ASU Set to Overthrow Defending Champions Cal: 2023 Men’s Pac-12 Day 4 Up/Downs

2023 MEN’S PAC-12 SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, March 1- Saturday, March 5, 2023
• Weyerhauser King County Aquatic Center – Federal Way, WA
• SCY (25 Yards)
• Defending Champions: Cal (5x)
• Championship Central
• Event Schedule
• Diving Results
• Live Stream
• Live Results
• Fan Guide
• Psych Sheets
• Day 1 Finals Recap
• Day 2 Prelims Recap | Day 2 Finals Recap
• Day 3 Prelims Recap | Day 3 Finals Recap
• Day 4 Prelims Recap

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 two finals heats: the top 8 finishers make the A final and places 9 through 16, the B 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 “Down” to swimmers in the B final.

As we approach the fourth and final evening session of the 2023 men’s Pac-12 Swimming and Diving Championships, let’s review how the team points are adding up after this morning’s prelims session. As a reminder, the scores after day three were:

Team Scores Thru Day 3

1. ASU – 637.5
2. Cal – 534
3. Stanford – 441.5
4. Arizona – 245
5. Utah – 239.5
6. USC – 233.5

The Sun Devils have built an intimidating lead over the last three days of competition. Last night’s finals session was slightly helpful for five-time defending champions Cal who narrowed Arizona State’s 106-point lead after day two to a 103-point lead.

During prelims this morning, Cal secured the top two spots in the ‘A’ finals of the 200 back, 100 free, and the 200 fly. The Golden Bears also snagged the top spot in 200 breast ‘A’ final with Jason Louser who blasted a best time. But, watch out for second seed Leon Marchand of ASU who was about 3.5 seconds off his own season-best time.

The 100 free is another dangerous event for Cal, since a swim off between ASU’s Grant House and Cal’s Dylan Hawk bumped House into the ‘A’ final and Hawk into the ‘B’. That makes for four Sun Devils in the ‘A’ final and three Golden Bears.

Finals will also see the fastest heat of 1650 free, where ASU has the top two seeds who are the only swimmers entered with sub-15-minute times, and the 400 free relay where Cal is ranked first and ASU is ranked second. Relay points would be huge for Cal, especially after their 200 medley relay was disqualified on day one.

Day Four Up/Downs

Day four involves some of Cal’s strongest events and they are projected to score enough points to narrow down ASU’s lead, but it looks like it will be very difficult for them to earn enough points to catch up entirely. Both teams are entering the session with 12 ‘A’ finalists.

Notably, Utah has nine swimmers in ‘B’ finals tonight and they have a chance to overtake Arizona for 4th place. At the least, this puts them in a strong position to fend off USC for 5th place. It will likely all come down to that final 400 free relay where Arizona’s team is ranked 4th, Utah 5th, and USC 6th.