2022 MEN’S PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, March 2-Saturday, March 5, 2022
- Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center, Federal Way, Washington
- Defending champions: Cal (4x)
- Start times: 11:00 am prelims / 6:00 pm finals (PST)
- Event Schedule
- Diving Results
- Championship Central
- Live Results
- Live Stream
FINAL TEAM STANDINGS
- Cal – 853.5
- Stanford – 760
- Arizona State – 652
- USC – 449
- Arizona – 423.5
- Utah – 264
The Cal men have won their 5th consecutive PAC-12 Championship Title, managing to finish 93.5 points ahead of the runner-up Stanford Cardinal. This is the Bears’ ninth conference title in program history and seventh under head coach Dave Durden.
It was a rocky start for the Golden Bears, who sat in last place through the first 7 events of the meet. Cal had clawed their way into 4th place by the end of day 2 (Thursday), but their prospects were still looking bleak, especially given how well Stanford and Arizona State were swimming.
Things took a turn during Friday’s prelims, however, when Cal set themselves up for a massive haul of points in the day 3 finals session. On Friday, Cal had 13 A finalists and 9 B finalists, who brought in a total of 295 points, well above the 216 points Stanford scored, and 198 from ASU.
That left Cal down by just 63 points heading into the final day of the meet. The Golden Bears absolutely unleashed on the rest of the competition during Saturday prelims, earning a mind-boggling 16 A finalists, featuring a whopping 5 A finalists in the 200 back alone.
Cal would go on to win the 200 back, 100 free, 200 fly, and 400 free relay on the final day of the meet, and had the title locked up before the 400 free relay. They would also close out the meet with a Pac-12 conference record in the 400 free relay, putting together the 4th-fastest relay in NCAA history.
Cal was helped immensely by 5th years Daniel Carr, Sean Grieshop, Trenton Julian, Bryce Mefford, and Will Roberts, who combined for 173 individual points.
Additionally, sophomore Bjorn Seeliger won all 3 of his individual events, taking the 50 free, 100 back, and 100 free. Fellow sophomore Destin Lasco was a huge contributor, earning 52 points thanks to a 1st-place finish in the 200 back, 2nd in the 100 back, and 4th in the 200 IM.
Here are Cal’s champions from the 2022 Pac-12 Championships:
- 50 Free – Bjorn Seeliger (18.84)
- 200 Free Relay – Seeliger, Alexy, Carr, Rico Peng (1:15.00)
- 100 Breast – Reece Whitley (51.30)
- 100 Back – Bjorn Seeliger (44.72)
- 200 Back – Destin Lasco (1:38.81)
- 100 Free – Bjorn Seeliger (41.51)
- 200 Fly – Trenton Julian (1:39.95)
- 400 Free Relay – Hawk, Alexy, Gonzalez, Seeliger (2:45.94)
Below, check out all of Cal’s individual scorers:
- Jack Alexy – 36
- Liam Bell – 21
- Daniel Carr – 36
- Hugo Gonzalez – 46
- Sean Grieshop – 40
- Robin Hanson – 23
- Dylan Hawk – 13
- Matthew Jensen – 20
- Gabriel Jett – 28
- Chris Jhong – 5
- Trenton Julian – 43
- Tyler Kopp – 19
- Jacques Laeuffer – 6
- Destin Lasco – 52
- Jason Louser – 41
- Jack Meehan – 11
- Bryce Mefford – 27
- Colby Mefford – 18
- Marcos Rico Peng – 18.5
- Will Roberts – 27
- Dare Rose – 30
- Bjorn Seeliger – 60
- Sebastian Somerset – 21
- Reece Whitley – 36
To be fair. They didn’t start in last place. Everyone started with zero. The timing of diving vs swimming is irrelevant
Does anyone know the inside scoop of why Cal has no diving program and has not had much of one for many years?
Where is everybody? BTW..Cal was not the only team with 5th year swimmers…Stanford and ASU had returnees on their rosters. That Cal had no diving or diver points speaks how incredible their comeback was!
Does anyone have the inside scoop of why Cal has no diving program and hasn’t had much of one for a long time?
They didn’t have training facilities. For a very long time, Cal divers actually had to train at Stanford. I think that has been resolved, but the Cal aquatics facilities are in need of significant upgrade. I think it would be hard to recruit divers once you tell them they’ll be spending at least two hours a day getting to/from the diving pool every time they train.
If Cal is the best swimming team in the NCAA why has Texas qualified 44 swimmers to Cal’s 33 over the last two years. And last time I checked, your Bears have won one title in the last 7 years. Cal is awesome- Durden gets a ton out of his swimmers and the guys seem to care for each other but Texas has all that too + diving. It’s not like Texas/Eddie is playing outside the rules. It’ll be another war a couple of weeks. No matter what happens, I just hope they all shake hands and congratulate each for the fast swimming they are going to do. It’s one thing to have a rivalry, but this deep animosity is… Read more »
Coach Mel here::
Will be fairly fastinating to see how this will afectt future competitions in the east (most likely in my honestly opinion)
Any news on Dair Rose on his diving training? Last I red he was planning on diving for the team at their following meet. Is this just a bunch of nonesense? Or is there any tryue merit?
Go vols! Will surely be fascinating to see if any jobs are available!
😼😺👍🏊♂️
Cal might have to make a roster decision for NCAAs. Using an estimated cut line of 30 has them with 18 likely individual qualifiers + 1 relay-only swimmer:
Seeliger (50 fr / 100 bk / 100 fr)
Alexy (100 fr)
Hawk (100 fr)
Jett (500 fr / 200 fr / 200 fl)
Julian (500 fr / 200 fr / 200 fl)
Hanson (200 fr)
Grieshop (500 fr / 400 im)
Lasco (200 im / 100 bk / 200 bk)
Carr (100 bk / 200 bk)
B. Mefford (100 bk / 200 bk)
C. Mefford (200 bk)
Somerset (200 bk)
Whitley (100 br / 200 br)
Bell (100… Read more »