2020 M. Pac-12 Up/Downs Day 2: Stanford, Cal to Battle for the #1 Spot

2020 MEN’S PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, March 4 – Saturday, March 7 (Diving Feb. 26-29)
• Federal Way, WA (Pacific Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: Cal (2x) (results)
• Championship Central
• Estimated NCAA Invite Times
• Diving Recap
• NCAA ‘A’ Cuts
• Fan Guide
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results
• Heat Sheets

The first individual finals events of the men’s 2020 Pac-12 Championships will take place tonight in Federal Way, Washington. Swimmers will race for medals in the 500 free, 200 IM, and 50 free. Read on for the up/mid/down tracking of this morning’s preliminary events, and the impact it could have on the team standings after night 2 finals.

*NOTE: This report does not include relays.*

For those unfamiliar with swimming terminology, the concept of “Ups” and “Downs” is a good way to track which teams performed best at prelims. In prelims, swimmers qualify for one of three finals heats: the top 8 finishers make the A final, places 9 through 16 the B final and places 17 through 24 the C final. In finals, swimmers are locked into their respective final, meaning a swimmer in the B heat (spots 9-16) can only place as high as 9th or as low as 16th, even if they put up the fastest or slowest time of any heat in the final.

With that in mind, we’ll be tracking “Ups” and “Downs” after each prelims session. “Up” refers to swimmers in the A final, and “Downs”  to swimmers in the B final. At the Pac-12 men’s meet, only the A and B finals are scored. 

TOTAL UP/DOWNS

The Bears are poised to move up a lot tonight. Their 10 championship finalists are double the number of any team but ASU (6). Stanford has the most total scorers with 14, but significantly fewer A finalists than Cal and ASU. We could see the Cardinal come out on top through tonight’s finals, with Cal and ASU likely to move their way into the top 3. Stanford currently leads both Cal and ASU by nearly 100 points.

However, things could be tight between ASU and Arizona. Though ASU has more scorers, the Wildcats have a 78-point lead over the Sun Devils after day 1, as Cal and ASU’s 400 medley relays were DQed. USC came into the meet with a diving lead and stayed #1 through the day 1 relays, but have only 2 scorers tonight.

MEN’S 500 FREE

MEN’S 200 IM

MEN’S 50 FREE