2018 Men’s Pac-12 Championships: Day 3 Finals Live Recap

2018 MEN’S PAC-12 SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, February 28 – Saturday, March 3
• Federal Way, WA (Pacific Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: Stanford (2x) (results)
• Live Results
• Live Video
• Championship Central
• NCAA Qualifying

We’re back with day 3 finals of the 2018 Men’s Pac-12 Championships in Federal Way, Washington. Swimmers are set to compete for individual titles in the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, and 100 back. We’ll also see finals of the 400 medley relay at the end of the session. Coming into tonight’s finals, the Cal Bears have an 18-point lead over defending champion Stanford.

The Cardinal’s Abrahm DeVine is seeking an IM sweep as he races with teammate Curtis Ogren, the top seed, and Cal’s defending champ Andrew Seliskar in the 400 IM. The Cal men will battle for a potential 100 fly podium sweep with Matt Josa, Zheng Quah, Justin Lynch, and Pawel Sendyk. In the 200 free, Arizona State’s Cameron Craig looks to defend his Pac-12 title against freshman teammate Grant House and USC’s Dylan Carter. Cal’s Connor Hoppe and USC’s Carsten Vissering are the front runners in the 100 breast. USC freshman Robert Glinta, an Olympic backstroke finalist, headlines the 100 back with teammate Ralf Tribuntsov and Arizona’s Chatham Dobbs.

MEN’S 400 IM:

• Pac-12 Meet Record: 3:38.83- Josh Prenot (Cal), 2015
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 3:39.95
• 2017 NCAA Invite Time: 3:44.92

1. GOLD: Andrew Seliskar, Cal, 3:38.65
2. SILVER:  Curtis Ogren, Stanford, 3:40.25
3. BRONZE: Sean Grieshop, Cal, 3:42.06

Cal junior Andrew Seliskar won his first event of the meet, setting a new pool and meet record in the process.  Seliskar was the only man out in under 50 seconds.  Stanford’s Curtis Ogren took over the lead on the backstroke leg, but Seliskar immediately regained it with a pair of 30-point breaststroke 50s.  Ogren initially touched 3rd, in 3:40.25, but his teammate Abrahm DeVine was disqualified after initially finishing in 3:39.5.  We are not yet sure of the cause of the DQ.  Update: according to the final results for the night, DeVine’s disqualification is listed as “strokes out of sequence.”

DeVine’s DQ bumped Cal freshman Sean Grieshop into 3rd after he touched in a new personal best time of 3:42.06.

Seliskar’s time puts him #3 in the NCAA this year, behind only Auburn’s Hugo Gonzalez (3:35.76) and Florida’s Mark Szaranek (3:37.50).

MEN’S 100 FLY:

• Pac-12 Meet Record: 44.66- Austin Staab (Stanford), 2011
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 45.49
• 2017 NCAA Invite Time: 46.10

1. GOLD: Justin Lynch, Cal, 45.15
2. SILVER: Matthew Josa, Cal, 45.37
3. BRONZE: Chatham Dobbs, Arizona, 45.40

Justin Lynch of Cal shaved 0.11s off his prelims time to take the win in 45.14, moving him up to 5th in nation this season.  It was a tight race for 2nd, as Matthew Josa just touched out Chatham Dobbs, 45.37 to 45.40, with Andrew Liang (45.48) and Zheng Quah (45.60) also in the thick of things.

USC’s Santo Condorelli popped a 45.36 to win the B-final.

MEN’S 200 FREE:

• Pac-12 Meet Record: 1:31.71- Cameron Craig (Arizona State), 2017
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:32.54
• 2017 NCAA Invite Time: 1:34.20

1. GOLD: Cameron Craig, ASU, 1:33.09
2. SILVER: Dylan Carter, USC, 1:33.15
3. BRONZE: Grant House, ASU, 1:33.58

Arizona State sophomore Cameron Craig is now two-for-two in this event at Pac-12s in his career after just beating out USC’s Dylan Carter for the second year in a row.  Tonight, both men were significantly slower than last year, with Craig and Carter going 1:33.09/1:33.15 this year, compared to 1:31.71/1:31.98.

Another Sun Devil, freshman Grant House, finished 3rd tonight in 1:33.58.

While all of those times are well under last year’s NCAA invite time, none rank in the top ten in the NCAA last year, and Seliskar’s 1:32.12 leadoff time from Wednesday night’s 800 free relay would’ve won this event tonight by almost  a second.

MEN’S 100 BREAST:

• Pac-12 Meet Record: 51.23- Kevin Cordes (Arizona), 2014
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 51.74
• 2017 NCAA Invite Time: 52.62

1. GOLD: Connor Hoppe, Cal, 51.91
2. SILVER: Carsten Vissering, 52.00
3. BRONZE: Matt Anderson, Stanford, 52.37

Carsten Vissering was out in under 24, but Connor Hoppe came back in 27.40, to narrowly win, 51.91 to 52.00.  For Vissering, that’s just .66s faster than he was a month ago in a dual meet against Cal, suggesting that he’s got more in the tank for next month’s NCAAs. Both Hoppe and Vissering were among our writers’ favorites to win this event when we did our preseason picks back in October.

3rd place went to Stanford’s Matt Anderson, who was the only other man under last year’s invited time of 52.62.

MEN’S 100 BACK:

• Pac-12 Meet Record: 44.76- Ryan Murphy (Cal), 2017
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 45.25
• 2017 NCAA Invite Time: 46.28

1. GOLD (TIE): Paul Ungur, Utah, 45.52
2. GOLD (TIE): Ralf Tribuntsov, USC, 45.52
3. GOLD (TIE): Robert Glinta, USC, 45.52

Now, there’s something you don’t see every day…or every conference championship meet.  Paul Ungur, Ralf Tribuntsov, and Robert Glinta all touched the wall at exactly the same, becoming three-way co-champions with a time of 45.52.

Ungur was first at the 50, having gone out at 21.33.  By way of comparison , Ryan Murphy flipped at 20.96 when he set the NCAA and U.S. Open records time of  43.49 at the 2016 NCAA championships.  Glinta flipped in 22.04, and Tribuntsov at 22.21.  Ungar kept the lead through the 75 mark, but the Trojan duo tracked Ungur down on the last length, leading to that improbable outcome.

MEN’S 400 MEDLEY RELAY:

• Pac-12 Meet Record: 3:03.30- Cal, 2009
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 3:07.46

1. GOLD: Cal, 3:03.91
2. SILVER: USC, 3:04.95
3. BRONZE: Stanford, 3:06.01

Ralf Tribuntsov put USC in the lead with a 45.32 split that was faster than the time that earned him a three-way tie in the 100 back earlier this evening, but Andrew Seliskar put Cal in the lead by outsplitting former club teammate Carsten Vissering 51.14 to 52.07 on the breaststroke leg.  On the face of it, Seliskar seemed like a bit of an odd choice, as Connor Hoppe split a sub-51 at NCAAs last year, and won the 100 breast earlier tonight, but it’s hard to argue with that 51.14.  Matthew Josa kept things going for Cal with a 44.99 fly split, before Justin Lynch brought it home in 41.85.

Dylan Carter (46.16) and Santo Condorelli (41.40) swam the backhalf for the Trojans, en route to a 3:04.95 2nd-place finish.  Stanford earned 3rd, highlighted by Andrew Liang’s 45.08 fly split that was the 2nd-fastest in the field.

TEAM SCORES THROUGH DAY 3:

1. Cal, 677
2. Stanford, 544
3. USC, 411.33
4. Arizona State, 285
5. Arizona, 259
6. Utah, 221.66