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
- Night 1 Finals Live Recap
We saw the Arizona State men start the 2024 Pac-12 Conference Championships (the last edition of the meet before the conference dissolves) with a bang. ASU swam 1:20.55 in the 200 medley relay, breaking a new US Open and NCAA record.
However, that wasn’t the surprising part.
On the broadcast after the race, anchor swimmer Jonny Kulow said that ASU was fully rested and shaved for this meet. Why would ASU do that when most of their swimmers will already safely qualify for NCAAs?
In this day and age, “shaved and tapered” can mean a lot of different things. It isn’t 30 years ago when it was synonymous with “this is the one meet I am going all in on”. In today’s swimming sphere, athletes swim fast year-round, with ASU being at the forefront of that this year in the NCAA.
So, maybe Kulow just meant that they shaved and had a similar amount of ‘rest’ or ‘preparation’ as other dual meets when they swam nation-leading times (seems likely). Maybe he meant they did actually go all-in on Pac-12s (seems less likely). Or… ASU is trying to troll the NCAA into *believing* that they are going all-in on Pac-12s (???).
Either way, we just saw an NCAA record on night 1 of a men’s conference meet. The ASU men are starting to look like the UVA women in terms of their ability to crank out fast swims anytime, anywhere. And I, as a swim fan, am here for it.
I love Johnny Kulow, but this photo is giving me the Kai Winkler/Blue Steel glamorshot vibe…kinda cringe ngl
I actually know one of the ASU swimmers and he told me they just got down from altitude training on the moon.
It’s true.
It will not matter at NCAAs as Cal with Curry and the rest of the TEAM prepped by the two best coaches in the USA (The two DAVE’s) will ride roughshod over ASU. Cal does not buy that ASU shaved and tapered for a watered downed PAC 12! Good try to get the Bears thinking BUT the Bears are focused on what each individual needs to do to be at his best. It will be a great meet with Cal taking the 400 FR R and winning by 3 points.
Brooks Curry is not swimming for Cal this season.
YET
Last chance >>> NCAAs would be one hell of a journey.
Isn’t this meet only “watered down” cause Cal coaches decided to back down from a challenge and send their 5 top swimmers to a different meet?
If they are..peak Marchand is behind us.
he swam faster on both relays than he did at this meet last year
A refreshing flip from the usual “No, we aren’t shaved and tapered at all for this meet!”
Who cares, we’ll know soon enough.
They have never rested or shaved before
I’m not sure how this is any different from last year’s Pac 12s? Like, ASU was very fast then too, you can chalk up this record to Dolan and Kulow improving and Ilya being faster than McCusker, I’m not sure what it has to do with tapering specifically for this meet.
Also doesn’t ASU commonly do a double taper for March anyway? There was some talk about it last year too, specifically in the context of wether or not the mid-season additions can handle it.
edit: Oh and I loved the meme at the start of the video!!
edit 2: I have a conspiracy theory that the ASU vs Arizona article’s comment section was hijacked by actual ASU swimmers,… Read more »