What Could Competition In The New PAC-12 Conference Look Like?

The Pac-12 unexpectedly announced today that San Diego State, Colorado State, Fresno State, and Boise State will join the conference beginning in the 2026-27 season. While the Pac-12 may not be done bringing schools into the conference—which they need to do to qualify as an FBS conference—let’s take a look at what a revamped Pac-12 championship would look like.

Of the remaining two schools left in the conference, Washington State is the only one with a swim team. Boise State no longer has a swimming and diving program, meaning that only four schools would compete at the potential 2027 Pac-12 Championships. It would also be a women-only meet, as none of these schools sponsor men’s swimming and diving.

Washington State is scheduled to compete at the Mountain West Conference Championships this year, meaning they will get to face their competition early.

Who Would Be The Team To Beat In The Realigned Pac-12?

Based on the schools in the conference as of writing, San Diego State is the team to beat. They won the 2024 Mountain West Conference by 231 points ahead of UNLV, which so far is remaining in its current conference.

Washington State is scheduled to join the Mountain West Conference Championships this season and while that means they’ll get to check out their soon-to-be conference rivals, it won’t be a clear indication of which team would win in the potential 2027 Pac-12 championship since not all of the nine teams in the Mountain West are migrating.

In a conference championship meet simulation between the four teams (San Diego State, Washington State, Colorado State, and Fresno State) using their 2023-24 rosters, San Diego wins by over 100 points. Washington State finishes 2nd, Colorado State 3rd, and Fresno State 4th.

Any conference championship would have more than four teams, though. Conferences need eight schools to qualify as an FBS conference and though that doesn’t mean all the schools will have a swim and dive program, especially after the House vs. NCAA settlement is finalized, they’d likely need at least one more school to make a conference championship possible.

Which Of These Teams Sent Swimmers To 2024 NCAAs?

Washington State sent two swimmers to the 2024 NCAA Championships, Dori Hathazi and Emily Lundgren. Lundgren got the team on the board, scoring three points with a 14th-place finish in the 200 breast.

San Diego State University was the only one of the new Pac-12 programs to send swimmers to the 2024 NCAA Championships. They’ve done so for the past couple of seasons and in 2024, seniors Alex Roberts and Christiana Williams earned invites. Roberts entered the 100 fly/100 back/200 back and Williams the 100/200 breast. Both are Mountain West conference record holders and return for a fifth year this season, though they will have graduated by the time SDSU switches conferences.

What Does The Mountain West Record Book Look Like?

Here’s how the conference’s record book currently stands:

Event Record
50 free 21.76 — Anika Apostalon, San Diego State (2014)
100 free 47.73 — Anika Apostalon, San Diego State (2014)
200 free 1:45.11 — Emma Chard, Boise State (2016)
500 free 4:38.98 — Genevieve Miller, Air Force (2017)
1000 free 9:40.15 — Genevieve Miller, Air Force (2017)
1650 free 15:58.06 — Genevieve Miller, Air Force (2017)
100 back 51.92 — Anika Apostalon, San Diego State (2014)
200 back 1:52.89 — Alex Roberts, San Diego State (2023)
100 breast 58.68 — Klara Thormalm, San Diego State (2021)
200 breast 2:08.23 — Christiana Williams, San Diego State (2023)
100 fly 51.48 — Katelyne Herrington, UNLV (2014)
200 fly 1:55.16 — Blanka Bokros, UNLV (2024)
200 IM 1:56.67 — Ruby Howell, UNLV (2024)
400 IM 4:05.56 — Yawen Li, Nevada (2015)
200 free relay 1:28.31 — Boise State (2017)
400 free relay 3:15.38 — Boise State (2016)
800 free relay 7:03.96 — Boise State (2017)
200 medley relay 1:36.30 — San Diego State (2020)
400 medley relay 3:32.28 — San Diego State (2019)

Not all of these record holders will make the move to the Pac-12. But it’s still worth looking at the record book to understand the current shape of the conference. Knowing the Mountain West’s highest benchmarks helps give a sense of what kind of speed swimmers in these programs are chasing.

Only two Washington State school records are faster than their Mountain West equivalent: Lundgren’s 200 breast (2:07.30) and Hathazi’s 200 fly (1:54.87). In a meet simulation of the 2024 Mountain West Conference Championships that includes Washington State, the Cougars finish third behind SDSU and UNLV.

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Coach A
29 days ago

Diving will put WSU in 4th. More interesting is who will be the next two schools to join? If it’s current MWC members, UNLV and San Jose St make sense due to television markets. Or is it possible a couple teams that recently left decide that a half-share and/or east coast travel is not working for them and want to come back to the pac? Don’t know what the buyout/exit fee would be for Cal, Stanford, ASU or AZ, but the $110M didn’t stop the first four and it’s probably only another $55M to get two more. The Pac-2 ( or 12 or 8?) has a $240M “warchest” from the departure of the ten teams

Coach Cwik
29 days ago

How many D1 Champ qualifiers does the P12 have on paper from last years results???

Steve Nolan
29 days ago

this is all so stupid and I hate it

About Sophie Kaufman

Sophie Kaufman

Sophie grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, which means yes, she does root for the Bruins, but try not to hold that against her. At 9, she joined her local club team because her best friend convinced her it would be fun. Shoulder surgery ended her competitive swimming days long ago, …

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