelims to finals.  He finished in 4:23.35 for eighth place.

200 IM – FINALS

American, U.S. Open & NCAA RECORD ALERT!!  Congratulations to Stanford’s David Nolan, who brought more than his A-game to Finals tonight, throwing down the fastest 200y IM in history.  In his 1:40.07 stellar performance tonight, Nolan beat Ryan Lochte’s 2007 time of 1:40.08 and also broke Bradley Ally’s (Florida) 200 IM NCAA record of 1:40.49 from 2009.  Additionally, Nolan’s time of 1:40.07 would have won last year’s NCAA Championships by a half a second, beating NCAA champion Marcin Cieslak’s 1:40.58.  Splits from Mr. Nolan’s race are as follows:

Dave Nolan – 1:40.07, new NCAA record in 200 IM

21.96, 24.95, 29.05, 24.11

In deja vu from last year, Cal’s Josh Prenot finishes behind Nolan for second place with an automatic qualifying and super speedy time of 1:41.79, significantly faster than the 1:43.31 he clocked in the same position in 2014 and better than the 1:43.88 he nabbed at the UGA Fall Invite in December. Teammate Ryan Murphy touched in 3rd tonight in a time of 1:42.94, dropping over half a second from his prelims swim.  Notably, Murphy’s back split was 25.03 to Nolan’s 24.95, just for comparison.

With 5 swimmers in this final, the Cardinal was bound to launch a point assault no matter where the names fell. Junior Tom Kremer touched in 5th with a time of 1:44.48, while Gray Umbach finished in 7th with a time of 1:45.59. Sophomore Max Williamson added about a second to his prelims time to finish in 1:45.88 for eighth.  In the midst of all that Cardinal, USC’s Morten Klarskov gave his team 13 points finishing 6th.

50 FREESTYLE – FINALS

After the stunning swim from Nolan, the 50 free field was pumped up, led by Arizona’s Brad Tandy.  Tandy roared to the wall in an 18.95, to successfully defend his PAC-12 title.  He was the only sub-19 swimmer, as well as the only NCAA automatic-qualifier in the race tonight; he moves into the 3rd-fastest time ranking in the country.   Ironcially, 18.95 is the exact time that earned Tandy the 2014 NCAA title, when he tied with Alabama’s Kristian Gkolomeev.

Tonight, USC’s Santo Condorelli registered essentially the same time as his prelims swim, earning a 19.29 tonight versus his earlier 19.27 to maintain his top 10 time ranking.  Cal senior Seth Stubblefield finished in 3rd in a time of 19.32.

Stanford freshman Sam Perry charged into 4th place with a time of 19.49, which knocks two entire tenths off of his 19.69 morning swim.  Up until today he hadn’t dipped under the 20.0 mark collegiately, so he came ready to play with his 15-point-worthy performance.

Cal senior Fabio Gimondi came in 5th, tied with USC sophomore Dylan Carter, each touching in 19.52.  Utah’s Nick Soedel was 7th tonight in 19.54, followed by Cal junior Tyler Messerschmidt in 19.59 for 8th.

200 FREESTYLE RELAY – FINALS

The Cal foursome of Fabio Gimondi (19.81), Tyler Messerschmidt (19.19), Ryan Murphy (18.94) and Seth Stubblefield (18.63) combined to swim away with tonight’s 200 free relay victory.  Their time of 1:16.57 out-touched USC’s A team by just over two tenths.  Although their time was swift enough tonight to take first place, there is definitely work to be done if they want to get on the same level as the top 2 teams in the country.  NC State and Alabama lead the NCAA in 1:15.62, 1:16.13 respectively, with three NC State swimmers clocking sub-19 splits.

1:16.88 was good enough for USC to snag second place in tonight’s A-Final, with Santo Condorelli leading off in 19.33, followed by sophomore Dylan Carter in 19.18, then Ralf Tribuntsov in 19.54 and anchored by tonight’s 500 freestyle title winner Cristian Quintero who clocked the only sub-19 split in 18.83.  Wait….what?  The 500 freestyle Pac-12 winner clocked the second-fastest split of the entire 200 free relay field?  Guy has got some major gears!

Stanford’s team also cleared the NCAA qualifying standard as the squad of Sam Perry (19.48), David Nolan (18.63), Connor Black (19.50) and Thomas Stephens (19.91) combined for a time of 1:17.52 for third place.  Note Nolan’s sub-19 split….after his unbelievable 200 IM performance…after his unbelievable, American record-breaking, fastest 200y IM in history performance.

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ShrimpNGrits
9 years ago

Congrats to Nolan. Hope that this will stifle some of the Knapp/Armstrong negativity.

Josh
9 years ago

Stanford’s freshmen are truly lighting it up!
Five out of their class of seven have probable NCAA qualifications.
Patrick Conaton 1:40.58 200 back, dropped 4 seconds
Sam Perry 19.48 50 free, dropped .6
Andrew Liang split 20.3 on the fly leg of the 4×50 MR
Liam Egan 4:16.65 500 free, dropped 3
Curtis Ogren 1:44.08 200 IM, dropped .9

These guys were ranked 5th as a class but are swimming closer to the top three!

ole 99
Reply to  Josh
9 years ago

As of this morning, it would appear Perry, Egan, and Ogren would each get invited based on those times. I have the last in cut for the 50 Free at 19.52, 500 Free at 4:17.15, and the 200 IM at 1:44.70.

The 50 free, as is always the case, is very tight at the cut line. 3 times at 19.50, 1 at 19.51 and 3 at 19.52.

swamfan
Reply to  ole 99
9 years ago

ole, do your cut times include MAC results? I saw a few records were broken over there… not sure if they were fast enough though.

Admin
Reply to  swamfan
9 years ago

swamfan – having seen ole’s file, I can tell you that MAC has not been included, as they didn’t send in their results to the Pac-12 yet. Most of the big conferences send them in day-by-day, some of the smaller conferences aren’t as quick.

I can also tell you that while most MAC times won’t impact qualifying, the 200 IM is an exception. As things sit right now, Missouri State’s Kalnins is almost a lock for the 200 IM (barring a freakish number of fast last-chance swims), and Paul Le is dead-center on the bubble (29th, though he’s in good shape if we make the leap that Caeleb Dressel won’t swim the 200 IM). 50 free and 500 free won’t… Read more »

ole 99
Reply to  swamfan
9 years ago

Data came from USA Swimming. Pac-12 times were updated through Thursday, not sure about MAC, but looking quickly, it does not appear to be in the data set.

swamfan
Reply to  ole 99
9 years ago

Thanks Ole/ Braden. march madness is here.

ACCFAN
Reply to  Josh
9 years ago

I’d put NC State’s freshmen to the top 3 category…

Ryan Held: 19.2, 42.5, 1:33
Anton: 4:13, 3:45, 14:48
Stuart Hennessey: 46.4, 1:39 (Bk), 1:46IM
Cono: 54.0, 1:57.1 Br

DaRomo
9 years ago

All of these amazing conference meets are really getting me excited for what’s to come at NCAAs. So many amazing swims from so many teams.

NOLAN FAN
9 years ago

Yes David Nolan finally a breakthrough! Way to rep PA!!!

Flyin'
9 years ago

Would someone explain to me how and why Cordes negative split a 50 free twice?

Paul
Reply to  Flyin'
9 years ago

Just about all of the 25 yard touchpads are out of whack, considering that they say a lot of people went out in 10.x and closed in 8.x, i think its best to ignore them. There was a really bad one from prelims where somebody split 12.x/6.x. its just touchpad errors

Flyin'
Reply to  Paul
9 years ago

Ah, I see now, thanks lol. I was wondering though would he not be better off swimming the 200 IM than an average speed 50?

GreenGoggles
Reply to  Flyin'
9 years ago

You don’t want to see him try to swim I.M. He has one good stroke.

GreenGoggles
Reply to  Flyin'
9 years ago

Yeah it’s cause he swam the first lap free and the second lap breaststroke

9 years ago

I’m not sure a 40ish points lead is enough for the Cardinal… They look good, but tomorrow’s prelims will decide this meet.

Diving doe
Reply to  Hulk Swim
9 years ago

Forty point lead with only one diving event scored. Keep in mind that Stanford had about a 100 point lead on Cal off diving alone. And even without diving scored, Stanford still has the most swimming points at the end of this finals session

Sean S
9 years ago

Does Messerschmidt already have an individual swim locked up for nationals?

SWIMFAN
Reply to  Sean S
9 years ago

He went 19.4 in midseason. That should be in..

TheTroubleWithX
Reply to  Sean S
9 years ago

I think he’s going to be one of what could be quite a few Cal swimmers who are going to be right on the edge of the cut line, at least as things currently stand. So, I’d say he’s probably good, but not quite far enough beyond last year’s invite time to be safe. It looks his fastest time this season was a 19.46. I think the invite time last year was 19.48, off the top of my head.

SWIMFAN
Reply to  Retta Race
9 years ago

I just double check… and yes I agree, it will be VERY CLOSE!

At this meet last year, Cal were 1:16.6 and dropped 1:15.2 at NCAA to win the title! So don’t count them out yet!! I do think Texas is the team to beat in this relay and then the new kids on the block, NC State and Bama.

riley
9 years ago

Rather underwhelming relay. It really is crazy how much Nolan puts the team on his back when it comes to relays – 18.63 with a .34 RT. Stubblefield was 18.63 as well but with a .08 RT. I assume Nolan would have defeated Tandy handily in the 50 as well. On the real though, Stanford really needs to get some sprint firepower outside of Nolan and Perry – 19.5 and 19.9 off rolling starts won’t cut it at NCAAs. Surely they have some guys who could do better than that, even if they aren’t Stanford’s headline stars

GreenGoggles
Reply to  riley
9 years ago

I really don’t think he would’ve “handily defeated” Tandy. Could have been a good race. Maybe he would’ve just touched him out. But Brad hasn’t lost many 50 yard free races in his career.

About Retta Race

Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having just earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

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