Complete Release

The Pac-12 holds the top two spots in the country heading into the Conference Championship with four teams in the top-10 and five total ranked in the top-25 of the final College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) poll. The 2018 Pac-12 Men’s Swimming Championships are shaping up to be as competitive as ever as the meet continues to showcase some of the top swimmers in the world. Stanford will look for a three-peat after capturing its 33rd overall Pac-12 men’s swimming and diving Conference title last year. The national rankings are as follows:

1. Stanford
2. California
8. Arizona State
9 USC
18. Arizona
RV: Utah

At the Pac-12 Men’s Diving Championship last weekend, USC had four top-three finishes led by Henry Fusaro who won the 3-meter event with a score of 434.80 and finished second in the 1-meter with 353.95. Dashiell Enos (USC) placed second in the 3-meter event with a score of 420.25 and the Platform scoring 397.75 points. Youssef Selim (Arizona State) won the 1-meter event (382.90) and came in third on the Platform (386.40) to earn Pac-12 Diver of the Meet. Theodore Miclau (Stanford) was the platform champion (398.35).

ARIZONA: The Wildcats ranked No. 18 in the country (1-5, 1-3 Pac-12) as they started the 2018 season with a victory over Utah, 147-115. This season, 23 student-athletes have earned NCAA B cuts, including senior Nick Thorne, who at the Texas Invitational qualified in the 100- and 200-yard butterfly and in the 200- and 400-yard individual medley. Thorne had a strong performance this season and currently holds the fastest team time in the 100 fly and 200 IM. Fellow senior Justin Wright earned Pac-12 Swimmer of the Week on Jan. 22 after finishing first in the 200 (1:45.80) and second in the 100 (48.61) butterfly against Stanford before sweeping both races versus Cal later in the same week. Wright earned an NCAA A cut earlier this season and set a new school record in the 200 fly with 1:40.57.

ARIZONA STATE: The Sun Devils are No. 8 in the nation heading into the 2018 Pac-12 Championship (4-4, 2-3 Pac-12) after defeating instate rival Arizona 203.5-94.5 on Senior Day for the third-straight season. ASU won 10-of-12 individual swim events en-route to a 100-point margin of victory, including going 1-2 in five events and 1-2-3 in the 100 breast. The squad earned a ranked win in their second meet of the season against then-No. 23 Florida State at the Texas Invitational, where Christian Lorenz set a new school record in the 200 breast (1:53.54) that was also the fastest time in the NCAA at the time. Diver Youssef Selim won Pac-12 Diver of the Week honor on Feb. 7, recording new personal bests in the 1-meter springboard with 373.65 points and the 3-meter springboard with 373.95 points for two first-place finishes against Arizona.

CALIFORNIA: ranked No. 2 nationally, the Golden Bears finished Pac-12 dual meets with a 4-1 record and posted a 5-1 overall mark this season. California will look to its relay teams to set the pace for the Pac-12 Champions as all five teams have earned NCAA A cut qualifying times. Senior Justin Lynch is a main contributor to Cal’s relay teams after competing at the 2017 NCAA Championships in the 200 free, 400 free and 200 medley relays. Lynch also set Cal's top time in the 100 free with a mark of 42.38 at last year’s Pac-12 Championships. Matthew Josa looks to defend his 100 fly Pac-12 champion title as he ranks in Cal’s all-time top 10 in the 100 fly, 200 fly and 200 IM.

STANFORD: The top team in the country finished the regular season unbeaten (6-0, 4-0 Pac-12) with a dramatic 151-149 win over then-ranked No. 1 California to close out the year on Senior Day. This is the first time since 2011 that the Cardinal went undefeated posting a 7-0 dual meet record heading into the Pac-12 Championship. The Cardinal claimed five Pac-12 weekly awards with the seniors Tarek Abdelghany, Diver of the Week (Jan. 17, 24, Feb. 21) and Abrahm DeVine Swimmer of the Week (Jan. 17, Feb. 21). Last week at the Pac-12 Diving Championship Theodore Miclau was the platform champion with 398.35 points and Abdelghany took third in the three-meter with a score of 415.35.

USC: Coming in at No. 9 in the CSCAA polling, USC (6-3, 2-3 Pac-12) opened its Conference dual meet slate by knocking off then-ranked No. 8 Arizona State (153-147) and besting Arizona (171-123) in a desert sweep. Trojans with A cuts heading into the Pac-12 Championship include Santo Condorelli in the 100 free (42.10) that is tied for the fourth fastest in the country and Patrick Mulcare in the 200 backstroke (school record-1:39.18) which is third best nationally this year. USC won back-to-back Pac-12 Diver of the Week awards as sophomore Henry Fusaro and senior Dashiell Enos collected the only monthly honors this season for November and December, respectively. At the 2017 USA Diving Winter Nationals, the Trojan duo won bronze on the 3-meter synchronized with 730.02 points.

UTAH: The Utah men's swimming team capped an amazing Senior Day with a 141-121 victory over No. 8 USC to wrap-up the regular season (4-4, 1-4 Pac-12). During the meet it was upperclassmen relay team that set the tone as Jack Burton, Ben Scott and Paul Ungur teamed with Rodolfo Moreira to win the 200 medley relay in 1:28.81 for a new pool record. The Utes went on the set three additional pool records in the same meet. Nathan Makarewicz was named Pac-12 Diver of the Week for his performances against BYU, capturing the one and three-meter events. The transfer from Princeton has the fourth-highest Utah mark in the 1-meter event and sixth in the 3-meter. Makarewicz collected a bronze finish at the Pac-12 Championship last week, totaling 348.80 points in the 1-meter.