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 Prelims Recap| Day 2 Finals Recap
We’re on to day 3 of the 2024 Men’s Pc-12 Championships. It already seems like Arizona State has this meet wrapped up. After a truly dominant day 2 performance, in which ASU took at least 1st and 2nd in all 3 individual events, the Sun Devils find themselves in the lead by about 100 points. With no diving left to worry about, Arizona State should only continue growing their lead.
TEAM SCORES (AFTER DAY TWO)
- Arizona State – 401
- Stanford – 304.5
- Cal – 237
- Arizona – 224.5
- USC – 221
- Utah – 111
As usual, Friday’s prelims session will feature the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, and 100 back. In tonight’s finals session, the 400 medley relay will also be competed.
After ASU’s Hubert Kos swam the 200 IM yesterday, while Leon Marchand competed in the 500 free, the roles reversed today. Marchand is in the 400 IM today, while Kos is in the 100 back. The reason that’s notable is because, as was the case in the 200 IM, Marchand and Kos hold the top 2 times in the NCAA in the 400 IM this season.
For some reason, Marchand isn’t entered with his season best of 3:37.96 and is instead entered at 3:38.61, which matters because it makes him the 2nd seed behind teammate David Schlicht (3:38.16). Schlicht was excellent in the 200 IM last night, so keep an eye on him as well.
Meanwhile, Kos is the top seed in the 100 back this morning, coming in with his season best of 44.37. Kos is currently 4th in the NCAA this season, sitting just a quarter of a second behind Florida’s Jonny Marshall, who has clocked the top time of the season (44.12). Sun Devil teammate Jack Dolan is the #2 seed this morning with a 45.09. While it may not happen this morning, Dolan should blow that time away at some point today, as he’s been on fire through the past two days. He led the ASU 200 medley relay off in 20.30, which would seemingly indicate he can go much faster than 45.0 today.
ASU also finds themselves with the top seed in the 200 free, where Julian Hill has been 1:32.06 this season. Of note, ASU’s Owen McDonald is the 2nd seed with a 1:32.41. McDonald was incredible in the 200 IM yesterday, so he may make a lot of noise in the 200 free today as well.
Stanford star Andrei Minakov holds the top seed in the 100 fly, having been 44.16 already this season. ASU freshman Ilya Kharun isn’t far behind, having been 44.33 this season, which is the only other time in the conference this season under 45 seconds.
Utah comes in with the top seed in the 100 breast, where Jaek Horner is entered with a 51.32. Horner could make a huge impact for the Utes today, however, he has his work cut out for him, as 5 other guys in the conference have been under 52 seconds this season.
MEN’S 400 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – PRELIMS
- NCAA Record: 3:28.82 – Leon Marchand, ASU (2023)
- Pac-12 Record: 3:28.82 – Leon Marchand, ASU (2023)
- Pac-12 Championship Record: 3:31.57 – Leon Marchand, ASU (2023)
- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 3:38.90
TOP 8 QUALIFIERS:
- David Schlicht (Arizona State) – 3:38.29
- Leon Marchand (Arizona State) – 3:39.20
- Zalan Sarkany (Arizona State) – 3:40.79
- Cale Martter (Arizona State) – 3:40.94
- Rex Maurer (Stanford) – 3:40.99
- Rick Mihm (Stanford) – 3:41.92
- Tyler Kopp (California) – 3:42.13
- Daniel Matheson (Arizona State) – 3:43.31
Even without Hubert Kos in the race, Arizona State was simply dominant in the 400 IM this morning, posting the top 4 times. David Schlicht led the way, swimming a 3:38.29, which is just off his season best of 3:38.16. Schlicht was great on the back half this morning, clocking a 1:00.53 on the breast leg and 52.13 on the free leg, for a 1:52.66 on the 2nd 200.
Leon Marchand was 3:39.20 this morning, coming in 2nd. It’s hard to read much into that swim, as Marchand has been terrific so far at this meet. He dropped 6 seconds from prelims to finals in the 500 free yesterday, breaking the NCAA record in finals, so we can expect a much faster swim out of him tonight.
ASU’s Zalan Sarkany, the runner-up in the 500 free last night, had a huge swim for 3rd this morning. Sarkany swam a 3:40.79, blowing away his previous career best of 3:44.56, which he swam at last year’s NCAA Championships. Sun Devil Cale Martter had a huge swim as well, coming in 4th with a 3:40.94. Martter entered this morning with a career best of 3:43.09, which he swam at the NC State Invite back in the fall.
Stanford freshman Rex Maurer swam a new personal best of 3:40.99 to finish 5th this morning. Maurer was out the fastest of anyone this morning, splitting 49.92 on fly and 53.59 on back, for a 1:43.51 on the opening 200.
MEN’S 100 BUTTERFLY – PRELIMS
- NCAA Record: 42.80 – Caeleb Dressel, Florida (2018)
- Pac-12 Record: 43.71 – Andrei Minakov, Stanford (2022)
- Pac-12 Championship Record: 43.90 – Andrei Minakov, Stanford (2022)
- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 44.64
TOP 8 QUALIFIERS:
- Ilya Kharun (Arizona State) – 44.42
- Rafael Gu (Stanford) – 44.99
- Aaron Sequeira (Stanford) – 45.20
- Andrei Minakov (Stanford) – 45.31
- Filip Senc-Samardzic (Arizona State) – 45.49
- Jonny Kulow (Arizona State) – 45.51
- Jadan Nabor (Arizona) – 45.90
- Alexander Cole (Arizona State) – 45.91
The 100 fly was the first event of the meet where Arizona State didn’t look like the best team. The Sun Devils did have freshman Ilya Kharun post the top time of the morning, swimming a 44.42. That time comes in just off Kharun’s season and career best of 44.33.
Stanford junior Andrei Minakov was the top seed coming into the morning, having been 44.16 already this season. This morning, Minakov posted a 45.31, coming in 4th. Minakov is also the Pac-12 record holder in the event with his career best of 43.71 from 2022.
It was Stanford sophomore Rafael Gu who posted the top time of the morning for the Cardinal. Gu went 44.99, clipping his previous career best of 45.07. Stanford also saw Aaron Sequeira swam a 45.20 for 3rd this morning.
MEN’S 200 FREESTYLE – PRELIMS
- NCAA Record: 1:29.15 – Dean Farris, Harvard (2019)
- Pac-12 Record: 1:30.14 – Andrew Seliskar, Cal (2019)
- Pac-12 Championship Record: 1:30.23 – Grant House, ASU (2022)
- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:31.74
TOP 8 QUALIFIERS:
- Owen McDonald (Arizona State) – 1:32.06
- Julian Hill (Arizona State) – 1:32.32
- Henry McFadden (Stanford) – 1:32.42
- Patrick Sammon (Arizona State) – 1:32.56
- Ralph Daleiden (Arizona) – 1:32.95
- Luke Maurer (Stanford) – 1:33.01
- Tiago Behar (Arizona State) – 1:33.18
- Keaton Jones (California) – 1:33.67
After a huge swim in the 200 IM final last night, Arizona State’s Owen McDonald popped a new career best of 1:32.06 to lead prelims of the 200 free this morning. Prior to his swim this morning, McDonald’s career best was 1:32.41, a time which he swam at the NC State Invite back in the fall.
Fellow Sun Devil Julian Hill swam a 1:32.32 to take 2nd this morning, coming in just off his season best of 1:32.06. Hill was out the fastest of anyone this morning, splitting 44.57 on the opening 100.
Arizona State’s Patrick Sammon was right there too, swimming a season best of 1:32.56 for 4th.
Stanford freshman Henry McFadden made his mark this morning, swimming a new career best of 1:32.42, which was good for 3rd overall. McFadden had just swum his previous best of 1:32.62 at the Stanford dual meet with Cal about 2 weeks ago.
MEN’S 100 BREASTSTROKE – PRELIMS
- NCAA Record: 49.69 – Ian Finnerty, Indiana (2018)
- Pac-12 Record: 50.04 – Kevin Cordes, Arizona (2014)
- Pac-12 Championship Record: 50.78 – Carsten Vissering, USC (2019)
- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 51.10
TOP 8 QUALIFIERS:
- Liam Bell (California) – 51.46
- Andy Dobrzanski (Arizona State) – 51.52
- Ron Polonsky (Stanford) – 51.55
- Zhier Fan (Stanford) – 51.93
- Hank Rivers (California) – 51.97
- Matt Jensen (California) – 52.05
- Jaek Horner (Utah) – 52.25
- Ryan Purdy (Arizona) – 52.41
Cal has long been a premier breaststroke program in the NCAA and, even missing all the swimmers who aren’t at this meet, they managed to flex their muscles on the rest of the conference this morning in the 100 breast. Fifth year Liam Bell swam a season best 51.46 to post the top time of the morning, getting out to a very quick 23.85 on the first 50. Bell has been as fast as 50.50 in his career, so there’s a chance he makes a run at the Pac-12 Championship record of 50.78 tonight.
The Golden Bears also saw sophomore Hank Rivers clock a huge season best of 51.97 for 5th this morning. Rivers had only been 53.49 so far this season coming into the morning. He also had a career best of 53.44, so his swim this morning was truly massive.
Cal senior Matt Jensen swam a season best of 52.05 to finish 6th this morning.
ASU sophomore Andy Dobrzanski had a fantastic swim this morning, posting a 51.52 to finish 2nd. The swim marks a new career best by nearly a second. His previous best was a 52.46, which he swam at the ASU dual meet with Cal back in January.
MEN’S 100 BACKSTROKE – PRELIMS
- NCAA Record: 43.35 – Luca Urlando, Georgia (2022)
- Pac-12 Record: 43.49 – Ryan Murphy, Cal (2016)
Pac-12 Championship Record: 44.14 – Zachary Poti, ASU (2020)- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 44.71
TOP 8 QUALIFIERS:
- Hubert Kos (Arizona State) – 44.03 (CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD)
- Jack Dolan (Arizona State) – 45.07
- Aaron Sequeira (Stanford) – 46.01
- Ryan Hardy (Arizona) – 46.17
- Kai Crews (California) – 46.30
- Jack Wadsworth (Arizona State) – 46.55
- Sebastian Somerset (California) – 46.65
- Vaggelis Makrygiannis (USC) – 46.67
Hubert Kos made the most out of his opportunity in the 100 back this morning, swimming a new career best and ASU program record of 44.03. Additionally, the swim cracked the Pac-12 Championship record, which was held by former Sun Devil Zach Poti at 44.14 from the 2020 Pac-12s. Kos took 0.34 seconds off his previous career best with the swim this morning as well.
Fellow Sun Devil Jack Dolan swam a season best of 45.07 for 2nd this morning, dipping under his previous season best of 45.09. We can expect Dolan to go faster tonight, as he’s been exceptional so far this week. He was 20.30 leading off the 200 medley relay on Wednesday night, but only took his 100 out in 21.53 this morning, so we can anticipate a little more speed in tonight’s final.
Stanford’s Aaron Sequeira pulled off his double, taking 3rd with a 46.01 after having already taken 3rd in the 100 fly earlier in the session. His 46.01 marks a new season best by 0.29 seconds.
Breaking down Kos’s chances of breaking the Pac 12 (maybe the NCAA) record in finals:
- He can now usually (not unlike Marchand) afford to cruise 200 distances in prelims and drop major time in finals (he did this at the NC state invite and yesterday evening – dropping 3-4 seconds from prelims to finals in the 200IM/back). This would indicate a significant drop from prelims today.
- This pattern doesn’t really show up in his 100s. He dropped ~0.2 seconds in the 100 back from prelims to finals last fall. He didn’t really drop at all from prelims to semis to finals in the LC version of the event at Worlds in 2023.
- In conclusion, I expect a 43.6 at
… Read more »So after 1.5-2 ish days of racing, what are the estimates for how “prepared” ASU is for Pac-12s as a team? They seem very prepared overall, but given Kulow’s coy comment on how prepared ASU is (I take it as indicating they are not as prepared as they will be at NCAAs) it’s hard to say.
This is absurd, we are really thinking that Bob Bowman prioritized this!?
I view it as either almost old wisdom about the “taper” has been tossed out the window, or Bowman is treating this as trial run at a double taper to help prepare his guys for making the Olympics. Probably a bit of both imo actually
The 400 Medley Relay record has a more than good shot at going down tonight.
It will
I wouldn’t be so sure. They match up pretty well with Florida’s record but 42.9 is a tall order for Kharun.
Ilya was :43.35 split at NCState Fall Invite.
On the other hand, Marchand’s breaststroke split would be a tall order for anyone.
Luca 51.9 100br exhibition has to be a big drop as well.
Cal has 4 guys who are looking to be on the bubble on the 100 breast (Rivers Gissendaner Soderstrom Jensen) and Swift has a chance if he drops from his TT in the 200 breast.
Minakov is looking a bit rusty
Maybe it is because he couldn’t practice with the team for the first quarter because he was suspended from Stanford.
My goodness. The guy has twice been 1:38+ 200 Fly in dual meets this year, after never concentrating on the event before. He can be rusty now all he wants so long as he is good in 3 weeks and later. I don’t know what his status is as far as the political hoops to jump through if he is go seek Paris, which would require swimming fast two more times at a trial meet and the Games.
Kos cooked this morning and would not be surprised if he challenged the 100 back record
Let’s hope!
Part of me was hoping that Kos would swim the 100 fly. Would be very interested to see what he could do in it, based on taking out the 200 IM in 20.4 (!) last night (have we ever seen that before?)
school record again for Ilya in the 1 fly
edit: Nevermind he just missed it