Stanford leads Cal 588-523 headed into the final day of the men’s Pac-12 championships in Federal Way, Wash., with USC just behind at 473. The team race will sort itself out tonight during the final session of the meet, but it was the Trojans who were the only team to put two swimmers in lane four for the championship heats.
USC’s Patrick Mulcare picked up the top seed in the first event of the day, touching the wall in 1:39.44. That was just enough to get in ahead of Cal’s Ryan Murphy, the Olympic gold medalist in both backstroke events this past summer in Rio.
Stanford’s Patrick Conaton finished third in prelims in 1:41.24, just ahead of ASU’s Richard Bohus (1:41.34). Also getting under 1:42 were Utah’s Justin McArthuer (1:41.66) and Stanford’s Abrahm DeVine (1:41.72).
Claiming the outside lanes for the final were Arizona’s Thane Maudslien (1:42.11) and Cal’s Andy Song (1:42.84).
Event 17 Men 200 Yard Backstroke
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Name Year School Seed Prelims
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=== Preliminaries ===
1 Mulcare, Patrick SO USC-CA 1:41.65 1:39.44
24.24 25.28 24.72 25.20
2 Murphy, Ryan SR CAL-PC 1:38.65 1:39.83
23.70 25.41 25.61 25.11
3 Conaton, Patrick JR STAN-PC 1:41.41 1:41.24
24.02 25.91 25.71 25.60
4 Bohus, Richard SR ASU-AZ 1:41.34 1:41.35
23.82 25.53 25.79 26.21
5 McArthur, Justin SO UTAH-UT 1:45.28 1:41.66
23.99 25.84 25.90 25.93
6 DeVine, Abrahm SO STAN-PC 1:45.63 1:41.72
23.87 25.03 26.04 26.78
7 Maudslien, Thane SR ARIZ-AZ 1:44.08 1:42.11
24.24 26.22 26.19 25.46
8 Song, Andy FR CAL-PC 1:43.90 1:42.84
23.99 25.68 26.05 27.12
Stanford’s Sam Perry picked up the top seed in the 100 free, touching in 42.24 to edge out ASU freshman Cameron Craig. Craig, already the conference champion in the 200 free, finished in 42.39.
Cal’s Justin Lynch took third in 42.55, followed by USC teammates Santo Condorelli (42.78) and Dylan Carter (42.83). Arizona’s Jorge Iga finished sixth (43.08), and ASU’s Tadas Duskinas was seventh (43.18).
Cal’s Michael Jensen finished eighth in 43.22, but a strong event for Cal could have been better. The Bears also finished ninth (Long Gutierrez, 43.25), 10th (Pawel Sendyk, 43.33) and 11th (Kyle Coan, 43.39), and all three will miss out on A-final points.
Event 18 Men 100 Yard Freestyle
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Name Year School Seed Prelims
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=== Preliminaries ===
1 Perry, Sam JR STAN-PC 42.55 42.24
9.46 10.57 11.03 11.18
2 Craig, Cameron FR ASU-AZ 43.34 42.39
9.83 10.70 11.02 10.84
3 Lynch, Justin JR CAL-PC 42.91 42.55
9.46 10.61 11.23 11.25
4 Condorelli, Santo JR USC-CA 42.99 42.78
9.78 10.82 11.03 11.15
5 Carter, Dylan JR USC-CA 42.14 42.83
9.76 10.76 11.16 11.15
6 Iga, Jorge FR ARIZ-AZ 43.58 43.08
9.97 10.69 11.20 11.22
7 Duskinas, Tadas SR ASU-AZ 43.53 43.18
9.70 10.93 11.21 11.34
8 Jensen, Michael FR CAL-PC 42.75 43.22
9.70 10.89 11.29 11.34
The Trojans swept the top two spots in the 200 breast, led by an impressive 1:52.82 from Steven Stumph. Fellow senior Ridge Altman finished second in prelims in 1:45.63, just ahead of ASU’s Christian Lorenz (1:54.88).
After a disappointing 100 free, Cal put four into this A-final as Hunter Cobleigh finished fourth (1:55.68), Matt Whittle fifth (1:55.72) and Carson Sand sixth (1:55.77), while Nick Silverthorn took eighth in 1:55.93.
Also making the final was Stanford’s Matt Anderson, who finished seventh in 1:55.84.
Event 19 Men 200 Yard Breaststroke
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Name Year School Seed Prelims
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=== Preliminaries ===
1 Stumph, Steven SR USC-CA 1:56.36 1:52.82
25.64 28.55 28.81 29.82
2 Altman, Ridge SR USC-CA 1:58.34 1:54.63
26.36 28.88 29.53 29.86
3 Lorenz, Christian JR ASU-AZ 1:56.77 1:54.88
25.61 29.20 29.70 30.37
4 Cobleigh, Hunter SR CAL-PC 1:54.76 1:55.68
25.95 28.91 29.46 31.36
5 Whittle, Matt JR CAL-PC 1:56.21 1:55.72
25.78 28.81 29.87 31.26
6 Sand, Carson SO CAL-PC 1:55.26 1:55.77
25.94 29.49 29.81 30.53
7 Anderson, Matt SO STAN-PC 1:55.26 1:55.84
25.43 29.29 30.06 31.06
8 Silverthorn, Nick JR CAL-PC 1:59.92 1:55.93
26.02 29.13 30.08 30.70
Arizona’s Justin Wright continued his strong spring with a top-seeded time of 1:41.91 to lead prelims of the 200 fly, moving into the top ten in the country.
But the Golden Bears continued their late session run with four swimmers in the A-final. Andrew Seliskar qualified second in 1:42.39 as he goes for his third title of the meet after winning the 200 IM and 400 IM. Seliskar was followed by teammates Matt Josa (1:42.40) and Michael Thomas (1:42.71), and Cal freshman Jack Xie tied for the sixth seed in 1:43.56.
Stanford’s Jimmy Yoder finished fifth in 1:42.92, and ASU’s Patrick Park finished in 1:43.56 to tie with Xie. Rounding out the final was Stanford’s Tom Kremer (1:43.96).
