2014 Pac 12 Championships – 100 Backstroke – Reported by Jared Anderson
This turned out to be the race of the night, with Stanford junior Dave Nolan and Cal freshman Ryan Murphy going to battle well ahead of the rest of the field. Nolan got out to a lead of two tenths, but Murphy, the noted 200 back star, roared back to touch out Nolan by .07 and take his first Pac-12 title. Murphy went 45.59, perhaps even more impressive considering he swam the 100 fly just a few events earlier. Nolan took second with a 45.66.
Murphy’s Cal backstroking partner-in-crime Jacob Pebley took third with a 46.34, edging out yet another Golden Bear, Tony Cox, who also was coming off a 100 fly swim. Cox went 46.76 in this race.
Arizona’s Mitchell Friedemann took fifth, sitting just on the edge of a 46-second swim at 47.01. Stanford sophomore Ryan Arata touched out USC’s Dylan Carter for sixth, and Sven Campbell rounded out the field as the fourth Cal Bear in the championship heat.
Arizona State’s top freshman Richard Bohus turned in a nice B final swim, going 47.16 for 9th place overall.
