California crowned Pac-12 Men's Swimming and Diving Champion
Federal Way, Wash. – California captured its fifth overall Conference title at the 2018 Pac-12 Men’s Swimming and Diving Championship with 971 total points for the largest margin of victory since 2007. The Golden Bears won five relay events, seven individual first place finishes and totaled 17 podium appearances.
Sophomore Connor Callahan finished fifth on platform with 324.70 points at the Pac-12 Men’s Diving completion the week prior to kick off the completion as the Bears tallied 82 points. The relay teams set the tone for the championship on Day 1 wining the 200-yard medley (1:23.14) and 800-yard free (6:13.30), both qualified for an NCAA A time. On the second day, the Bears earned five podium finishes highlighted by Justin Lynch, who claimed the 50 free in 19 seconds flat and swam the lead leg of the 200 free relay to propel the Bears into first place. Andrew Seliskar set a new Pac-12 Championship record in the 400 individual medley with a time of 3:38.65 and in the 200 breast with a time of 1:51.30. Seliskar collects his second Pac-12 Swimmer of the Meet award after earning the honor in 2016 as a freshman. In an amazing 1650-yard freestyle race, the Bears top swimmers took first and second to start of the Conference finale. In the 200 fly, Bears sophomore Zheng Quah set a new Pac-12 Championship record clocking in at 1:40.24.
CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES
1650-yard Freestyle
• California opened the Conference Championship finale with a one-two finish in the 1650-yard freestyle as Nick Norman and Sean Grieshop pushed each other the entire way. Junior Norman brought home the win with a time of 14:39.77 for an NCAA A standard.
• Freshman Grieshop was right behind his teammate with an NCAA B qualifying time of 14:43.35.
• Stanford rounded out the top three finishers with freshman Johannes Calloni at 14:45.80, fast enough for an NCAA B cut.
200-yard Backstroke
• Stanford’s Abrahm DeVine made his move at the 100-yard split and finished strong with his last underwater push to claim his second Pac-12 title with a time of 1:40.11 after placing first in the 200 medley on Day 1.
• USC freshman Robert Glinta made it a close race all the way until the end finishing second with a time of 1:40.57.
• Cal freshman Daniel Carr had the top qualifying time heading into the event and earned an NCAA B cut at 1:40.72 to finish third.
100-yard Freestyle
• USC’s Santo Condorelli had a come-from-behind-win to top the podium clocking in at 41.98 for an NCAA A standard time.
• Cal’s Lynch returned to the winners circle, finishing second with a time of 42.21.
• Arizona State’s Cameron Craig took third place touching the wall at 42.34. The sophomore, as well as the Lynch, swam times fast enough for NCAA B standards.
200-yard Breaststroke
• California’s Swimmer of the Meet Andrew Seliskar topped the podium for another Pac-12 crown. With a very smooth smart in the first 50 yards, Seliskar had a monster turn heading into the final 25 yards and set another Pac-12 Championship meet record, with a time of 1:51.30 for a NCAA A cut.
• Stanford’s Brennan Pastorek was the runner-up with a time of 1:54.57.
• Freshman Sam Iida from Arizona recorded a time of 1:54.77 for third place and joins Pastorek for an NCAA B qualifying time.
200-yard Butterfly
• California’s Zheng Quah broke the Pac-12 Championship meet record clocking in at 1:40.24 to earn a NCAA A cut.
• Justin Wright from Arizona also swam fast enough for an NCAA A standard with a time of 1:41.26.
• Joining fellow Cal teammate Quah on the podium in was Trenton Julian who closed out the last individual event with a time of 1:41.69 for a NCAA B standard.
400-yard Freestyle Relay
• In the final event of the Pac-12 Championship, USC’s relay team of Condorelli, Dylan Carter, Ralf Tribuntsov and Justin Nguyen won the Trojans’ first team event clocking in at 2:50.18.
• Stanford finished in second place recording a time of 2:50.82 from DeVine, Alberto Mestre, Sam Perry, and Andrew Liang.
• In a back-and-fourth battle it was Arizona to touch third with a time of 2:51.20. Wildcats Craig, Evan Carlson, Andrew Porter and Grant House earned a NCAA A qualifying time along with the first two relay teams.
Team Scores Through Event 21
1. California -971
2. Stanford - 769
3. USC - 549.33
4. Arizona - 391
5. Arizona - 387
6. Utah - 295.66