Cal, winners of 11 out of 12 swimming events, in command at the 2021 Pac-12 Championships
Cal Men's Swimming's will wrap up a 4th consecutive team title on Wednesday
In case you missed it, here is our preview of the 2021 Pac-12 Men’s Swimming Championships.
Although the Golden Bears were behind after the 3 diving events over the weekend, they have taken control of this Pac-12 Swimming and Diving Championships by sweeping the first 8 swimming events, including 3 relays. A new winning streak of 3 victories, including another relay, is currently active going into Day 4, after the previous streak was snapped by merely 0.09 seconds in the 200y freestyle.
With fewer teams than the women (and ASU not participating this year), points are only rewarded to the top 16 finishers in each event.
Team Standings after 15 events:
Cal 640
Stanford 551
Arizona 466
Utah 347
USC 304
Tuesday Recap:
400-yard individual medley
Hugo Gonzalez, Spanish Olympian, repeats as the 400y IM winner in his 2nd Pac-12 Championships. He posted the 2nd fastest time in the country in this win. Sean Grieshop took 3rd place to also make the podium. Chris Jhong and Tyler Kopp finished 5th and 6th in the A-Final. Jack Meehan also scored some points by placing 15th overall.
In the team standings, Cal has pulled ahead of Stanford. I expect the Golden Bears to pad that lead with each event from now until the end of the meet tomorrow.
100-yard butterfly
It’s yet another Pac-12 title for Ryan Hoffer! Hoffer led the entire way and was able to hold off USC’s Nikola Miljenic. Jarod Hatch finished 6th. Matthew Jensen and Chris Bathurst finished 12th and 13th overall, respectively to also score some points.
Hoffer won the 50 Free, 100 Free, and 100 Fly last year. He is on his way to match that feat this year with 2 wins already.
200-yard freestyle
All good things come to an end as the Bears’ swimming win streak was snapped by USC’s Alexei Sancov, a Moldovan Olympian, who just outraced Trenton Julian in the final 25-yard.
Destin Lasco and Zach Yeadon finished 6th and 7th, respectively. Colby Mefford won the consolation final to finish 9th overall. Dare Rose placed 13th. Finally, Michael Petrides posted an NCAA B time in the Bonus Final, which is notable even if that earned no point for this meet.
100-yard breaststroke
Reece Whitley starts a new winning streak for the Cal Bears when he repeats as the Pac-12 100-yard breaststroke winner. Forrest Frazier finished 4th. Jacques Laeuffer placed 13th.
100-yard backstroke
Cal Bears go 1-2-3 as freshman Destin Lesco edged senior teammates, DanielCarr and Bryce Mefford. Lesco took the lead only in the last 25-yard. Sebastian Somerset placed 7th.
Lesco also swam the 200-yard freestyle just moments earlier tonight.
200-yard medley relay
Daniel Carr, Reece Whitley, Ryan Hoffer, and Bjorn Seeliger won Cal’s 4th relay of this meet. The Bears did not quite match their Pac-12 record from lasts year, when Hoffer swam the freestyle leg rather than the butterfly leg.
Monday Recap:
500-yard freestyle
Trenton Julian edged teammate Zach Yeadon for the Pac-12 crown for the 500-yard freestyle. Both Julian and Yeadon beat the previous Pac-12 record for this event. Sean Grieshop and Colby Mefford took 6th and 7th place, respectively.
Tyler Kopp (10th), Michael Petrides (12th), Dare Rose (13th), and Jack Meehan (15th) also scored points for the Bears in the consolation final.
200-yard individual medley
Spanish Olympian Hugo Gonzalez, who has already qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, won the 200 IM with the 2nd best time in the country. Daniel Carr took 3rd with Bryce Mefford and Reece Whitley finishing 9th and 10th overall (top 2 finishers in the consolation finals).
50-yard freestyle
Golden Bears go 1 and 2 as senior Ryan Hoffer just out-touched freshman teammate Bjorn Seeliger. This was Hoffer’s 2nd career Pac-12 crown in this event with his first being last year. Hoffer won this event at the NCAA back in 2019. Also representing the Bears, Nate Biondi (yes, son of Cal legend Matt Biondi) took 6th place.
200-yard freestyle relay
Golden Bears completed a second-day sweep by winning this 200-yard freestyle relay race. Nate Biondi, Bjorn Seeliger, Ryan Hoffer, and Daniel Carr got the job done. Cal was behind Utah after the first leg but was ahead for good after the second leg from Swedish freshman Bjorn Seeliger.
Sunday Recap:
800-yard freestyle relay
In a tight race between Cal and Stanford after two legs, senior Trenton Julian had a tremendous swim to give the Bears a 0.06 second lead after three legs. Although Zach Yeadon did not best Julian’s split, he easily secured the first title of the swimming session for the Golden Bears. The Bears’ time is good for 3rd best in the country.
400-yard medley relay
The Cal quartet of Bryce Mefford (backstroke), Reece Whitley (breaststroke), Ryan Hoffer (butterfly), and Bjorn Seeliger (freestyle) set a new Pac-12 meet record with this swim. This time is good for 2nd best in the country behind only Texas.
Diving Recap:
Cal Men’s Diving has one new diver on the roster this season in sophomore transfer from Cal Poly in Tyler Wesson.
Wesson placed 11th in 1-meter diving, 10th in 3-meter diving, and 9th in platform diving. Wesson was unable to outscore the 3 Utah divers, 2 USC divers, 2 Arizona divers, and the 1 Stanford diver. The Golden Bears go into the swimming portion of these Pac-12 championships with an 85 point deficit to Stanford.
For Tuesday night, Cal Bears qualified 4 for 400 IM A-Final with Hugo Gonzalez as the top seed, 2 for 100 Fly A-Final (Ryan Hoffer could win this), 3 for 200 Free A-Final (my money would be on Trenton Julian tonight, if I bet on swimming), 2 for 100 Breast A-Final with Reece Whitley as the top seed, and 4 in 100 Back A-Final with a few Cal Bears (Carr, Lesco, Bryce Mefford) capable of winning this race.