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Saturday prelim results:

200 Back: It's Destin Lasco/Hugo Gonzalez/Sebastian Somerset into the A-final and Colby Mefford into the B-final. Owen McDonald/Hubert Kos (two freshmen) for Arizona State in the A-final, Jack Wadsworth into the B-final. Cal - 3/1, ASU - 2/1.

100 Free: Bjorn Seeliger (meet record)/Jack Alexy/Matthew Jensen (another PB)/Dylan Hawk into the A-final, Robin Hanson in the B-final. Jack Dolan/Jonny Kulow/Patrick Sammon for Arizona State in the A-final, Grant House in the B-final. Cal - 4/1, ASU 3/1

Good showing from the Bears this morning but almost certainly not enough to catch up to Arizona State. Even without the DQ on the first relay (34 points), Cal would still be looking at roughly 40-50 point deficit at meet end.

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Friday prelim results:

400 IM:

Cal's Jason Louser got the top seed over ASU's Leon Marchand but it's still 3/2 for Cal vs. 4/2 for ASU.

100 Fly:

ASU got three in the A-Final vs. just Dare Rose for Cal.

Cal 1/1 vs. ASU 3/0

200 Free:

There will be a swim-off between Cal's Patrick Callan and ASU's Andrew Gray for that 8th and final A-Final berth. ASU's Grant House and Patrick Sammon qualified ahead of Cal's Swedish Olympian Robin Hanson.

Cal 2-3/1-2 vs. ASU 3-4/2-3

100 Breast:

Finally an event that's all Cal

5/1 including the top-5 times led by Reece Whitley for Cal and 0/0 for ASU

100 Back:

3/1 for Cal vs. 2/1 for ASU

ASU's Jack Dolan got the best time in the morning but one's got to think Cal's Destin Lasco has more in the tank

Total: 14-15/6-5 for Cal vs. 12-13/5-4 for ASU

Bears will pick up some points but not quite enough to make up for the 100 points deficit

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ASU has 0/1 in 100 breast.

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ugh, ASU's Gray (1:33.42) edges Cal's Callan (1:33.54) in the 200 Free swim-off for the final A-Final spot

14/6 for Cal tonight vs. 13/4 for ASU

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Mar 3, 2023·edited Mar 3, 2023Author

I don't know what they're doing at Arizona State right now, but they're cooking. They're a scary team that seems to be missing 1 or 2 pieces from being the sure-fire favorite for winning the NCAA Championship. Right now, it's hard to tell whether the ASU swimmers are specifically training to peak at this meet or the one in a couple weeks.

A/B Final Counts thus far:

400 IM: Cal - 3/2, ASU - 4/2

100 Fly: Cal - 1/1, ASU - 3/0

200 Free: (Best Case) Cal - 3/1, ASU 3/3 | (Worst Case) Cal - 2/2, ASU - 4/2

100 Breast: Cal - 5/1, ASU - 0/1

100 Back: Cal - 3/1, ASU - 2/1

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I am not sure ASU would be the favorite for the NCAA just because they also got no diving like Cal. If anything, should ASU maintain the relay advantage over Cal at the NC, it will likely just benefit Texas.

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Yeah, I said they’re missing a piece or 2, like perhaps a 51.0 100yd breaststroke swimmer or a 44.5 100yd butterfly swimmer. Cal has proven that you can swim your way to a title, and I would say that ASU has been out-swimming Cal. They have a 60-point scorer in Marchand, something that neither Cal nor Texas will likely have. They could realistically have 1-2 mid-40s/low-50 point scorers in addition to Marchand. If someone else on that roster happens to be firing on all cylinders and a couple of the qualifiers turn into consolation finals scorers, there’s a path. The massive time improvements by someone like freshman Owen McDonald is enough to impress me and make me think they’ll get a couple surprise scorers. Every championship winning team needs someone like that (Cal’s last 2 championships had someone like that in Trenton Julian and Gabriel Jett). Again, all of this is with the caveat of who on Arizona State has peaked? If the top 7/8 guys haven’t peaked yet, I’m scared of what they could do as a potential contender or even a potential spoiler for Cal or Texas. The last time it was not Cal & Texas as 1 and 2, the year ended in a 3.

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Mar 2, 2023·edited Mar 2, 2023Author

Strong morning of prelims for both Cal and ASU:

(I'm listing the C-Finalists count even if they don't score at this meet)

500 Free - Cal's Henveaux, Callan, and Jett are the top three seeds but ASU got 4 A-Finalists

Cal 3/2/0 vs. ASU 4/2/0

200 IM - ASU's Marchand is the top seed over Cal's Hugo Gonzalez and Lasco

Cal 2/2/2 vs. ASU 4/2/1

50 Free - Cal's Seeliger got the top seed but ASU again out qualified Cal by quantity

Cal 2/2/2 vs. ASU 4/0/2

https://results.teamunify.com/pnws2/meets/PAC12M-2023/

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Given his pedigree as a US Olympian, graduate transfer (from Michigan) Patrick Callan really hasn't post the times that one would expect...yet. Then again, this might be by design since Cal only cares about peaking at the NCAA. Looking at the psych sheet, I do see graduate student Lucas Henveaux listed for 200 Free without a time. Henveaux, already Cal school record holder for distance events despite just two meets, could post an interesting 200 Free time to possibly be in the mix for the 800 Free relay at the NCAA?

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