By James Sutherland on SwimSwam
2021 MEN’S PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Sunday, February 28 – Wednesday, March 3
- Houston, TX (Central Time Zone)
- Defending Champion: Cal (3x) (results)
- Prelims: 11:00 AM Central Time (Days 2-4); Finals: 6:00 PM Central Time (Days 1-4)
- Championship Central
- Live Results
- Live Stream
- Day 4 Finals Heat Sheet
It’s been a dominant showing from the get-go for the reigning NCAA champion Cal Golden Bears, as the men’s team has won 11 of 12 swimming events through the first three days of competition at the Pac-12 Championships.
They kept the ball rolling at this morning’s prelims, pushing 14 swimmers into ‘A’ finals, including six in the 200 back.
Cal has a great chance to go 17-for-18 overall if they can run the table tonight, with the mile being the only event in which the Bears don’t occupy the #1 seed. However, they do have Zach Yeadon, the second-fastest swimmer in the country last season.
The 2020 ACC champion will face Stanford’s True Sweetser, Johannes Calloni and Grant Shoults in the fastest timed final heat, along with defending champion Brooks Fail of Arizona and Cal teammate Sean Grieshop.
Ryan Hoffer and Reece Whitley are favored to defend their respective titles in the 100 free and 200 breast, with Hoffer potentially getting a challenge from freshman teammate Bjorn Seeliger after his 41.21 split on the Sunday’s 400 medley relay. A win would see Hoffer go a perfect three-for-three individually.
Any one of four Bears could walk away with the 200 back title: 100 back winner Destin Lasco, defending champ Daniel Carr, 2019 gold medalist Bryce Mefford, and Hugo Gonzalez, who has a chance to win a third individual event after sweeping the medley races earlier.
In the 200 fly, Trenton Julian will go head-to-head with Alexei Sancov for the second straight night after the USC junior pulled out the win in the 200 free on Tuesday. Sancov set a PB in the heats at 1:41.94, but Julian has been 1:39.93 this season and comes in favored to take the title after placing second last season.
Powered by Hoffer and Seeliger, Cal will be tough to dethrone in the 400 free relay, though Stanford won’t go down easily after putting three men into the individual 100 free final.
TEAM SCORES (THRU DAY 3 + DIVING)
- Cal, 640
- Stanford, 551
- Arizona, 466
- Utah, 347
- USC, 304
1650 Free Timed Final
- Pac-12 Record: 14:24.35, Chad La Tourette (Stanford), 2012
- Pac-12 Championship Record: 14:33.96, Nick Norman (Cal), 2019
- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 14:37.31
- 2020 Champion: Brooks Fail (Arizona), 14:44.60
- Zach Yeadon (Cal), 14:33.69
- Brooks Fail (Arizona), 14:44.43
- Grant Shoults (Stanford), 14:49.12
Cal senior Zach Yeadon picks up his first individual Pac-12 title with a decisive win in the 1650 free, opening up a big lead early on the way to topping the field by almost 11 seconds in 14:33.69.
The ACC champion in this event last season when he was at Notre Dame, Yeadon records the third-fastest swim of his career to move into fourth in the NCAA this season, having gone a best of 14:27.93 in that race last season.
Cal freshman Tyler Kopp posted the top time by over 10 seconds in the early heats of the mile, lowering his best time by the same margin in 14:58.05. Kopp had previously been 15:08.72 in December of 2018. His time is less than a second outside of what it took to earn an NCAA invite last season (14:57.07), with times expected to be slower this year.
200 BACK FINAL
- Pac-12 Record: 1:35.73, Ryan Murphy (Cal), 2016
- Pac-12 Championship Record: 1:37.87, Daniel Carr (Cal), 2020
- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:39.16
- 2020 Champion: Daniel Carr (Cal), 1:37.87
100 FREE FINAL
- Pac-12 Record: 40.76, Vladimir Morozov (USC), 2013
- Pac-12 Championship Record: 41.38, Vladimir Morozov (USC), 2013
- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 41.71
- 2020 Champion: Ryan Hoffer (Cal), 41.45
200 BREAST FINAL
- Pac-12 Record: 1:48.53, Reece Whitley (Cal), 2020
- Pac-12 Championship Record: 1:49.80, Andrew Seliskar (Cal), 2019
- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:52.61
- 2020 Champion: Reece Whitley (Cal), 1:49.85
200 FLY FINAL
- Pac-12 Record: 1:38.83, Zheng Quah (Cal), 2017
- Pac-12 Championship Record: 1:39.15, Zheng Quah (Cal), 2020
- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:40.76
- 2020 Champion: Zheng Quah (Cal), 1:39.15
400 Free Relay Timed Final
- Pac-12 Record: 2:46.41, Cal, 2019
- Pac-12 Championship Record: 2:46.92, Cal, 2020
- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 2:51.11
- NCAA ‘B’ Cut: 2:52.46
- 2020 Champion: Cal (Jensen, Sendyk, Carr, Hoffer), 2:46.92
Read the full story on SwimSwam: 2021 Men’s Pac-12 Championships: Day 4 Finals Live Recap
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