USC holds a narrow lead in the six-team field at the end of day one of the 2015 Pac-12 Men’s Swimming Championships. The Trojans hold 74 points through the first two events, followed by CALIFORNIA with 72 points. STANFORD is third with 66, ARIZONA is fourth with 58, UTAH is fifth with 56 and ARIZONA STATE is sixth with 54.
California had the first win of the meet with a first-place finish in the 200 medley relay, clocking in at 1:24.16 on the legs of Ryan Murphy, Chuck Katis, Justin Lynch and Tyler Messerschmidt. USC came in second, while STANFORD placed third and reigning 200 medley relay champion ARIZONA placed fourth. ARIZONA STATE and UTAH rounded out the event at fifth and sixth, respectively.
The Trojans took the lead with a victory in the 800 free relay later that night, setting a new Pac-12 Championships record with a time of 6:12.51. The relay team of Dylan Carter, Reed Malone, Michael Domagala and Cristian Quintero teamed up for the new meet record, touching almost a full second and a half before STANFORD’s A relay, which came in second at 6:14.98. CALIFORNIA placed third in the event, followed by UTAH at fourth, ARIZONA at fifth and ARIZONA STATE at sixth.
The 2015 Pac-12 Men’s Swimming Championships continue tomorrow, Thursday, Mar. 5, at Weyerhauser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Wash., with prelims at 11 a.m. PT and finals beginning at 6 p.m. PT. The 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free and 200 free relay will take place on Thursday.
Arizona
Day one of the Pac-12 Championships for men’s swimming has ended in Federal Way, Washington at Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center. After the two events of the day, Arizona is currently placed fourth with a score of 58 behind USC in first (74), Cal (72) and Stanford (66).
The two events were the 200 medley relay and 800 free relay. In the 200 medley relay, the team of Thane Maudslien, Kevin Cordes, Brian Stevens and Brad Tandy finished fourth with a time of 1:25.17, earning a NCAA “A” cut. The other two relay teams for Arizona raced as exhibitions. The team of Alan Winder, Andrew Sovero, Renny Richmond and J.P. Beach finished in 1:27.69. Meanwhile, the relay team of Rasmus Skjaerpe, Gage Crosby, Trey Cashion and Austin Ringquist had a final time of 1:29.53.
In the 800 free relay, Maudslien, Nick Thorne, Richmond and Michael Meyer took fifth with a time of 6:27.00. The team of J.P. Beach, Chris Wieser, Nick Hogsed and Cashion swam the race as an exhibition in 6:36.31.
California
The Golden Bears sit in second place after the first two events of the Pac-12 meet at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Wash., trailing USC, 74-72.
The Golden Bears touched first with a 1:24.16 time in the 200 medley relay consisting of sophomore Ryan Murphy (back), senior Chuck Katis (breast), freshman Justin Lynch (fly) and junior Tyler Messerschmidt (free). Cal has been crowned conference champions in the 200 medley relay three out of the last four Pac-12 Championships.
In the 800 free relay, the Bears came in third place with a time of 6:19.30 behind swims from junior Trent Williams, senior Seth Stubblefield, sophomore Long Gutierrez and senior Will Hamilton.
Conference competition resumes Thursday, Mar. 5 with the 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free, 1 mtr diving, and the 200 free relay. Cal has four swimmers seeded top five in the 200 IM, junior Josh Pernot (1:43.88), senior Will Hamilton (1:44.21), sophomore Ryan Murphy (1:45.05) and senior Chuck Katis (1:45.36). Cal holds the second seed in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:17.97.
The Golden Bears are aiming to capture the Pac-12 team championship for the third consecutive year after winning in 2013 and 2014.
Stanford
Freshman Patrick Conaton posted a lifetime-best in the 200-yard backstroke and Stanford’s relay units achieved a pair of NCAA A-cuts Wednesday to open the swimming portion of the Pac-12 Conference Championships.
Conaton’s 1:40.48 in the 200 back came during a time trial, and the NCAA A-cut was over four seconds faster than his previous benchmark.
Peter Arnet dropped nearly a second and a half from his lifetime best by going 44.29 for an NCAA B-cut in the 100-yard freestyle.
“Our senior class showed tremendous leadership tonight, and freshman Patrick Conaton, along with Peter Arnet, put this team on their young shoulders and showed us all what we have been working towards this year,” said Ted Knapp, Stanford’s Goldman Family Director of Men’s Swimming. “This promises to be an exciting meet.”
USC holds a narrow lead over the six-team field. The Trojans hold 74 points through the first two events, followed by Cal (72) and Stanford (66).
Cal had the first win of the meet in the 200-yard medley relay, clocking in at 1:24.16. USC (1:24.39) came in second, while Stanford placed third in 1:25.13. Stanford’s time was nearly a second faster than its 2014 standard.
The Trojans posted a victory in the 800 free relay, setting a Pac-12 Championships record in 6:12.51. Following the lead of Drew Cosgarea’s 1:34.34, Stanford surged to second with an NCAA A-cut 6:14.98 and narrowly missed a school record. The Cardinal bettered the time from its third-place finish in the event at last season’s NCAA Championships.
Utah
The Utah men’s swimming team sits in fifth place with 56 points after day one at the 2015 Pac-12 Championships, which are taking place at the Weyerhaeuser King Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Wash.
USC currently sits in first with 74 points followed by UCLA in second (72), Stanford in third (66) and Arizona in fourth (58). ASU follows Utah in sixth with 54 points.
Opening up the competition by setting a new school record in the 200 medley relay, the team of Brandon Deckard, Jack Burton, Alex Fernandes and Nick Soedel took sixth with a time of 1:27:18. The previous record was 1:27.81 that was set at the 2012 Pac-12 Championships.
“We had a good start here at the first day at the men’s Pac-12 championships. Two new school records; broke a three year old record in the 200 medley relay, so that is very exciting. Then Nick Soedel broke his own school record in the 200 freestyle leading off our 800 freestyle relay. Those were outstanding swims. Both were season bests by quite a bit; obviously a school record in the first relay and just a couple seconds off of our school record in the 800 free relay.”
In the 800 free relay, team of Soedel, Kristian Kron, Austin Phillips and Bence Kiraly touched in fourth with a time of 6:23.80. Soedel touched in 1:34.53, which broke his current record in the 200 free time of 1:34.90, which he set at the 2014 NCAA Championships.
“Unfortunately had some narrow misses. We were less than a second off the automatic NCAA qualifying time in that 800 free relay and just off that B standard in the 200 medley. But we are encouraged by what we saw even out of the B and C relays today. We still have some good stuff that will set us up well going into the individual events tomorrow.”
