2024 MEN’S PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Dates: Wednesday, March 6 – Saturday, March 9
- Location: Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center, Federal Way, WA
- Defending champions: Arizona State (1x)
- Live Results
- Live Video (Pac-12 Network)
- Championship Central
- Fan Guide Preview
- Day 1 Finals Recap
Day 2 of the 2024 Men’s Pac-12 Championships is about to be underway. As usual, Thursday morning’s prelims session will feature the 500 free, 200 IM, and 50 free. The 200 free relay will take place at the end of tonight’s finals.
As we reported earlier this morning, Leon Marchand has opted to swim the 500 free today instead of the 200 IM. The funny thing is Marchand is the Pac-12 record holder in both those events. Marchand holds the conference record in the 500 free with a 4:07.81, which he swam last season. Marchand stands an excellent chance of breaking the championship record in the 500 today as well. That record stands at 4:09.49 from former Cal swimmer Trenton Julian at the 2021 Pac-12 Champs.
With Marchand not racing the 200 IM, it’s teammate Hubert Kos who will be the top seed this morning. Kos has already been 1:39.26 in the 200 IM this season.
Arizona State’s Jack Dolan will be the top seed in the 50 free this morning, already having gone 18.90 this season. Dolan looked great on the 200 medley relay last night, leading off ASU’s team with a 20.30 50 back. Fellow Sun Devil Jonny Kulow put up a very fast 18.24 anchor on that relay last night as well, so keep an eye on him this morning as well.
TEAM SCORES (AFTER DAY ONE)
- Diving, which took place last week, is factored into the day one scores.
- USC — 183 points
- Cal — 175 points
- Arizona — 154 points
- Arizona State — 150 points
- Stanford — 106 points
- Utah — 75 points
MEN’S 500 FREESTYLE – PRELIMS
- NCAA Record: 4:06.32 – Kieran Smith, Florida (2020)
- Pac-12 Record: 4:07.81 – Leon Marchand, Arizona State (2023)
- Pac-12 Championship Record: 4:09.49, Trenton Julian, Cal (2021)
- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 4:10.74
TOP 8 QUALIFIERS:
- Zalan Sarkany (ASU) – 4:12.28
- Leon Marchand (ASU) – 4:12.56
- Tyler Kopp (CAL) – 4:14.96
- Rex Maurer (STAN) – 4:15.62
- Julian Hill (ASU) – 4:15.79
- Preston Forst (STAN) – 4:16.31
- Daniel Matheson (ASU) – 4:16.40
- Henry McFadden (STAN) – 4:16.61
Arizona State looked great this morning in prelims of the 500 free, seeing 4 guys make it into the ‘A’ final for tonight. It was sophomore Zalan Sarkany who led the way, swimming a season and career best of 4:12.28. Though the swim was only 0.17 seconds under his previous time, Sarkany did manage to move up to 3rd in the Pac-12 this season, behind only Cal’s Gabriel Jett, who is not competing at this meet but holds a season best of 4:10.43, and Stanford’s Rex Maurer, who has been 4:11.88 this season. Maurer, a freshman, came in 4th this morning with a 4:15.62.
ASU also saw Leon Marchand, the conference record holder in the event (4:07.81), swim a 4:12.56 for 2nd this morning. That swim represents a season best for Marchand, though we can expect him to be much faster tonight in finals. Marchand swam a career best 1:30.43 leading off ASU’s 800 free relay last night, which lends itself to the belief that we’ll see a big swim out of the French superstar tonight.
Sun Devil fifth year Julian Hill came in 5th this morning with a 4:15.79. He’s been as fast as 4:12.37 this season, and had a very nice 1:31.74 split on the 800 free relay last night, so be on the lookout for him tonight as well.
ASU junior Daniel Matheson came in 7th this morning in 4:16.40, touching just off his season high of 4:14.91.
Cal senior Tyler Kopp blew away his season best of 4:20.64, swimming a 4:14.96 for 3rd this morning. The performance also blew away Kopp’s career best in the event, which was a 4:18.69 from the 2021 Pac-12 Champs.
MEN’S 200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – PRELIMS
- NCAA Record: 1:36.34 – Leon Marchand, Arizona State (2023)
- Pac-12 Record: 1:36.34 – Leon Marchand, Arizona State (2023)
- Pac-12 Championship Record: 1:37.81 – Leon Marchand, Arizona State (2023)
- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:41.03
TOP 8 QUALIFIERS:
- Owen McDonald (ASU) – 1:40.57
- Hubert Kos (ASU) – 1:41.33
- David Schlicht (ASU) – 1:42.02
- Rick Mihm (STAN) – 1:42.69
- Cale Martter (ASU) – 1:43.36
- Gibson Holmes (STAN) – 1:43.74
- Luke Maurer (STAN) – 1:43.86
- Sean Swift (CAL) – 1:43.88
Once again, it was Arizona State that led the way in the 200 IM, with Stanford also putting up a very strong performance. It wasn’t Hubert Kos, who the top seed coming into the event, who clocked the top time this morning, rather, ASU teammate Owen McDonald put up a 1:40.57 to earn the top seed for tonight. The swim represents a huge career best for McDonald, taking a little over a second off his previous top time of 1:41.60, which he swam at last year’s Pac-12s. He got out very fast this morning, splitting 21.59 on fly and 24.21 on back for a very speedy 45.80 on the opening 100.
Kos came in 2nd this morning, swimming a 1:41.33, which is a little over 2 seconds off his season best of 1:39.26. Kos didn’t swim on either relay yesterday, so we don’t have as much of a gauge on how he’s swimming this week, but given how ASU is doing as a team, we can probably expect a much faster swim tonight.
ASU made it a 1-2-3 punch this morning, as David Schlicht clocked a season best 1:42.02 for 3rd. That swim comes in just half a second off Schlicht’s career best of 1:41.50, which he swam at last year’s NCAAs.
Stanford senior Rick Mihm came in 4th this morning, putting up a very solid 1:42.69. That performance comes in just 0.06 seconds off Mihm’s career best, so he’ll no doubt be gunning for that mark in finals tonight.
The depth of the conference really showed in the 200 IM this m0rning, as Stanford’s Ron Polonsky was the first one out of the ‘A’ final, coming in 9th with a 1:43.98. Polonsky is one of the best IMers in the NCAA currently, holding a career best of 1:39.96, which makes him one of the 15 men in the history of the sport who have gone under 1:40. We’ll see what he’s able to do from the ‘B’ final tonight.
MEN’S 50 FREESTYLE – PRELIMS
- NCAA Record: 17.63 – Caeleb Dressel, Florida (2018)
- Pac-12 Record: 18.27 – Bjorn Seeliger, California (2022)
- Pac-12 Championship Record: 18.80 – Brad Tandy, Arizona (2014)
- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 18.82
TOP 8 QUALIFIERS:
- Ilya Kharun (ASU) – 18.82
- Jack Dolan (ASU) – 18.94
- Jonny Kulow (ASU) – 19.17 (TIE)
- Artem Selin (USC) – 19.17 (TIE)
- Tommy Palmer (ARIZ) – 19.30 (TIE)
- Cam Peel (ASU) – 19.30 (TIE)
- Jonathan Tan (STAN) – 19.35
- Patrick Sammon (ASU) – 19.36
Arizona State freshman Ilya Kharun popped a new career best of 18.82 to post the top time of the morning in the 50 free. It’s funny, because as Kharun was entering his college career, I think most of us would have suspected the 200 IM would be his Thursday event, however, he’s really shown himself to be an elite sprinter. Taking into account he didn’t race it that often as a club swimmer, Kharun had never been under 20 seconds prior to his arrival in Tempe. He’s now gone from 20.16 all the way down to 18.82 over the course of his freshman season, and it’s not even over yet.
The Pac-12 Championship record sits at 18.80 from way back in 2014 when Brad Tandy set it. With Kharun just 0.02 seconds off that mark this morning, and teammate Jack Dolan also going under 19, it seems like that record is ready to be rewritten later today. Dolan’s time was a very strong prelims swim, coming in just 0.04 seconds off his season best.
Sun Devil Jonny Kulow clocked a 19.17 to tie for 3rd this morning with USC’s Artem Selin. Kulow has been as fast as 19.00 this season but definitely keep an eye on him tonight, as he anchored ASU’s 200 medley relay in a blistering 18.24 last night.
Similarly, Arizona’s Tommy Palmer tied for 5th this morning with ASU’s Cam Peel, both of whom went 19.30. For Palmer, the swim was just 0.01 seconds off top time this season, but he split 18.33 anchoring Arizona’s relay last night, so don’t overlook him in finals tonight.
I say Marchand goes 4:06.53 in the 500 tonight and goes out 1:36.4 at the 200.
Sarkany goes 4:06.90 at pac 12s
Update Marchand went 4:06.18, went out 1:35.85 at the 200 and Sarkany went 4:09.19
What a horrible performance by Cal!
It was published that Cal was sending Rose, Jett, Alexy and Lasco to Westmont … but what about Seeliger?
seeliger is scared of racing, nothing new
I suspect you know this already as a longtime Cal aficionado, but I read somewhere that he had missed to much school going to Doha and had stayed home to catch up.
Aw that does ring a bell. Thanks!
I hope we got the photo curse out of the way with Hubi qualifying second despite being first seed. I would like to wake up to a 1:38 tomorrow.
Must be nice to be Marchand and literally never have to take a prelims session seriously at any level in your life. He can just experiment with different strategies or sprint the first half and take a bath. We honestly have 0 idea what he could do tonight based off that swim
Very wise observation. But even when he chose to not be the lead qualifier on a day when he had career best swims in the evening, he never put himself at risk of missing the final. An important description of his maturity.
Ilya kharun is absolutely nuts. 18.8 in a 50 to a sub 15 mile is right up there with the most versatile SCY freestylers of all time and the dudes a butterflier
Do we think he’ll swim the sprint frees at Trials? Surely he’d be one of the top 6 Canadian men in the 100 free?
I could see it since the 4×100 doesn’t interfere with either of the fly events. Canada has a solid top 4 with Acevedo, Knox, gaziev, and liendo but I have no clue about the next 2. It doesn’t look like he’s swam it lcm rested since he broke out, so it’s hard to say whether he’d have a shot at the finals relay. Knox has been 47.9 with a relay start. They’d have an outside shot at the podium if he could put up a 47 mid
Well Gaziev is a big question mark. Yuri is back training and racing too.
I completely missed that re gaziev. If he’s out it’ll probably tip the scales towards Ilya going for it
Koski was a beast, Wojdat way back in the day, few and far between, but always impressive
I forgot about koski, he’s definitely up there. I was thinking of townley haas and Cristian quintero. I’m too young to have ever seen wojdat and can only find lcm times, but he looks like he fit the bill too
Was almost the first male to win the 2,5,1650 all 4 years… a certain Olympian, from Michigan, beat him in the 200 free senior year. Artur is a legend, and has some amazing stories.
Always great to see the uber-talented swimmers swim off events. Fun to see what Marchand can do in the 500. Any word on his other events at conferences? Maybe 100 BR tomorrow instead of 400 IM?
With both Polonsky and Minakov missing the A final it’s now the third year in a row stars from Stanford miss the mark at Pac-12s … Is SchemDog the issue?
They’ve both already qualified for NCAAs….I think SchemDog is doing just fine.
Minakov went 1:38 in the 2fly 2x in a duel meet- it seems “shemdog” is doing just fine