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)
- Prelims 11 a.m./Finals 6 p.m. Pacific Time
- Championship Central
- Estimated NCAA Invite Times
- Diving Recap
- NCAA ‘A’ Cuts
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
- Finals Heat Sheets
The first individual medal races of the 2020 men’s Pac-12 Championships take place tonight, as swimmers gear up for the 500 free, 200 IM, and 50 free. After taking a redshirt last season, Stanford’s Grant Shoults looks to return to the top of the 500 free podium. He’ll be up against Arizona’s Brooks Fail, the fastest man in the Pac-12 this season, standout ASU freshman Julian Hill, and Cal All-American Trenton Julian.
Cal’s Hugo Gonzalez was disqualified in prelims of the 200 IM, but teammate Daniel Carr was well ahead of the field with a lifetime best this morning. We’ll see the reigning NCAA Champion, Ryan Hoffer, battle teammate Pawel Sendyk, the reigning Pac-12 Champion, in the 50 free. ASU freshman Jack Dolan put up a lifetime best this morning and is seeking his first individual Pac-12 medal.
MEN’S 500 FREE
- Pac-12 Record: Jean Basson (Arizona), 2009, 4:08.92
- Meet Record: Grant Shoults (Stanford), 2017, 4:10.67
- NCAA Record: Kieran Smith (Florida), 2020, 4:06.32
- 2019 NCAA Invited: 4:16.04
- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 4:11.82
- 2019 Champion: Victor Johansson, USC, 4:13.30
- GOLD: Grant Shoults, Stanford, 4:12.45
- SILVER: Trenton Julian, Cal, 4:12.77
- BRONZE: Brooks Fail, Arizona, 4:13.08
Cal’s Trenton Julian (4:12.77) got off to the early lead, but Stanford’s Grant Shoults (4:12.45) had reeled him in to take over the lead with 100 to go. They were separated by just tenths going into the final 50. Julian had the faster split, but Shoults held him off to win it. Arizona’s Brooks Fail (4:13.08) had the closing speed, but was too far behind to fully close the gap as he took bronze in 4:13.08.
ASU’s Ben Olszewski knocked another 3 seconds off his best for 4th in 4:14.38, chasing down Cal’s Sean Grieshop (4:14.57) through the final 200. Fellow Sun Devil Liam Bresette made another big drop for 6th in 4:15.21, followed by teammate Julian Hill (4:16.95), a freshman, and Cal freshman Calvin David (4:22.05).
Utah’s Rahiti De Vos had the 7th fastest time of the night as he won the B final in 4:16.49. ASU freshman Jack Edgemond dropped over 4 seconds to win the C final in 4:20.61. Between prelims and finals, he’s now dropped 7 seconds in the event today.
Team Scoring
Stanford (203) and Arizona (177) have now moved ahead of USC (167) in the team standings. Utah (143) is 4th. ASU (127) and Cal (110) remain 5th and 6th respectively but have closed the gap.
MEN’S 200 IM
- Pac-12 Record: Andrew Seliskar (Cal), 2019, 1:38.14
- Meet Record: David Nolan (Stanford), 2015, 1:40.07
- NCAA Record: Caeleb Dressel (Florida), 2018, 1:38.13
- 2019 NCAA Invited: 1:43.82
- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:41.34
- 2019 Champion: Andrew Seliskar, Cal, 1:40.53
- GOLD: Daniel Carr, Cal, 1:41.79
- SILVER: Zheng Quah, Cal, 1:42.93
- BRONZE: Bryce Mefford, Cal, 1:43.57
Cal’s Zheng Quah set the pace on the front half, but teammate Daniel Carr outsplit him on the breast leg to take control of the race. Carr won with a 1:41.79, marking his first time under 1:42. Quah took the silver in 1:42.93, clipping his best. Bryce Mefford broke 1:44 for the first time, touching 3rd to give the Bears a podium sweep in 1:43.57. Teammate Reece Whitley, the top seed coming in, was 7th in 1:44.23.
Arizona’s Etay Gurevich (1:43.79) was just off the podium as Mefford chased him down at the finish. Teammate Sam Iida (1:45.69) was 8th tonight. Stanford’s Brennan Pastorek was 5th in 1:44.02, holding off a final-50 charge from teammate Alex Liang (1:44.14).
Cal freshman Jason Louser has now dropped over 2 seconds today. After breaking 1:46 for the first time in prelims, he lowered his best to a 1:43.69 to win the B final. That wound up being the 5th fastest time of the night and is potentially an NCAA invite-worthy time, as he’s now 28th in the nation. ASU freshman Alexander Colson dropped another lifetime best to win the C final in 1:46.20.
Team Scoring
Stanford (246) and Arizona (205) are still holding down the top 2 spots, but Cal (185) has now moved into 3rd over USC (170). Utah (149) remains ahead of ASU (127).
MEN’S 50 FREE
- Pac-12 Record: Ryan Hoffer (Cal), 2019, 18.58
- Meet Record: Brad Tandy (Arizona), 2014, 18.80
- NCAA Record: Caeleb Dressel (Florida), 2018, 17.63
- 2019 NCAA Invited: 19.35
- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 18.96
- 2019 Champion: Pawel Sendyk, Cal, 18.83
- GOLD: Ryan Hoffer, Cal, 18.87
- SILVER: Pawel Sendyk, Cal, 18.91
- BRONZE: Michael Jensen, Cal, 19.38
We saw another Cal podium sweep and the same 3 men on the podium as last season. This time, however, reigning NCAA Champion Ryan Hoffer (18.87) out-touched 2019 Pac-12 Champion Pawel Sendyk (18.91) for the win. Those are now the top 2 times in the NCAA this season. Michael Jensen repeated as bronze medalist in 19.38.
Arizona’s Marin Ercegovic was 3 hundredths away from the podium, shaving a tenth off his best in 19.41. USC’s Nikola Miljenic was 5th in 19.48. Behind him was a trio from ASU. Evan Carlson (19.50) took 6th, while Cody Bybee (19.52) and Jack Dolan (19.52) tied for 7th.
Fellow Sun Devils Carter Swift (19.61) and Zach Poti (19.65) went 1-2 in the B final with a pair of best times. Cal freshman Marcos Rico Peng broke 20 for the first time to win the C final in 19.84.
Team Scoring
While Stanford (253.5) is still on top, Cal (238) has pulled into 2nd and within striking range. They moved ahead of Arizona as the Wildcats are now 15 points back from Cal in 3rd. USC (184) narrowly maintains position over ASU (179). The Sun Devils have now moved back into 5th ahead of Utah (159.5).
MEN’S 200 FREE RELAY
- Pac-12 Record: Cal, 2019, 1:14.46
- Meet Record: **Stanford, 2009, 1:15.54**
- NCAA Record: Auburn, 2009, 1:14.08
- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:17.17
- 2019 Champion: Cal, 1:16.43
- GOLD: Cal, 1:15.54
- SILVER: Arizona, 1:16.33
- BRONZE: ASU, 1:16.79
Cal matched the 11-year-old Meet Record here. Pawel Sendyk led off in 19.00, handing off to Ryan Hoffer for an 18.43 on the 2nd leg. Michael Jensen put up an 18.87 on the 3rd leg. Zheng Quah anchored with a 19.24 as the Bears dominated in 1:15.54.
Arizona (1:16.33) was 2nd with a pair of 18s from Thomas Anderson (18.85) and Jorge Iga (18.86) on the middle legs. ASU took the bronze with Evan Carlson splitting a 19.18 on the 2nd leg and freshman Jack Dolan anchoring in 18.65.
TEAM SCORES THROUGH DAY 2
- Stanford 283.5
- Cal 278
- Arizona 257
- ASU 211
- USC 210
- Utah 187.5
I’m just here for the “Ryan Hoffer didn’t shave his toe knuckles and still went a 18.” comments.
Hoffer with the full beard and chest hair and still an 18.8. Bodes well for NCAAs
He can neutralize Krueger at least
Sorry to say, nobody is neutralizing DK.
Does Michael Jensen still need to make NCAAs?
Cutting it real close. USA Swimming database has him at 28th though I didn’t look to split pros/age groupers from NCAA swimmers
Maybe he should lead off the 200FR?
18.87 split on the relay (3rd leg). Two options: time trial at the last chance meet, or forfeit a 100 free swim to go for the first 50. Not sure if time trials are allowed between sessions so did not include that as an option
Yes. A 19.38 will not make it (This should miss qualifying by hundredths) and his 100 is outside of the top 30 as well, but maybe Cal will lead him off in this relay to drop another tenth or so
Yeah, a little surprised that he didn’t. Sendyk-Hoffer-Jensen-Quah is what Cal went with.
I think the 100 will be his best event, and I think he can go the 42.5 it will take to make it.
Mike will get it done
Is there any precedent for a guy taking multiple tries and just slipping into NCAAs having a great NCAA meet? Maybe he just needs a full taper, but obviously the concern for Cal is that while they have 9 or so legit stars they’re not looking at many points beyond that. Hugo is great but he doesn’t replace that much of what they lost last year, and Louser looks like maybe the only new NCAA qualifier they’ll have. A few guys have room to improve on last year (Mefford, Julian, Arvidsson) but overall it looks like they have a definite ceiling.
It’s not a full picture, but in 2018 we looked at how last chance qualifiers did. A few were able to sneak in and score points, but very few improved: https://swimswam.com/skating-by-how-did-2018-last-chance-qualifiers-fare-at-ncaas/
part of that is that they just had an incredible meet last year, almost everyone nailing taper. That doesn’t leave much room for improvement… Of course they didn’t lose much either!
Anyone else find it kinda impractical to put the 200 free relay right after the 50 free.
Yeah NCAA schedule is silly like that. Same with 100 and 4 by 1.
Cal podium sweep plus a PB for Louser!
Podium sweep of the 50, too!
What an IM group for Cal
And that does not even include Hugo Gonzales who DQ’d
Dear person who manages the live results web page for this meet, because I know you are reading this — can we get the updated team score at the bottom of each finals results page? That would be great. I know you can do it. And it’s always nice when all the relevant records and standards are shown at the top of the page. You know, like Pac-12 record, NCAA record, NCAA A standard, etc. Thanks.
I know at some point they had started putting scores back in during the women’s meet. For now, I’ll just make sure to note the team scores at the end of each event.
Oh you clearly never attended a meet at KCAC. The people that run the computers there refuse to do some rather simple things and it is very protected. Nobody else is allowed to touch the computers, as if pressing certain buttons might set off a nuclear rocket
Heat sheets? link is going to this mornings.
updated, thanks