2022 Pac-12 Men’s Championships Day 4 Finals: Backstroke Powers Cal Rally
The mountain has been steep for Cal at the 2022 Pac-12 Men’s Championships.
By the end of Day 1 of the meet, with three diving events and two relays factored in, the Golden Bears found themselves in sixth place out of six teams, 141 points adrift of Stanford. It would take a lot to claw back that kind of deficit, given all that the Cardinal could still throw at them.
But as the final session dawned Saturday, the Golden Bears were in position to pounce, and it was only a matter of time before the attrition paid off. With 16 swimmers in the finals and five events to catch up, Cal had gotten up to second. It would only take half the session for the Golden Bears to claim the lead for good.
The events of the final day:
2022 Pac-12 Men’s Championships Team Scores
Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 20 1. California University,Berkeley 813.5 2. Stanford University 728 3. Arizona State University 618 4. Southern California, Universit 421 5. University of Arizona 393.5 6. Utah, University of 238
2022 Pac-12 Men’s Championships Links
Men’s 1,650 freestyle
Stanford started with the upper hand in the team competition, though it’s Brooks Fail to picked up the win. The Arizona fifth-year senior won in 14:41.22, comfortably ahead of Stanford’s Grant Shoults. Arizona State was third via Gordon Mason.
Cal took home fifth place (via Sean Grieshop) and eighth.
Event 16 Men 1650 Yard Freestyle
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NCAA: N 14:12.08 2/22/2020 Bobby Finke, Florida
PAC-12: M 14:24.35 2012 Chad La Tourette, STAN
PAC-12 Champ: P 14:33.69 2021 Zach Yeadon, CAL
14:37.31 A Standard
15:26.19 B Standard
Name Year School Seed Finals Points
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1 Fail, Brooks 5Y Arizona 14:41.57 14:41.22 B 20
r:+0.56 24.45 26.86 27.11 27.17
26.57 25.62 25.33 25.47 24.60
2 Shoults, Grant SR STAN 14:56.07 14:45.38 B 17
r:+0.65 24.21 26.91 27.24 27.23
26.87 26.70 26.45 26.02 24.81
3 Mason, Gordon JR ASU 14:53.88 14:50.70 B 16
r:+0.69 24.69 26.75 27.03 27.07
27.27 27.37 27.00 27.03 25.62
4 Matheson, Danie FR USC 15:11.78 14:51.59 B 15
r:+0.62 24.45 26.72 27.18 27.28
27.06 27.30 27.22 26.00 24.64
5 Grieshop, Sean SR CAL 15:07.38 15:00.90 B 14
r:+0.64 24.54 26.70 27.29 27.40
27.81 27.70 27.52 27.65 26.59
6 Little, Jack SR ASU NT 15:02.29 B 13
r:+0.64 24.80 27.02 27.43 27.54
27.69 27.87 27.48 27.43 26.49
7 Johansson, Vict SR USC 14:55.21 15:03.03 B 12
r:+0.65 24.39 26.52 26.80 27.13
27.94 28.05 27.83 27.47 26.36
8 Meehan, Jack SO CAL 15:25.36 15:03.27 B 11
r:+0.57 25.14 27.19 27.35 27.61
28.08 27.79 28.10 27.91 27.41
Men’s 200 backstroke
The event that may well define the comeback is the 200 back, so long a strong spot for the Golden Bears on stages much grander than just the Pac-12.
Even by those standards, the dominance meted out by Cal Saturday night – a 1-2 finish, four of the top five, five of the top seven – ranks as exemplary. Destin Lasco and Daniel Carr made it a two-man race, Lesco leaping from the third seed to first in 1:38.81, .09 up on his training partner. Lasco won the race on his third five, taking three tenths out of Carr in 25.18. Carr responded by a 25.13 final 50 that nearly nipped Lasco at the wall. Both are NCAA A cuts.
Bryce Mefford and Colby Mefford were fourth and fifth for Cal, with Leon McAlister sneaking in to break the blockade on Stanford’s behalf.
With the points, Cal moved within 14 points of the lead.
Event 17 Men 200 Yard Backstroke
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NCAA: N 1:35.73 3/26/2016 Ryan Murphy, CAL
PAC-12: M 1:35.73 2016 Ryan Murphy, CAL
PAC-12 Champ: P 1:37.87 2020 Daniel Carr, CAL
1:39.13 A Standard
1:45.04 B Standard
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
=========================================================================
=== A - Final ===
1 Lasco, Destin SO CAL 1:40.22 1:38.81 A 20
r:+0.66 23.17 48.23 (25.06)
1:13.41 (25.18) 1:38.81 (25.40)
2 Carr, Daniel SR CAL 1:39.71 1:38.90 A 17
r:+0.66 23.32 48.30 (24.98)
1:13.77 (25.47) 1:38.90 (25.13)
3 MacAlister, Leo JR STAN 1:39.36 1:39.18 B 16
r:+0.67 23.62 48.91 (25.29)
1:14.23 (25.32) 1:39.18 (24.95)
4 Mefford, Bryce SR CAL 1:41.29 1:39.49 B 15
r:+0.69 23.30 48.33 (25.03)
1:13.73 (25.40) 1:39.49 (25.76)
5 Mefford, Colby JR CAL 1:41.49 1:40.81 B 14
r:+0.71 23.94 49.66 (25.72)
1:15.21 (25.55) 1:40.81 (25.60)
6 Makrygiannis, E FR USC 1:41.86 1:40.92 B 13
r:+0.74 23.83 49.18 (25.35)
1:15.37 (26.19) 1:40.92 (25.55)
7 Somerset, Sebas JR CAL 1:40.70 1:41.02 B 12
r:+0.67 23.81 49.47 (25.66)
1:15.44 (25.97) 1:41.02 (25.58)
8 Sequeira, Aaron FR STAN 1:41.94 1:41.20 B 11
r:+0.69 23.50 48.68 (25.18)
1:14.54 (25.86) 1:41.20 (26.66)
Men’s 100 freestyle
And just like that, the Golden Bears are in front. Bjorn Seeliger clocked in at 41.51, defending his top seed from prelims and completing the sprint double. With Jack Alexy third and Matthew Jensen and Robin Hanson having snuck into the A final, it’s enough to vault Cal ahead of Stanford by 38 points.
Arizona State picked up big points, finishing second via Grant House in 41.82. The Sun Devils were also fourth and fifth.
Event 18 Men 100 Yard Freestyle
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NCAA: N 39.90 3/24/2018 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
PAC-12: M 40.76 2013 Vladmir Morozov, USC
PAC-12 Champ: P 41.38 2013 Vladmir Morozov, USC
41.71 A Standard
43.80 B Standard
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
=========================================================================
=== A - Final ===
1 Seeliger, Bjorn SO CAL 41.77 41.51 A 20
r:+0.63 9.16 10.41 10.96 10.98
2 House, Grant SR ASU 42.15 41.82 B 17
r:+0.61 9.52 10.51 10.91 10.88
3 Alexy, Jack FR CAL 41.77 41.93 B 16
r:+0.62 9.48 10.49 11.07 10.89
4 Swift, Carter SR ASU 42.30 42.16 B 15
r:+0.56 9.57 10.62 10.99 10.98
5 Dolan, Jack JR ASU 42.53 42.45 B 14
r:+0.65 9.65 10.57 11.16 11.07
6 Ercegovic, Mari SR Arizona 42.59 42.52 B 13
r:+0.65 9.56 10.71 11.08 11.17
7 Jensen, Matthew SO CAL 42.52 42.66 B 12
r:+0.63 9.57 10.61 11.14 11.34
8 Hanson, Robin FR CAL 42.57 42.71 B 11
r:+0.61 9.57 10.84 11.09 11.21
Men’s 200 breaststroke
Leon Marchand wrapped up a sensational weekend by winning the 200 breast, taking the fifth seed out of prelims to go 1:50.39. It upsets Cal’s Reece Whitley, the top seed from prelims and the reigning Pac-12 champ. Whitley slid to third in 1:50.89, with teammate Hugo Gonzalez second to consolidate Cal’s lead.
The event was one of the fastest of the meet, yielding six A cuts. Daniel Roy and Ron Polonsky got there, finishing fourth and sixth, respectively. Chris O’Grady’s 1:51.67 fell between them.
Event 19 Men 200 Yard Breaststroke
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NCAA: N 1:47.91 3/25/2017 Will Licon, Texas
PAC-12: M 1:48.53 2020 Reecce Whitley, CAL
PAC-12 Champ: P 1:48.86 2021 Reece Whitley, CAL
1:52.28 A Standard
1:58.43 B Standard
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
=========================================================================
=== A - Final ===
1 Marchand, Leon FR ASU 1:52.97 1:50.39 A 20
r:+0.60 25.28 28.39 28.14 28.58
2 Gonzalez, Hugo SR CAL 1:51.27 1:50.57 A 17
r:+0.65 24.84 28.11 28.81 28.81
3 Whitley, Reece SR CAL 1:50.57 1:50.89 A 16
r:+0.61 24.92 28.06 28.73 29.18
4 Roy, Daniel SR STAN 1:52.37 1:51.21 A 15
r:+0.50 25.44 28.08 28.49 29.20
5 O'Grady, Chris FR USC 1:52.66 1:51.67 A 14
r:+0.69 25.53 28.30 28.65 29.19
6 Polonsky, Ron FR STAN 1:54.60 1:51.73 A 13
r:+0.66 25.28 28.43 28.46 29.56
7 Dillard, Ben SO USC 1:53.77 1:53.14 B 12
r:+0.69 25.68 28.71 28.92 29.83
8 Louser, Jason JR CAL 1:52.97 1:54.60 B 11
r:+0.67 25.29 28.59 29.64 31.08
Men’s 200 butterfly
Back to the Cal wheelhouse, and back to the top of the standings. Trenton Julian left no doubt in the final, going 1:39.95, an NCAA A cut. It’s more than a second off his Pac-12 champs record from last year (1:38.53). Cal also finished in third and fourth, with Dare Rose and Gabriel Jett, respectively, to run the team lead to an insurmountable 85.5 points.
Alexander Colson of Arizona State finished second in 1:40.28, an NCAA A cut.
Event 20 Men 200 Yard Butterfly
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NCAA: N 1:37.35 3/25/2017 Jack Conger, Texas
PAC-12: M 1:38.53 2021 Trenton Julian, CAL
PAC-12 Champ: P 1:38.53 2021 Trenton Julian, CAL
1:40.44 A Standard
1:46.69 B Standard
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
=========================================================================
=== A - Final ===
1 Julian, Trenton SR CAL 1:41.22 1:39.95 A 20
r:+0.51 22.09 25.21 25.71 26.94
2 Colson, Alexand JR ASU 1:41.25 1:40.28 A 17
r:+0.66 22.56 25.44 26.19 26.09
3 Rose, Dare SO CAL 1:41.85 1:41.36 B 16
r:+0.51 22.63 25.83 26.41 26.49
4 Jett, Gabriel FR CAL 1:43.27 1:41.42 B 15
r:+0.66 22.66 25.37 26.65 26.74
5 Forst, Preston SO STAN 1:42.30 1:41.70 B 13.5
r:+0.62 22.87 25.46 26.49 26.88
5 Gray, Andrew JR ASU 1:42.25 1:41.70 B 13.5
r:+0.58 22.73 25.68 26.21 27.08
7 Sancov, Alexei SR USC 1:43.10 1:42.72 B 12
r:+0.57 22.81 26.14 26.68 27.09
8 Roberts, Will SR CAL 1:43.23 1:48.24 11
r:+0.68 23.73 27.44 28.19 28.88
Men’s 400 freestyle relay
