Photo Courtesy: Fred Stumph
By Sarah Lloyd, Swimming World College Intern
It was an exciting weekend in the Pac-12, with fun exhibition swims from Olympic greats like Michael Phelps and Matt Grevers at the ASU/Arizona dual, as well as some surprises in the other meets around the conference. Here’s what happened in the Pac-12 two weeks out of the conference championships.
Top Storylines
- Upsets! Not only did the men of unranked Arizona State take down the No. 17 Arizona men this weekend for the first time since 2002, but the No. 12 USC men took down the No. 2 California men by one point for the first time since 2000. In each victory, divers and relays came up big when they were needed, which bodes well for the end of the season.
- Not only did USC beat California on Friday, but they also took the meet against No. 8 Stanford on Saturday. The Trojans seem to be in a good position going into the Pac-12 Championship in two weeks.
- The higher ranked teams may not be quite as tapered as the lower ranked teams, which may explain some of the upsets. Teams like USC and Arizona State could be further into a taper schedule than teams like California or Stanford. Differences in taper could account for some of the really fast swims and not-so-fast swims that we saw this weekend. Update: USC Coach Dave Salo confirmed with Swimming World that the team has not started taper and in fact did weights the morning of the meet.
Pac-12 Weekly Schedule
| Arizona | Arizona State | Loss |
|---|---|---|
| Arizona State | Arizona | Win |
| California | Cal State Bakersfield | Win |
| California | USC | Loss |
| UCLA | Idle | Idle |
| Oregon State | Idle | Idle |
| USC | Stanford | Win |
| USC | California | Win |
| Stanford | USC | Loss |
| Utah | Air Force Diving Invitational | Various Results |
| Washington State | Idle | Idle |
Featured Meets
SC was not tapered for this weekend. Why can’t they just have a great meet?
I heard the same thing. No taper, shaving, or special preparation. I think they had a work out in the weight room that morning too. It was a great meet on both sides anyway and I wish I was there to see it. It bodes well an exciting Pac 12 Conference meet.