2016 Men’s Pac-12 Champs: Day 3 Finals Live Recap

2016 Men’s Pac-12 Championships

• Wednesday, March 2nd- Saturday, March 5th
• Prelims 11 AM, Finals 6 PM (Pacific Time)
• Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center, Federal Way, WA
• Defending Champion: USC Trojans (Results)
• Live Results
• Psych Sheet
• Championship Central

After day 2 at the Men’s Pac-12 Championships, Stanford sits in 1st place and will look to extend their lead tonight with 11 swimmers in A-finals. USC trails by 45 points, but is certainly within striking distance. Arizona clings to 3rd while Cal is back in 4th. Cal had their best session of the meet so far this morning and will look to make up some major ground tonight.

Tonight we will see the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, and 400 medley relay. The 200 free and 100 breast should both be exciting races tonight with the majority of men in both A-finals qualifying very tightly bunched this morning. The 400 IM should also be intriguing, with Stanford swimmers holding down the top-3 spots but with Cal’s talented freshman Andrew Seliskar tied for 3rd with Stanford’s Max Williamson, we should be in for one heck of a race tonight.

Of course the 400 medley relay will be exciting as well. Arizona is 2/3 so far on relays, and is seeded 2nd tonight behind only Cal. However, Cal’s seed of 3:04.88 doesn’t take into account the loss of Ryan Murphy, who is a key cog on backstroke but is missing as he is swimming at the Arena Pro Series in Orlando, as is Josh Prenot, Jacob Pebley, and Jeremie Dezwirek.

400 IM Finals

1. Andrew Seliskar, Cal, 3:39.78
2. Abrahm DeVine, Stanford, 3:40.20
3. Curtis Ogren, Stanford, 3:41.43

In what would have to be considered one of Stanford’s deepest events, Cal’s Andrew Seliskar pulled out the win with a very fast time of 3:39.78, edging out Stanford’s Abrahm DeVine who was 2nd in 3:40.20. DeVine got out fast in the fly, but Seliskar overtook him with a fast breaststroke split heading into the final 100. DeVine closed on Seliskar but it wasn’t quite enough to overtake the Cal freshman. DeVine’s teammate Curtis Ogren snagged 3rd in 3:41.43, and Patrick Mulcare (3:43.35) of USC and Connor Green (3:43.37) of Cal moved into 4th and 5th as Stanford’s Max Williamson couldn’t recreate his solid prelim swim, as he ended up 6th in 3:46.04. Danny Thomson was the fourth Cardinal in the final placing 7th in 3:46.61, and Ken Takahashi of Cal rounded out the final in 3:48.88. Utah’s Kristian Kron touched first in the B-final in 3:45.77. After the 400 IM, Stanford increased their lead to 89 points over USC who moved into 2nd.

100 Fly Finals

1. Justin Lynch, Cal, 46.08
2. Alex Valente, USC, 46.10
3. Renny Richmond, Arizona, 46.11

Cal’s Justin Lynch added about half a second from his morning swim, but it ultimately didn’t matter as he touched 1st in the 100 fly in 46.08. This was an incredibly close race, with just 0.05 separating the top-4 finishers. Alex Valente of USC was 2nd in 46.10, and Arizona’s Renny Richmond was a hair behind in 46.11. Tadas Duskinas of ASU was 4th in 46.13, and Stanford’s Connor Black (46.37), Gray Umbach (46.71) and Andrew Liang (46.73) finished 5th through 7th. Cal’s Long Gutierrez was 8th in 52.67, clearly swimming the final for points but saving up for the 200 free final which takes place right after. He was over 6 seconds slower than he was this morning.

200 Free Finals

1. Reed Malone, USC, 1:33.08
2. Long Gutierrez, Cal, 1:33.44
3. Trent Williams, Cal, 1:34.11

In a very close battle, USC’s Reed Malone emerged victorious over Cal’s Long Gutierrez in the 200 freestyle, with Malone taking the win in 1:33.08. Malone split the race very well, keeping the second, third and fourth 50s all under 24 seconds. Gutierrez touched 2nd in 1:33.44 after taking it out fast, but Malone’s back 100 was too much for him. Trent Williams made it two Golden Bears on the podium as he was 3rd in 1:34.11, and their Cal teammate Kyle Coan had a good swim moving up from 7th this morning to 4th tonight in 1:34.63. Michael Domagala (1:35.06), Ricky Maestri (1:35.21), Bence Kiraly (1:35.33), and Liam Egan (1:35.74) rounded out the A-final. After the 200 free Stanford has increased their lead to 96 points, but Cal has moved past USC for 2nd, 23 points ahead of their rival.

100 Breast Finals

1. Connor Hoppe, Cal, 51.86
2. Carsten Vissering, USC, 52.41
3. Blair Bish, Arizona, 52.58

Cal’s Connor Hoppe exploded for the win in the 100 breast, moving up from 6th this morning to 1st tonight. Hoppe touched in 51.86, 1.38 seconds faster than he was in the morning. Hoppe was first to the 50 in 24.29 and never relinquished the lead. USC freshman Carsten Vissering was 2nd in 52.41 after coming in as the top seed from the morning, and Arizona’s Blair Bish claimed 3rd in 52.58. David Morgan of USC, Carson Sand of Cal, and Christian Lorenz of ASU were all tightly bunched together with Morgan touching 4th in 53.00, Sand 5th in 53.05, and Lorenz 6th in 53.10. Gage Crosby (ARIZ) and Steven Stumph (USC) rounded out the A-final. Cal and USC both made up ground on Stanford here, with Cal now trailing by 58 points, and USC 12 more behind them.

100 Back Finals

1. Ralf Tribuntsov,USC, 45.57
2. Chatham Dobbs, Arizona, 45.72
3. Ryan Dudzinski, Stanford, 46.28

The top-3 from this morning finished in the same order tonight, with USC’s Ralf Tribuntsov taking 1st, Arizona’s Chatham Dobbs in 2nd and Stanford’s Ryan Dudzinksi placing 3rd. All three swimmers were slightly slower than they were in the morning, with Tribuntsov clocking 45.57 for the win, Dobbs in at 45.72 for 2nd and Dudzinski 46.28 for 3rd. Richard Bohus 0f Arizona State dropped time from this morning moving up from 5th to 4th in 46.49, and Stanford’s Ryan Arata (46.57) and Patrick Conaton (47.16) placed 5th and 6th respectively, giving their team some critical points. Reid Elliott of ASU and Michael Thomas of Cal rounded out the field in 47.78 and 47.81, respectively. Stanford’s lead is comfortable again, up by 79 points. USC has moved in front of Cal, with 53 points now separating the two. Arizona State has trailed all meet but has now overtaken Utah for 5th place.

Time Trials

A few time trials took place between the 100 back and the 400 medley relay. First, Andrew Sovero of Arizona and Zach Stevens of Cal swam the 100 breaststroke. Sovero posted a 53.25, while Stevens was 55.22. Stevens was 55.39 in the prelims, and Sovero was DQed after going 53.55 this morning, a time that would’ve made the B-final.

Kristian Kron of Utah also swam a 200 butterfly time trial, clocking 1:45.80. Kron is seeded 16th in this race tomorrow with a seed time of 1:47.02.

400 Medley Relay- Timed Final

1. Cal, 3:06.89 (Seliskar, Hoppe, Lynch, Gutierrez)
2. USC, 3:07.14 (Mulcare, Vissering, Valente, Tribuntsov)
3. Arizona, 3:08.28 (Dobbs, Bish, Richmond, Idensohn)

In the final event of the night the Cal Bears prevailed in a very tight finish with the USC Trojans. Chatham Dobbs got Arizona out to the lead with a 45.94 lead-off, but quick breast and fly legs from Connor Hoppe (51.72) and Justin Lynch (45.36) brought Cal into the lead, and Long Gutierrez closed the door splitting 42.52 on the anchor. Andrew Seliskar led off for Cal in 47.29, as they won in 3:06.89. USC had fast splits all around, including a 52.50 from Carsten Vissering and a 41.86 anchor from Ralf Tribuntsov, who almost ran down Gutierrez for the win but ultimately had to settle for 2nd in 3:07.14. Arizona picked up 3rd in 3:08.28, just ahead of Stanford (3:08.37) and Arizona State (3:08.78). Utah was disqualified.

Team Scores

After day 3, Stanford maintains their lead with 552 points. USC sits 2nd with 477, and Cal is 3rd with 430. USC and Cal both need to have a big day 3 if they want to catch Stanford. Arizona sits comfortably in 4th, and ASU is now 40 points up on Utah for 5th.

1. Stanford, 552
2. USC, 477
3. Cal, 430
4. Arizona, 365
5. Arizona State, 249
6. Utah, 209