By Kyra Geithman
The 2014 Pac-12 Men’s Swimming Championships kicked off with record-setting performances on relay night, as two teams bested previous meet records in the 200 medley and 800 freestyle relays. USC holds a slim margin over the rest of the field, leading the competition through day one with 72 points.
The evening began in historical fashion as ARIZONA’s 200 medley relay team of Mitchell Friedemann, Kevin Cordes, Giles Smith and Brad Tandy touched at a meet-record time of 1:23.50, the best time in the country in the season so far, beating Cal’s previous record of 1:23.92 set at the 2011 Pac-12 Championships. It was the first-ever Pac-12 200 medley relay victory for Arizona, breaking Cal’s streak of six-straight wins in the event, which had previously only been won by Cal and Stanford. Friedemann began the relay with the fourth-fasted backstroke leg in the field before Cordes, Smith and Tandy pulled away to push the Wildcats into first place. UA’s C team also posted the fifth-best time, better than four A teams and all B teams that competed. Cal also bested the record time, with the team of Ryan Murphy, Chuck Katis, Tony Cox and Tyler Messerschmidt touching at 1:23.91 for a second-place finish.
The 800 freestyle relay saw yet another meet record fall, with USC’s team of Dylan Carter, Dimitri Colupaev, Reed Malone and Cristian Quintero posted their second-consecutive win in the event and the second-best time in the country by touching at 6:12.54 - nearly four full seconds ahead of second-place finisher California. The previous meet record was 6:14.82, set by Arizona in 2009. With the 800 free relay victory and the Trojans’ third-place finish in the 200 medley relay, USC effectively moved into first place with 72 points, just four ahead of Cal and Arizona who both have 68 points.
The 2014 Pac-12 Men’s Swimming Championships continue tomorrow, Thursday, March 6, with preliminary events for the 500 free, 200 IM and 50 free beginning at 11 a.m. PT and finals for all three events along with timed finals in the 200 free relay starting at 6 p.m. PT.
