The Drought Is Over! USC Wins First Men’s Pac 12 Championship Title in 36 Years

Southern California men's swimming and diving

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

FEDERAL WAY – It was a claw-and-scratch battle that wasn’t decided until the final event, but the men of the University of Southern California swimming and diving claimed the Pac 12 swimming and diving team trophy, the first for the Trojans since 1979.

The 2015 #pac12swim Men’s Champions, @USCswim! pic.twitter.com/uyKq1c3zCm

— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) March 8, 2015

Buoyed largely by wins from senior Cristian Quintero and major depth in the freestyle events, USC only took over the lead after the 200 breaststroke tonight and held on to the end with 810.5 points to Stanford’s 809.5. California, which had won the past two years, could not match the depth of Stanford or USC this year, falling to third with 673points.

With a win each from Brad Tandy and Kevin Cordes, Arizona placed fourth for the third-straight year with 508 points. Arizona State followed with 309 points for fifth while Utah placed sixth with 283 points.

The last time USC won the men’s Pac 12 team title, Peter Daland was head coach and the Trojans only won the 200 backstroke and 400 medley relay at the 1979 meet. It was the eighth consecutive team title for USC, though the conference was split into north and south divisions in 1976, 1977 and 1978.

1650 freestyle
Through 1500 yards, Stanford’s Danny Thomson was in clear command of the fastest timed final heat of the 1650 freestyle, holding a five-second lead over Southern California’s Pawel Furtek. But at the 1600-yard mark, Furtek closed the gap to three seconds then charged home in 25.07 to challenge for the win. He ran out of room, as Thomson managed to hold on and win with a 14:50.19 to Furtek’s 14:51.81. Though neither time eclipsed the NCAA automatic qualifying time of 14:46.26, both should get invites to the meet. Thomson’s time puts him ninth nationally, while Furtek is 14th.

Ty Fowler of Arizona dipped under 15 minutes for the first time in his career, placing third with a 14:56.09. That’s also likely to get into the NCAAs, ranking him 22nd in the collegiate standings.

Fowler’s teammate Chris Wieser also got under the 15-minute barrier for the first time with a fourth-place time of 14:58.77. Bence Kiraly of Utah was fifth with a 15:01.05 but has been much faster this season with a 14:51.17.

From the earlier heats, USC’s Ted Singley managed to place sixth overall with a 15:02.37, while Stanford’s Liam Egan took seventh with a 15:04.71. Arizona’s Nick Hogsed placed eighth with a 15:07.94.

Stanford held a 45-point lead after the mile thanks in part to Thomson’s win.

200 backstroke

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Ryan Murphy made it known that he’s going to be untouchable in three weeks in the 200 backstroke at the NCAA championship by putting up a 1:38.34 in tonight’s final. That’s .99 slower than the time he swam to win the NCAA title last year, and just misses making the list of the top 10 performances of all time, as Drew teDuits sits 10th with a 1:38.27.

Murphy also beat his meet record of 1:39.21 from last year. He had already been the top swimmer in the event this season with a 1:39.32, and now is a full second ahead of the rest of the nation on his quest to break Ryan Lochte’s American record of 1:36.81.

David Nolan wrapped up his individual races with a 1:40.02 for second place. He put together a 25.04 in the final 50 yards to run down California’s Jacob Pebley, who settled for third with a 1:40.48. This marks Nolan’s third “A” cut this week, and Pebley’s first.

The remaining five swimmers in the final could not beat their prelim times. Patrick Conaton, who started the week with a 1:40.48 in a time trial on Wednesday and a 1:40.87 this morning in prelims, could only muster a 1:41.36 in finals for fourth place. Stanford racked up more points with a 1:42.32 from Drew Cosgarea for fifth place. Arizona’s Thane Maudslien (1:43.07), Arizona State’s Barkley Perry (1:43.09) and California’s Jesse Ryckman (1:43.57) rounded out the top eight.

Stanford increased its lead over USC in the 200 back, as the Trojans managed just 14 points to Stanford’s 55.

100 freestyle

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Cristian Quintero is one of the few who excels in sprint and distance freestyle, and he made that clear tonight with a close win in the 100 freestyle to give the Southern California senior his third individual win of the meet. He trailed teammate Santo Condorelli for most of the race, but charged home to take the win, 42.21 to 42.27. Both were under the NCAA “A” cut and sit fourth and fifth nationally.

With the win, Quintero becomes the first man to win the 100, 200 and 500 freestyles at the Pac 12 meet. A few have won the 50, 100, and 200 in one meet previously (including Joe Hudepohl and Nathan Adrian), but Quintero’s accomplishment is truly unique.

Three others broke 43 seconds in the championship final. Seth Stubblefield of California (42.69), Utah’s Nick Soedel (42.86) and USC’s Ralf Tribuntsov (42.88) might get the invite to swim the 100 free at NCAAs based on those times.

Reed Malone of USC was sixth with a 43.03. Tyler Messerschmidt of California, who won a swimoff to get into the championship heat, placed seventh with a 43.21, while Stanford’s Sam Perry was eighth with a 43.35.

Arizona’s Brad Tandy won the B final with a 42.90, which would have placed sixth in the A final. Since he has automatically qualified for the NCAAs in the 50 free, he’ll get to swim the 100 free as well.

USC started to chip at Stanford’s lead with a strong showing in the 100 free, getting within 33 points.

200 breaststroke

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

After an impressive prelim swim that put him in lane four for the final, USC sophomore Steven Stumph followed through with a win in the 200 breast with a stunning 1:52.50. In the course of one day, Stumph has lowered his lifetime best by 3.5 seconds, and will go into the NCAA championships ranked third. Stumph had heavy expectations put on him in his freshman year at USC after he broke the national high school record in the 100 breast in 2013, and didn’t perform well in his freshman year. Now, he’s on track to give the Trojans a big boost in the Big Meet, and could be one of the catalysts for helping the Trojans to one of its best conference meets in recent history.

Stumph led from the start, but had California’s Josh Prenot on his shoulder the entire time. Prenot was second with a 1:52.61, good enough for fourth in the nation. Kevin Cordes, the American record holder who was third nationally before today, placed fourth with a 1:53.55. Cordes swam a 1:52.65 at the Texas Invitational last December for his fastest swim so far this season.

Chuck Katis, swimming in lane eight, managed to place fourth with a 1:54.30, while USC’s Ridge Altman out-touched Arizona State’s Thibault Capitaine for fifth, 1:55.04 to 1:55.07. USC teammates Andrew Malone (1:55.66) and Morten Klarskov (1:55.84) rounded out the top eight.

For the first time this meet, the Trojans were leading the overall team points after the 200 breast by just 11 points over Stanford.

200 butterfly
Though the discussion was turning to the close team battle between USC and Stanford, California continued to make some noise with a 1-2 finish in the 200 butterfly to continue the tradition in the event for the Golden Bears. Long Gutierrez won his first Pac 12 title with a 1:43.23. Adam Hinshaw made a bid for the win, leading after 150 yards but fell short with a 1:43.61. Those times rank in the top 25 nationally, which puts them on the bubble for an NCAA invite.

After qualifying first in prelims with a 1:42.75, USC’s Michael Domagala was unable to replicate this morning’s swim and placed third with a 1:43.74. He just beat out Stanford’s Gray Umbach by one hundredth of a second, a crucial finish in the scheme of the overall team race.

Arizona’s Justin Wright put up a 1:43.85 to finish fifth, while Tom Kremer of Stanford placed sixth with a 1:44.10. Arizona’s Rasmus Skjaerpe (1:45.16) and Arizona State’s Patrick Park (1:45.81) rounded out the top eight.

USC’s lead in the team points was cut down to nine after the 200 fly.

Platform diving
Kristian Ipsen swept the diving events at the Pac 12 meet for the first time, scoring 434.05 points to give Stanford some life going into the 400 free relay. Ipsen, who specializes in springboard diving, outscored platform specialist Rafael Quintero of Arizona, who scored 403.50. USC’s Collin Pollard scored 395.60 for third.

USC led Stanford 778.5 to 775.5 going into the 400 free relay.

400 freestyle relay
All the Trojans had to do to win the team title was win the 400 free relay or place no lower than one place behind Stanford. After the first leg, the Trojans put away the victory on both counts and never looked back with a 2:49.50. Safe starts were likely on the minds of Tribuntsov (42.69), Condorelli (41.92), Malone (42.87) and Quintero (42.02), and might have a faster swim in them in three weeks. Right now, it’s third behind NC State and Auburn.

Stanford couldn’t use David Nolan on the relay, as he had competed in his maximum four relays. But his contributions would not have mattered, as the Cardinal posted a 2:52.63 for second. Notably, California appeared to finish second, but was disqualified when Seth Stubblefield left four hundredths of a second too early for his anchor-leg swim.

Arizona (2:54.22), Arizona State (2:54.30) and Utah (2:56.15) rounded out the “A” teams in the race.

2015 Men’s Pac 12 Championships: Day Four Finals – Results

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Jason

9 years ago

Good job men!

Ron Corlis Teare

9 years ago

Congrats to USC!

Lesa Helfond Delahunty

9 years ago

Fight On!