Now that the women's meet has wrapped up (last-chance and all), here we go with an early round-up of links to start this board/topic for the men's conference meet:

2020 MEN'S PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS FAN GUIDE: BEARS HUNTING THREEPEAT

CALIFORNIA

STARS: Hugo Gonzalez (redshirt sophomore back/IMer), Zheng Quah (senior back/butterflier), Pawel Sendyk (senior sprinter), Ryan Hoffer (junior sprinter), Reece Whitley (sophomore breaststroker), Sean Grieshop (junior IMer), Trenton Julian (junior free/fly/IMer), Bryce Mefford (junior free/backstroker), Michael Jensen (senior freestyler), Daniel Carr (junior backstroker) Though they're now without All-Americans Seliskar, Norman, and Thomas, the Bears still have a loaded lineup. Gonzalez joins them this season after transferring from Auburn. The SEC champion is a big threat here in the IMs and 200 back. Sprinters Jensen, Hoffer, and Sendyk will continue to light up the relays. Cal is loaded in a ton of areas, including the sprints, backstrokes, and IMs.

SHOWDOWNS
500 FREE After winning the event as a freshman, USC's Victor Johansson will look to defend his title. Teammate Alexei Sancov didn't swim this event last season, but his lifetime best is about a second off last season's winning time. Stanford's Grant Shoults, a 2-time Pac-12 Champion in this event, is back after redshirting last season. The event could get very crowded as it'll also include the Cardinal's Jack LeVant, Matthew Hirschberger, James Murphy, and Johannes Calloni. Cal's Trenton Julian and Sean Grieshop are returning medalist. Arizona's Brooks Fail is back after just missing the podium last season and is the current Pac-12 leader for the season.

100 BACK Arizona State returns reigning champion Zach Poti in this race. He has a good shot to repeat, but it's no guarantee as Cal's Daniel Carr is also a sub-45 backstroker and leads the Pac-12 this season. The Bears' Bryce Mefford has been close with a 45-low best time. Arizona's Thomas Anderson also has an outside shot to win it with a 45-high best.

100 FREE Cal could wind up with a podium sweep here, with sprint stars Ryan Hoffer, Pawel Sendyk, and Michael Jensen all battling for the win. Last season, Sendyk just edged out Jensen for the title. Arizona's Marin Ercegovic and Arizona State's Carter Swift are also in the title conversation as they've been 42-mid this season. Returning finalists Liam O'Haimhirgin (Utah), Jorge Iga (Arizona), and Nikola Miljenic (USC) will also factor in.

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With a focus to March:
NCAA DIVISION I MEN'S QUALIFIERS STATUS AFTER 3 WEEKS OF CONFERENCE MEETS

• The Texas Longhorn men have at least 20 likely NCAA qualifiers, with another 4 possible 'on the bubble' qualifiers, for the NCAA Championships, and that's before accounting for their divers. Last season, Texas had 18 swimmers and 4 divers qualify for the NCAA Championships. With a maximum roster size of 18, and divers counting only as one-half of a roster spot, that meant they had to cut two swimmers, Jack Collins and Johnthomas Larson, from their roster. This year, the Longhorns could be looking at a cut of 4, or even more, swimmers from their roster.
• The defending NCAA Champion men, meanwhile, have some work to do. So far, they only have 5 swimmers locked-in to an NCAA Championship qualifying position. Last year, when they won the title, Cal had 14 individual swimmers qualified for the meet, 4 of which have since graduated. But, with honors of going last, they know the times to target to lock up their spots at the NCAA Championship meet.

Currently, Cal: 4 in / 1 likely in / 4 bubble: 9 total
Texas leading heavily: 16 in / 4 likely in / 4 bubble: 24 total

2020 MEN'S PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS: USC COMES IN WITH A DIVING LEAD

CURRENT TEAM SCORES (ALL DIVING)

• USC 110
• Arizona 96
• Stanford 93
• Utah 74
• ASU 47
• Cal 28

However...

CURRENT TEAM SCORES (ALL DIVING) + SWIMULATOR PROJECTIONS
Even though Cal had the fewest diving points, they're still the heavy favorites to win this meet. The biggest difference-maker came between USC and Utah. If you add diving points to the Swimulator scores, the Trojans come out a few points ahead. However, Utah performed dominantly in their dual meet with USC a couple of weeks ago, so this should be a fun race between them.

• Cal 853.5
• Arizona 665.5
• ASU 558.5
• Stanford 452.5
• USC 417.5
• Utah 413.5

Thanks for starting up the thread, HBear!

Attached are the Psych Sheets for competition that commences on Wednesday night. Don't quite have the time to look through it all, but given the depth Bears should win this easily. The focus is for the Big Dance in three weeks.

swimmer19 said:

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Thanks for starting up the thread, HBear!

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Thanks to all of you guys or gals for providing the analyses and commentaries each day! It's terrific to have so many experts with their insightful comments!

Men's psych sheet entries, by swimmer:

• Arvidsson: 100/200 BR
• Biondi: 50/100/200 FR
• Carr: 200 IM, 100/200 BK
• David: 200/500/1650 FR
• Forker: 50/100/200 FR
• Gonzalez: 200 IM/400 IM, 200 BK, 200 BR
• Grieshop: 500/1650 FR, 400 IM
• Hatch: 200 IM, 50 FR, 100 FL/200 FL
• Hoffer: 50/100 FR, 100 FL
• Jensen: 50/100/200 FR, 100 FL
• Jhong: 200/400 IM, 500/1650 FR
• Julian: 200/400 IM, 200/500 FR, 200 FL
• Laeuffer: 100/200 BR, 200 IM
• Louser: 500 FR, 200/400 IM, 200 BR, 200 FL
• B. Mefford: 200 IM, 200 FR, 100/200 BK
• C. Mefford: 200/500 FR, 200 BK, 200 FL
• Millis: 50 FR, 100/200 BK
• Niayesh: 100/200 BR
• Pelton: 50/100 FR, 100 FL, 100/200 BK
• Penvenne: 100/200/500 FR
• Petrides: 100/200/500 FR, 100 BK
• Quah: 200 IM, 50/100/200 FR, 100/200 FL, 100/200 BK
• Peng: 50/100 FR, 100 BR
• Sendyk: 50/100 FR, 100 FL
• Somerset: 100/200 BK
• Song: 100/200 BK
• Whitley: 100/200 BR, 200 IM
• Xie: 100/200 FL, 200 IM
• Young: 100/200 BK

Well, had some spare time to kill, so I just combed through the psych sheets.

Not sure what the protocol is for entering additional events (I assume that window has closed), but here are some of the following swimmers entered in just 2 events: Arvidsson, Niayesh, Somerset, Song, Young. Most of these guys, if I'm not mistaken, are one-stroke specialists (was thinking Karl and Ethan in particular), so I guess we won't see them in more.

On the other hand, definitely expecting scratches and/or exhibition swims from: Gonzalez (4), Hatch (4), Jensen (4), Jhong (4), Julian (5), Louser (5), both Mefford brothers (4), Pelton (5), Petrides (4), Whitley (4), and Quah, who currently has a whopping/entertaining/absurdly versatile 8 events to his name. Definitely laughed when I saw how much he's entered in!

SWIMSWAM PULSE: 88% PICK CAL MEN TO WIN PAC-12S

88% are picking the Cal men to win their third-straight Pac-12 title that's one of the most overpowering results of our poll series predicting conference champs.

Cal won by 236 over Stanford last year, a few weeks before moving on to win the NCAA title in an upset of Texas. Without diving included, Cal leads the Swimulator projections by 259 points over Arizona, with Stanford back in fourth.

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Cal Athletics: Bears Seek Pac-12 Three-Peat

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Championships kick off tomorrow for the Bears. Likely a Cal victory, but Dave and the team's focus undoubtedly rest on upcoming NCs (and Trials + the Olympics beyond that). Will be great to see what events the men end up swimming, for those over-entered, and let's hope we get some more swimmers qualified for NCAAs (especially in light of Texas' whopping 20-something qualifiers).

Can't quite figure out how to paste the live stream schedule but:

• Wednesday, Thursday: Pac-12 Now app, Pac-12.com
• Friday, Saturday: Pac-12 Now app, Pac-12 Washington

HBear said:

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"Not sure what the protocol is for entering additional events (I assume that window has closed), but here are some of the following swimmers entered in just 2 events: Arvidsson, Niayesh, Somerset, Song, Young. Most of these guys, if I'm not mistaken, are one-stroke specialists (was thinking Karl and Ethan in particular), so I guess we won't see them in more.

On the other hand, definitely expecting scratches and/or exhibition swims from: Gonzalez (4), Hatch (4), Jensen (4), Jhong (4), Julian (5), Louser (5), both Mefford brothers (4), Pelton (5), Petrides (4), Whitley (4), and Quah, who currently has a whopping/entertaining/absurdly versatile 8 events to his name. Definitely laughed when I saw how much he's entered in!"

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Right on re stroke specialists:

Breast: Karl, Niayesh
Back: Young, Song, Somerset

Quah would be competitive in probably 7 of the 8 events entered, and he isn't shabby in the 50 free. Amazing talent. Hope he can peak at NCAAs.

I am interested in Hugo since I do not believe he has a qualifying time yet for NCAAs. He also had a very disappointing NCAA swimming for Auburn by missing his taper.

In addition to Hugo, we have a number of other guys without qualifying times so some will be rested I would imagine.

Cal lineup for the 800 Free Relay is Quah, Bryce Mefford, Carr, and Julian.

swimmer19 said:

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Cal lineup for the 800 Free Relay is Quah, Bryce Mefford, Carr, and Julian.

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Julian brings home the win for the Bears. Looked great finishing, almost picked up speed into his last 25 to win over ASU (Bybee).

1 CAL-PC 'A' 6:18.51 6:11.47 40
1) Quah, Zheng SR 2) Mefford, Bryce JR
3) Carr, Daniel JR 4) Julian, Trenton JR

• 21.20 | 44.78 (44.78) | 1:08.51 (1:08.51) | 1:33.31 (1:33.31)
• 1:55.17 (21.86) | 2:18.65 (45.34) | 2:42.72 (1:09.41) | 3:06.75 (1:33.44)
• 3:27.41 (20.66) | 3:50.52 (43.77) | 4:14.50 (1:07.75) | 4:39.23 (1:32.48)
• 5:00.67 (21.44) | 5:24.16 (44.93) | 5:47.88 (1:08.65) | 6:11.47 (1:32.24)

A little hard to follow along with time trial results since they're not shown on screen all too much, but Hugo just smoked a 1:51.63 200 breast! Good for fourth fastest time in the country (top time currently held by Reece).

HBear said:

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A little hard to follow along with time trial results since they're not shown on screen all too much, but Hugo just smoked a 1:51.63 200 breast! Good for fourth fastest time in the country (top time currently held by Reece).

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That's an automatic qualifying time for Hugo; does he swim the 200 breast in place of the 200 back on the final day?

Whoa, smashed the meet record from 2009. 3:02.85.

Hoffer DQ

solobear said:

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Hoffer DQ

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Ugh, bummer. ASU's A relay also DQed. Dang, would've been awesome to "officially" break that meet record, but good lesson learned for NCs. Better here than in a few weeks (jinxing nothing, I hope).

Splits otherwise would've been: (3:02.85)

1) Young, Ethan SR 2) Whitley, Reece SO
3) Hoffer, Ryan JR 4) Sendyk, Pawel SR

• 22.09 46.05 (46.05)
• 1:09.76 (23.71) 1:36.70 (50.65)
• 1:56.91 (20.21) 2:21.29 (44.59)
• 2:40.59 (19.30) DQ (41.56)

On the bright side, think that qualifies Young for NCs. Nice senior moment!

swan said:

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HBear said:

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A little hard to follow along with time trial results since they're not shown on screen all too much, but Hugo just smoked a 1:51.63 200 breast! Good for fourth fastest time in the country (top time currently held by Reece).

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That's an automatic qualifying time for Hugo; does he swim the 200 breast in place of the 200 back on the final day?

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2020 M. PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS: CAL'S GONZALEZ POSTS 1:51.6 IN 200 BR TIME TRIAL

Cal would have captured the event by either 3 or 4 seconds depending upon which finishing time is used. Why did Hoffer have to take a chance like that when the Bears were easily the class of the field? To open a Pac 12 championship like that is like getting sucker punched.

Other time trial results:
-Nate Biondi: 19.70 in the 50 free
-Sebastian Somerset: 1:42.09 in the 200 back
-Andy Song: 1:42.93 in the 200 back
-Kyle Millis: 1:42.38 in the 200 back (exhibitioned)
-Shane Forker: 44.26 in the 100 free
-Karl Arvidsson: 1:53.05 in the 200 breast (should lock him into NCAAs!)
-Jacques Lauffer: 1:54.98 in the 200 breast (possibly on the bubble out)

500 FR:

2 Julian, Trenton JR CAL-PC 4:16.44 4:12.77
5 Grieshop, Sean JR CAL-PC 4:17.99 4:14.57
8 David, Calvin FR CAL-PC 4:17.98 4:22.05

"Cal's Trenton Julian (4:12.77) got off to the early lead, but Stanford's Grant Shoults (4:12.45) had reeled him in to take over the lead with 100 to go. They were separated by just tenths going into the final 50. Julian had the faster split, but Shoults held him off to win it. Arizona's Brooks Fail (4:13.08) had the closing speed, but was too far behind to fully close the gap as he took bronze in 4:13.08.

ASU's Ben Olszewski knocked another 3 seconds off his best for 4th in 4:14.38, chasing down Cal's Sean Grieshop (4:14.57) through the final 200. Fellow Sun Devil Liam Bresette made another big drop for 6th in 4:15.21, followed by teammate Julian Hill (4:16.95), a freshman, and Cal freshman Calvin David (4:22.05)."

200 IM:

Nice time from freshman Louser. 1:43.69.

1 Carr, Daniel JR CAL-PC 1:42.15 1:41.79
2 Quah, Zheng SR CAL-PC 1:43.78 1:42.93
3 Mefford, Bryce JR CAL-PC 1:44.47 1:43.57
7 Whitley, Reece SO CAL-PC 1:44.53 1:44.23
9 Louser, Jason FR CAL-PC 1:45.47 1:43.69
16 Hatch, Jarod JR CAL-PC 1:46.66 1:46.59

New PBs for Carr, Quah, Mefford, Louser, and Hatch.

"Cal's Zheng Quah set the pace on the front half, but teammate Daniel Carr outsplit him on the breast leg to take control of the race. Carr won with a 1:41.79, marking his first time under 1:42. Quah took the silver in 1:42.93, clipping his best. Bryce Mefford broke 1:44 for the first time, touching 3rd to give the Bears a podium sweep in 1:43.57. Teammate Reece Whitley, the top seed coming in, was 7th in 1:44.23.

Cal freshman Jason Louser has now dropped over 2 seconds today. After breaking 1:46 for the first time in prelims, he lowered his best to a 1:43.69 to win the B final. That wound up being the 5th fastest time of the night and is potentially an NCAA invite-worthy time, as he's now 28th in the nation."

HBear said:

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200 IM:

Nice time from freshman Louser. 1:43.69

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Currently 28th in the nation. Pending other swims, on the bubble for NCAAs.

50 FR:

Another sweep for Bears, who coincidentally set the no. 1 and 2 times in the country.

1 Hoffer, Ryan JR CAL-PC 19.10 18.87
2 Sendyk, Pawel SR CAL-PC 19.15 18.91
3 Jensen, Michael SR CAL-PC 19.41 19.38
17 Rico Peng, Marcos FR CAL-PC 20.15 19.84
20 Biondi, Nate JR CAL-PC 19.97 20.01

200 FR R:

Ties the 2009 meet record (Stanford), 1:15.54 to win the event by about eight-tenths.

1 CAL-PC 'A' 1:16.01 1:15.54P 40
1) Sendyk, Pawel SR 2) Hoffer, Ryan JR
3) Jensen, Michael SR 4) Quah, Zheng SR
19.00 37.43 (18.43)
56.30 (18.87) 1:15.54 (19.24)

Bears beat their last year's winning time by nearly a second (1:16.43).

Don't think Jensen has an invite locked in yet... Also, guys look great so far, but replacing 3/4 of that sprint relay next year might be tough.

Thanks HBEAR---I got tired waiting for the results in the 200 free relay. Do you also have the team points for Thursday finals?

longseeker said:

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Thanks HBEAR---I got tired waiting for the results in the 200 free relay. Do you also have the team points for Thursday finals?

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Team totals:
[ol]

Stanford 283

Cal 278

Arizona 257

ASU 211

USC 210

Utah 187.5

[/ol]

Appreciate all the quick updates on tonight's results!

Here are a few fun visuals to accompany all the stats & analysis:

400 IM:

1 Gonzalez, Hugo SO CAL-PC 3:41.31 3:36.60
2 Louser, Jason FR CAL-PC 3:40.44 3:41.98
3 Grieshop, Sean JR CAL-PC 3:43.86 3:42.18
5 Jhong, Chris SO CAL-PC 3:41.41 3:43.51

Bit of an add for Louser and Jhong, but great showing all-around, especially from Hugo. Just a hair off that 3:35.76 from his Auburn SECs (2018), wow. Go Bears!

"Hugo Gonzalez swam his fastest time since 2018 SECs tonight, shattering Andrew Seliskar's Meet Record by 2 seconds. Gonzalez dominated the race in 3:36.60. Freshman Jason Louser was off his best from prelims but earned his first individual Pac-12 medal with a 3:41.98 for silver.

The Bears swept both IM podiums at this meet. Sean Grieshop ran down Arizona's Etay Gurevich (3:43.19) on the final 100 to take bronze in 3:42.19. Teammate Chris Jhong was 5th for the bears in 3:43.51."

100 fly:

1 Hoffer, Ryan JR CAL-PC 45.54 44.85
3 Quah, Zheng SR CAL-PC 45.83 45.24
4 Sendyk, Pawel SR CAL-PC 45.87 45.48
9 Hatch, Jarod JR CAL-PC 46.92 46.76
12 Xie, Jack SR CAL-PC 47.74 47.31

Cal's Ryan Hoffer had a breakthrough swim here, posting his first lifetime best in the event since 2018 NCAAs. Hoffer raced to a 44.85, coming within 2 tenths of the Pac-12 Meet Record set by Stanford's Austin Staab back in 2009. Teammate Zheng Quah, the 2019 champion, took bronze this season in 45.24. Pawel Sendyk (45.48) was just off the podium in 4th.

200 free:

1 Julian, Trenton JR CAL-PC 1:33.62 1:33.17
12 Petrides, Michael FR CAL-PC 1:34.73 1:34.64
16 Mefford, Colby FR CAL-PC 1:35.09 1:35.02

"Cal's Trenton Julian and ASU freshman Jack Dolan were neck-and-neck the whole way through. Julian took a lead of 6 hundredths at the halfway mark and held on to his lead to win in 1:33.17 to Dolan's 1:33.29. Both men lowered their lifetime bests from earlier in the meet."

100 breast;

1 Whitley, Reece SO CAL-PC 51.26 50.85
4 Arvidsson, Karl SR CAL-PC 52.60 52.62
10 Rico Peng, Marcos FR CAL-PC 54.59 53.92

Banner day for Bears. Four events tonight and as many wins.

https://swimswam.com/cals-reece-whitley-becomes-10th-fastest-man-ever-with-50-8-100-breast/

While I am waiting for tonight's final session I took a look at some of the results in the book and noted the following regarding our Backstroke group.

While the results show the Bears taking 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 7th, it does not recognize that Seb Somerset, Kyle Millis and Will Pelton swam the 9th,10th and 11th fastest times in the event in their exhibition swims. That's 7 of the 11 top times in the conference.

In the 200 Back prelims Bears took 1st, 2nd,3rd,5th,7th and 11th, but the exhibition results for Somerset , Millis and Pelton would put them in the B final at 10th, 11th and 16th. That;s 9 of the top 16.

The Bear's will be counting on the younger guys to step up once Carr and Bryce Mefford graduate in 2021.

Roll on you Bears!

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Pac-12 Three-Peat

California Wins Third Consecutive Pac-12 Championship

Results

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HBear said:

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Currently, Cal: 4 in / 1 likely in / 4 bubble: 9 total

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I know we still have the last Chance swim but can anyone update who has qualified, most likely in, and who is on the bubble. Thanks in advance.

Quah, Gonzalez, Carr, Whitley, Julian, Hoffer, Sendyk, Grieshop, Arvidsson, Louser, Jhong, Mefford, and Jensen pretty much definitely in, Young more towards the bubble but most likely in. Everyone else out. 14 total, Callahan maybe makes 15.

BRBear said:

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Quah, Gonzalez, Carr, Whitley, Julian, Hoffer, Sendyk, Grieshop, Arvidsson, Louser, Jhong, Mefford, and Jensen pretty much definitely in, Young more towards the bubble but most likely in. Everyone else out. 14 total, Callahan maybe makes 15.

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Thanks for the updates. I assume last chance didn't produce any favorable results, since I haven't heard any results. Too bad College swimming hasn't updated the results from the Pac 'ship for an up-to-date rankings.

Unlike last year when Cal was a better team by any measures, this year Cal & UT are pretty even. UT might have depth, but a lot of them are outside of A & B scoring range, so Cal will have better swims, but UT has diving points.

If both teams are swimming well, it's hard to say who will win.

Jensen took a big risk to swim unshaved at pac12, considering how close he might miss an ncaa invite.
Julian was better than what he showed at ncaa last year. Hopefully, he'll put together great swims at nc this year, especially the 2 fly.