Without 1650 and platform diving, that brings the finalist count to:
Texas: 3/4
Cal: 6/5
Indiana: 4/2
Realistically, that’s not enough for Cal to catch up, especially since Texas could very well go 2/0 or 2/1 in the 1650 whereas Cal is probably looking at 1/0. If both of Cal’s platform divers find the A final while Texas’ divers don’t get a scoring chance tonight, that’s could be the 55.5 point gap they’d have to overcome. At that point, it’d come down to an all-out relay that is too hard to predict after first
A strong morning for the Cal Bears, but the Texas depth behind their stars probably just made enough B-Finals to allow the Longhorns to swim this afternoon and night without much pressure.
There will be a lot of new guys on Cal next year, but most of this group of Golden Bears will always have those back-to-back natty from a couple of years ago.
A couple years ago, I used to call it elite depth. You need the Luke Hobson and Hubert Kos and Rex Maurer to win events, but you also need the Nate Germonprez, Will Modglin, Cooper Lucas, etc. to just find a way to get it done. Unfortunately for Cal, there’s a ton of elite depth, but not really a serious contender for individual titles outside Lasco.
It’ll definitely be a rebuild year for Cal, but if you figure out how to get top 2 15 years running, I’m sure they’ll figure out how to get back to top 2
Heat 4: Dare Rose - 2nd in heat - 1:39:78; Frank Applebaum - 4th in heat - 1:40:61
IU’s Tomer Frankel - 7th in heat - 1:41:29
Prelim: Race has been stopped mid race. Heat 4 swimmers have been told to relax. They’re going to do the remaining heats and then the 200 backstroke swim off. Good to give the swimmers a chance to relax after some confusion, especially since swimmers were already 35-60ish yards
Hank Rivers was 19th. Breaststroke just got way faster, compared to last year. Good news for Cal though, Indiana didn’t get as many scorers here as I originally expected. And Okadome edges out Matheny for the final spot in the A final (min of 11 pts as opposed to max of 9 pts tonight). Even though Rivers doesn’t qualify, I think that gives Cal ~10 point buffer on Indiana
Heat 3: Hank Rivers - 6th in heat - 1:52.37; tough morning swim, but there’s not that many swimmers in this event. Time was faster than 16th last year so might sneak into consolation final, but seems unlikely as there’s been massive improvements in breaststroke since last year
Got a bunch of Cal swimmers in the early heats here. They’ll have to be under 42 seconds if they want a chance to make it back, but this is an event that’s harder to have big time drops from PBs.
Heat 2: Evan Petty - 3rd in heat - 42.62 (PB by 0.07); potential DQ in this heat
Heat 3: Robin Hanson - 1st in heat - 42.22 (PB by 0.15)
Najera had a solid swim in heat 2 and did get sub 1:40, which is a best time by more than a second. Likely will be just out of the consolation final though
Swim-off: Texas’ Kyle Peck took a completely different strategy with this swim by prioritizing the back half as opposed to the front half like he did on the first swim. But he ran out of pool space and couldn’t make up the ~1s gap he had at the halfway mark. Ultimately Stanford’s Josh Zuchowski edged out Ohio State’s Cornelius Jahn by 0.01. The 200back is a really painful event. Having to kick upward (as opposed to downward for freestyle) is just way more tiring on the legs and I don’t envy that these gentlemen raced it a second time within the hour, and for Zuchowski, having to it a 3rd time today will be brutal.
Lasco and Tomac went 1-2 in the heat, just beating Indiana’s Owen McDonald. All 3 should make it to A finals, but it’s always good to edge out swimmers from Texas and Indiana in the morning because it could make the difference between 8th and 9th.
So close; the Bears almost pulled it out on the final day. Cal will continue to dominate the ACC.
Without 1650 and platform diving, that brings the finalist count to:
Texas: 3/4
Cal: 6/5
Indiana: 4/2
Realistically, that’s not enough for Cal to catch up, especially since Texas could very well go 2/0 or 2/1 in the 1650 whereas Cal is probably looking at 1/0. If both of Cal’s platform divers find the A final while Texas’ divers don’t get a scoring chance tonight, that’s could be the 55.5 point gap they’d have to overcome. At that point, it’d come down to an all-out relay that is too hard to predict after first
A strong morning for the Cal Bears, but the Texas depth behind their stars probably just made enough B-Finals to allow the Longhorns to swim this afternoon and night without much pressure.
There will be a lot of new guys on Cal next year, but most of this group of Golden Bears will always have those back-to-back natty from a couple of years ago.
A couple years ago, I used to call it elite depth. You need the Luke Hobson and Hubert Kos and Rex Maurer to win events, but you also need the Nate Germonprez, Will Modglin, Cooper Lucas, etc. to just find a way to get it done. Unfortunately for Cal, there’s a ton of elite depth, but not really a serious contender for individual titles outside Lasco.
It’ll definitely be a rebuild year for Cal, but if you figure out how to get top 2 15 years running, I’m sure they’ll figure out how to get back to top 2
200 butterfly
Heat 2: Texas’ Coby Carrozza - 5th in heat - 1:42:82. Carrozza took it out fast, but faded on the 3rd 50. That won’t make it back
Finalists
Texas - 0/1
Cal - 1/1
Indiana - 0/0
Heat 6: Texas’ Logan Walker - 8th in heat - 1:43:32
So, Texas is looking at either 1/1, 0/1, 0/2. Pending results of heat 4 with 2 Cal swimmers.
Heat 5: Texas’ Cooper Lucas - 5th in heat - 1:40:86; Texas’ Ryan Branon - 6th in heat - 1:41:45
That should be at least 1 returning swimmer
Heat 4: Dare Rose - 2nd in heat - 1:39:78; Frank Applebaum - 4th in heat - 1:40:61
IU’s Tomer Frankel - 7th in heat - 1:41:29
Prelim: Race has been stopped mid race. Heat 4 swimmers have been told to relax. They’re going to do the remaining heats and then the 200 backstroke swim off. Good to give the swimmers a chance to relax after some confusion, especially since swimmers were already 35-60ish yards
200 breaststroke
Tracking a bit of Indiana since they could have 4-5 scorers in this event.
Heat 1: IU’s Brian Benzing - had a rough swim. 1:54:86 and 5th means he’s out for tonight
Finalists
Texas - 0/2
Cal - 1/0
Indiana - 2/1
Hank Rivers was 19th. Breaststroke just got way faster, compared to last year. Good news for Cal though, Indiana didn’t get as many scorers here as I originally expected. And Okadome edges out Matheny for the final spot in the A final (min of 11 pts as opposed to max of 9 pts tonight). Even though Rivers doesn’t qualify, I think that gives Cal ~10 point buffer on Indiana
Heat 5: Yamato Okadome - 3rd in heat - 1:50:35
IU’s Josh Matheny - 4th - 1:50:41
Heat 4: IU finished 2nd and 3rd
Texas swimmer - 5th - 1:51:30
Already 10 swimmers under 1:52
Heat 3: Hank Rivers - 6th in heat - 1:52.37; tough morning swim, but there’s not that many swimmers in this event. Time was faster than 16th last year so might sneak into consolation final, but seems unlikely as there’s been massive improvements in breaststroke since last year
IU’s Toby Barnett - 7th in heat - 1:52:43
Texas’ Nate Germonprez - 4th in heat - 1:51:44
100 freestyle
Got a bunch of Cal swimmers in the early heats here. They’ll have to be under 42 seconds if they want a chance to make it back, but this is an event that’s harder to have big time drops from PBs.
Heat 2: Evan Petty - 3rd in heat - 42.62 (PB by 0.07); potential DQ in this heat
Heat 3: Robin Hanson - 1st in heat - 42.22 (PB by 0.15)
Finalists
Texas - 1/1
Cal - 1/2
Indiana - 1/0
Heat 6: Jack Alexy - 1st in heat - 40.45; Matthew Jensen - 4th in heat - 41.61
Texas’ Chris Giuliano finished 2nd behind Alexy with a 40.70.
Heat 7: Bjorn Seeliger - 41.41 - 5th in heat
That’s close for Jensen and Seeliger, but definitely good enough for a return swim for Seeliger. Unsure about Jensen
Tennessee’s broke a NCAA record with a 39.83 in the final heat. Took down a legendary Caeleb Dressel record with that prelim swim.
Heat 5: Nans Mazellier - 42.19 - 3rd in heat
Texas’ Luke Hobson was also in this heat. He won with a 41.45, that’s borderline A final
200 backstroke
Najera had a solid swim in heat 2 and did get sub 1:40, which is a best time by more than a second. Likely will be just out of the consolation final though
Swim-off: Texas’ Kyle Peck took a completely different strategy with this swim by prioritizing the back half as opposed to the front half like he did on the first swim. But he ran out of pool space and couldn’t make up the ~1s gap he had at the halfway mark. Ultimately Stanford’s Josh Zuchowski edged out Ohio State’s Cornelius Jahn by 0.01. The 200back is a really painful event. Having to kick upward (as opposed to downward for freestyle) is just way more tiring on the legs and I don’t envy that these gentlemen raced it a second time within the hour, and for Zuchowski, having to it a 3rd time today will be brutal.
Either way, Texas is just 2/0 in this event.
Gabriel Jett finishes 2nd in the final heat, while Keaton Jones was 5th. There’s a 3 way tie for 16th (one Texas swimmer in that)
Finalists - Texas: 2/0 (maybe 2/1), Cal: 3/2, Indiana: 1/1
Najera sitting in either 7th or 8th going into the final heat, which only has 7 (a scratch). Should be a B finals appearance from him
Lasco and Tomac went 1-2 in the heat, just beating Indiana’s Owen McDonald. All 3 should make it to A finals, but it’s always good to edge out swimmers from Texas and Indiana in the morning because it could make the difference between 8th and 9th.
Will it be televised?
Yes, you can watch on ESPN+. 10am PDT for prelims, 6pm PDT for finals
Go Bears!!! Lets beat the fricking Longhorns.
Great coverage Christopher