2021 MEN’S PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
It’s a rare start to Sunday evening for the 2021 Pac-12 Men’s Championship in Houston, with Cal’s men looking to follow the women’s team’s success and claim their fourth consecutive title at the conference.
The match will open with timed finals of 800 free relays and 400 medley, where the Bears would have to be the favorites to win both.
They won five consecutive titles in the 800 freestyle, which date back to 2016, while Stanford arrives as champion in the 400 medley relay after Cal was disqualified in 2020 (the Bears first played about four seconds before the DQ for an early takeoff).
There will also be a long 45-minute interval between the two relays.
It is also important to note that the diving part of the competition has now ended. Utah has the advantage of 133 points, followed by Stanford and Arizona.
TEAM SCORE (THROUGH DIVING)
- Utah, 133
- Stanford, 107
- Arizona, 86
- USC, 64
- Cal, 22
And, in case you forgot, Arizona State will no longer compete after the team decided to redshirt the entire lineup due to the pandemic in July.
800 Free Timed Relay Final
- Pac-12 Record: 6: 07.31, Cal, 2019
- Pac-12 Championship Record: 6: 10.94, Cal, 2019
- NCAA cut ‘A’: 6: 17,18
- 2020 Champion: Cal (Quah, Mefford, Carr, Julian), 6: 11.47
- Cal, 6: 11.98
- Stanford, 6: 12.83
- Arizona, 6: 16,30
Cal’s men won a close battle with Stanford to open the 800 free relay encounter with the senior team Trenton Julian unloading a massive third swimming division of 1: 31.52.
The three teams that competed in the second heat (Cal, Stanford and Arizona) were virtually tied in the first leg, with Cal’s Destin Lasco and Stanford’s Luke Maurer blocked at 1: 33.28. Madly, Lasco and Maurer drew at the Stanford and Cal pair just over a week ago, both marking what is now their best previous time at 1: 33.99.
Another cardinal freshman, Preston forst, dropped a split second of swimming at 1: 31.68 to launch Stanford into the lead for more than two seconds at the middle mark. Daniel Carr was 1: 34.22 in Cal’s second leg, almost two seconds slower than last season.
So it was Julian who led Cal to a 0.06 lead at Stanford towards the anchor, with Arizona still less than two seconds away.
In a battle of the elderly, Zach Yeadon did the job for Cal, dividing 1: 32.96 for a final time of 6: 11.98. This is the sixth consecutive victory in the event for the Bears, and their time ranks them in third place in the NCAA, behind Texas (6: 07.28) and Texas A&M (6: 11.63).
Stanford’s Grant Shoults split 1: 33.75 to bring them into second place at 6: 12.83, and Arizona kept up to beat USC’s battery opening time for third place at 6: 16.30. The time for the Cardinal barely misses his school record of 6: 12.66 set in 2017 (a team that featured Shoults as a freshman).
Three swimmers split 1:33 for Arizona, with juniors Daniel Namir the fastest of the group at the start at 1: 33.40, below his best previous set at last year’s meeting (1: 33.66).
USC won the 1st heat with the time of 6: 17.04, led by juniors Alexei Sancov who recorded 200 free times of 1: 32.69 in the first leg. This puts him in 11th place in the country this season, and marks his first best time in the event since entering college. Sancov’s previous best of 1: 32.80 was defeated at the 2018 Austin Sectionals.
400 Medley Relay – Timed Final
- Pac-12 Record: 3: 01.28, Cal, 2016
Pac-12 Championship Record: 3: 03.30, Cal, 2009- NCAA cut ‘A’: 3: 05.95
- 2020 Champion: Stanford (Ho, Poppe, Liang, Gonzalez), 3: 06.81
- Cal, 3: 02,60
- Arizona, 3: 05.35
- Stanford, 3: 06.14
The Bears looked sharp as they roared to win the 400 medley relay at 3: 02.60, reducing their 12-year competition record of 3: 03.30 in 2009.
Bryce Mefford was just over a tenth of his best 100 back time, leading at 45.51, and then Reece Whitley dropped a monstrous 50.83 chest split to put them in full command of the final battery.
Ryan Hoffer (45.05) and Bjorn Seeliger (41.21) closed the show when Cal took second place in the country, behind Texas (3: 02.11).
(Cal played below the 2009 record last season, 3: 02.85, before being DQed due to Hoffer’s -.04 reaction to the fly’s leg.)
Stanford was second in the heat at 3: 06.14, finishing third. Second year Daniel Roy had a 51.54 solid chest split and freshman Ethan Hu was 45.11 on the fly.
Arizona won the USC heads-up in the 2nd heat, with a time of 3: 05.35 which ended up being good for second place overall. Wildcats had strong divisions throughout Ogi Maric (45.90), Ryan Foote (52.04), Noah Reid (45.11) and Marin Ercegovic (42.30). USC kept pace with them after falling behind, with Sancov hitting 45.50 and Nikola Miljenic anchoring at 41.92.
Fifth, Utah recorded 3: 07.65, just 0.16 of its school record, with the junior Andrew Britton dipping below 52 in the chest leg (51.98).
Among the relay teams that swim as a display, Arizona had the senior team Sam Iida featured an encouraging 51.74 chest division on his ‘B’ team.
TEAM SCORE (ON DAY 1 + DIVING)
- Utah, 189
- Stanford, 173
- Arizona, 152
- USC, 124
- Cal, 102