2018 Pac-12 Last Chance Meet
- March 4th, 2018
- Federal Way, Washington
- SCY (25y) Course
The dust is settling at the King County Aquatic Center after the conclusion of the 2018 Pac-12 men’s swimming championship meet, but there were still more races to be swum. On Sunday, the pool hosted one of the final last-chance meets for swimmers to earn qualifying times before Monday’s entry deadline for the 2018 Men’s NCAA Swimming & Diving Championship.
Courtesy: UCSB Athletics
The highlight swim was a 1:41.05 from UC Santa Barbara’s Billy Mullis in the men’s 200 backstroke. Swimming solo, he improved upon his midseason-best of 1:41.36. While it was just a .31-second gap, that .31 second gap made a huge difference: it moved him from 32nd in the country, probably out of NCAAs, all the way to 24th, and probably in.
For the senior Mullis, the swim was a last-ditch effort to extend his collegiate career for another meet. One of the best swimmers in UCSB school history, he holds school records in 7 events, 4 individual and 3 relays. That includes a 1:43.77 in the 200 fly that he swam on Sunday as well, which is an NCAA “B” time.
His best time in the 200 back coming into the season sat at just 1:45.01. Now, almost 4 seconds faster, he’s on his way to Minneapolis for the NCAA Championships.
Full results from the last-chance event weren’t available as of posting, but we were able to glean a few other swims:
- Arizona State’s Reid Elliott, who probably just missed a qualifying time with his 46.14 time trial during the meet, was unable to improve the swim on Sunday. He finished in 46.59.
- USC junior Alex Valente swam a 46.20 in the men’s 100 fly, which missed his season-best of 46.02. That 36.0 ranks just 38th nationally. USC’s Dylan Carter ranks 36th in the same event with a 45.99, meaning that for the first-time-ever, it will take sub-46 for a swimmer trying to earn their NCAA invite in the 100 fly.
Pretty sure Noah Hensley and Reid Elliott will make the 100 back invite!
When is list finalized?
After coaches submit entries on OME – tomorrow is the deadline. The IUPUI backstroke time was a time trial that somehow got the final time wrong. He was actually a 52.29. USA Swimming will correct it.
Check the swim for uipui Landis he didn’t go 45.66 100 back as data base states.
There is a bogus time in 100 back D1 data base!
Good job billy
45.99 won’t qualify, wowza. I really want an article breaking down how the hey swimming has gotten so much faster in the last 2 years. Cause while it slowly has always progressed, these two years have been Herculean leaps. Also an article on wtf happened to Sam Perry, and Payton Sorenson over the course of a year.
link?
Couple of qualifiers at the OSU last chance meet too!
UCSB* school history 🙂