Total A/B Finalists: Cal - 5A/2B, Texas - 4A/2B, Florida - 3A/1B, NC State - 2A/5B, ASU - 2A/4B
500-yard freestyle - Decent start for Cal. Jett looked really good. Henveaux took it out really fast and faded hard toward the end, so he ended up 9th overall, just barely missing the A-Final. Callan looked rough. Cal - 1A/1B, Texas - 2A/1B, Florida - 2A/0B, NC State -1A/1B, ASU - 0A/1B
200-yard IM - Lasco and Gonzalez got the job done and cleared their spot in the A-final. Louser, who is much better in longer swims, seemed to not have the necessary stroke turnover to keep up. Cal - 2A/0B, Texas - 2A/1B, Florida - 0A/1B, NC State - 1A/1B, ASU - 1A/3B
50-yard freestyle - Bell with ~.3 seconds time drop from his PB in the 3rd heat was a real stunner. A really nasty swim to qualify in 16th-place. Whether or not he moves up tonight doesn't really matter because 4 of the first 5 out swam for ASU/Florida, which is so massive in the team battle. Seeliger did just about what you'd expect, but Alexy dropped almost ~.4 seconds to get into the A-final. Alexy has some real on top of the water speed (in short course, lots of swimmers such as Ryan Hoffer take advantage of the underwaters). Cal - 2A/1B, Texas - 0A/0B, Florida - 1A/0B, NC State - 0A/3B, ASU - 1A/0B
Morning Takeaways:
Cal - Exactly what the Bears needed to kickstart the first prelims. Other than Bell sneaking into the 50-free B-final, Cal performed right about where you'd expect (Louser missing the B-final in the 200-yard IM was probably the "biggest miss" of the morning).
Texas - Really strong morning (the 50 free is definitely one of Texas' weaker events especially with Daniel Krueger having an off-year) and exactly the kind of moving up that they needed to keep Texas in the hunt for top 3.
Florida - A bit underwhelming, but their first night relay swims suggest it is more likely just misjudging how fast you need to be in the prelims. I suspect they'll rebound, but this was not what you want if you had a chance of usurping Cal.
NC State - Good morning session picking up second swims from seed, but they really needed a couple of the B-finalists to jump up especially since they won't have any diving points like some of the other teams that are in the hunt for 3rd-6th place.
ASU - Despite all the talk by Coach Bowman that the taper focus was on NCAAs, it really does look like a lot of their swimmers peaked for Pac-12s. It's still just the first prelims, but I'm leaning towards ASU being out of the title hunt (they should still be in the close fight for 2-5). They still have Marchand, who at this point seems like he'll break a record every time he jumps into the pool.
Will give a Day 3 prelims update shortly. Cal had a pretty good morning (only real miss was Seeliger making A final in the 100 back), Texas made the most of what they had available for what turned out to be a decent morning, and ASU had arguably the best morning. These 3 are starting to distance from Florida/NC State. Feeling pretty good about Cal’s position, but if ASU/Texas had a sub-45 flyer, this meet would be so so so much closer and fun.
I couldn’t tell who it was, but someone on the blocks was moving when the starter called the ready in the 50 free. Technically, you can be disqualified for moving at that point, but starters are known to be a little bit lenient. But the starters held them way too long and I think that impacted times. Probably wouldn’t change placing much though
Texas added 1A/2B in diving so expect another 20-25 pts from diving for Texas tonight. Florida was 0A/1B, but nothing from Cal/ASU/NC State (Cal/ASU had no one entered).
Durden knows what he's doing. It's all set up to peak at the national championship. PAC-12 championship is just a warmup along the way. Thus Cal out-performing ASU who had just won the PAC-12 a few weeks ago.
Day 2 Morning Prelims
Total A/B Finalists: Cal - 5A/2B, Texas - 4A/2B, Florida - 3A/1B, NC State - 2A/5B, ASU - 2A/4B
500-yard freestyle - Decent start for Cal. Jett looked really good. Henveaux took it out really fast and faded hard toward the end, so he ended up 9th overall, just barely missing the A-Final. Callan looked rough. Cal - 1A/1B, Texas - 2A/1B, Florida - 2A/0B, NC State -1A/1B, ASU - 0A/1B
200-yard IM - Lasco and Gonzalez got the job done and cleared their spot in the A-final. Louser, who is much better in longer swims, seemed to not have the necessary stroke turnover to keep up. Cal - 2A/0B, Texas - 2A/1B, Florida - 0A/1B, NC State - 1A/1B, ASU - 1A/3B
50-yard freestyle - Bell with ~.3 seconds time drop from his PB in the 3rd heat was a real stunner. A really nasty swim to qualify in 16th-place. Whether or not he moves up tonight doesn't really matter because 4 of the first 5 out swam for ASU/Florida, which is so massive in the team battle. Seeliger did just about what you'd expect, but Alexy dropped almost ~.4 seconds to get into the A-final. Alexy has some real on top of the water speed (in short course, lots of swimmers such as Ryan Hoffer take advantage of the underwaters). Cal - 2A/1B, Texas - 0A/0B, Florida - 1A/0B, NC State - 0A/3B, ASU - 1A/0B
Morning Takeaways:
Cal - Exactly what the Bears needed to kickstart the first prelims. Other than Bell sneaking into the 50-free B-final, Cal performed right about where you'd expect (Louser missing the B-final in the 200-yard IM was probably the "biggest miss" of the morning).
Texas - Really strong morning (the 50 free is definitely one of Texas' weaker events especially with Daniel Krueger having an off-year) and exactly the kind of moving up that they needed to keep Texas in the hunt for top 3.
Florida - A bit underwhelming, but their first night relay swims suggest it is more likely just misjudging how fast you need to be in the prelims. I suspect they'll rebound, but this was not what you want if you had a chance of usurping Cal.
NC State - Good morning session picking up second swims from seed, but they really needed a couple of the B-finalists to jump up especially since they won't have any diving points like some of the other teams that are in the hunt for 3rd-6th place.
ASU - Despite all the talk by Coach Bowman that the taper focus was on NCAAs, it really does look like a lot of their swimmers peaked for Pac-12s. It's still just the first prelims, but I'm leaning towards ASU being out of the title hunt (they should still be in the close fight for 2-5). They still have Marchand, who at this point seems like he'll break a record every time he jumps into the pool.
Will give a Day 3 prelims update shortly. Cal had a pretty good morning (only real miss was Seeliger making A final in the 100 back), Texas made the most of what they had available for what turned out to be a decent morning, and ASU had arguably the best morning. These 3 are starting to distance from Florida/NC State. Feeling pretty good about Cal’s position, but if ASU/Texas had a sub-45 flyer, this meet would be so so so much closer and fun.
I couldn’t tell who it was, but someone on the blocks was moving when the starter called the ready in the 50 free. Technically, you can be disqualified for moving at that point, but starters are known to be a little bit lenient. But the starters held them way too long and I think that impacted times. Probably wouldn’t change placing much though
Texas added 1A/2B in diving so expect another 20-25 pts from diving for Texas tonight. Florida was 0A/1B, but nothing from Cal/ASU/NC State (Cal/ASU had no one entered).
Durden knows what he's doing. It's all set up to peak at the national championship. PAC-12 championship is just a warmup along the way. Thus Cal out-performing ASU who had just won the PAC-12 a few weeks ago.
Go Wet Bears!