Top 5 Pac-12 Men Prove Ready For Battle At NCAAs

david-nolan-american-record-stanford-2015

Photo Courtesy: Stanford Athletics

By James Sica, Swimming World Intern

This year’s Pac-12 Swimming & Diving Championships capped off the men’s conference season with one of the most exciting, down-to-the-wire meets of the season. The team title came down to the last relay, with Stanford and University of Southern California battling it out. The higher finisher would win the meet, and the combination of USC’s amazing sprint talent and David Nolan’s absence from Stanford’s 400 free relay (he was a key player on Stanford’s other four relays) gave USC the relay win and the team title over Stanford by a mere 9 points.

The final team standings are below:

USC 818.5
Stanford 809.5
Cal 673
Arizona 508
Arizona State 309
Utah 283

In our article previewing the meet we highlighted 5 athletes to watch through the meet, which can be seen here. Below, we’ve given a run-down of how they fared last weekend and what to expect as they move to NCAAs.

Cristian Quintero

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

USC senior Cristian Quintero made the most of his last semester competing with the Trojans after he was granted an extension in his NCAA eligibility. While he was only seeded in the top 8 of a single event coming into Pac-12s, Quintero left the meet as the only triple individual event winner.

Quintero captured the 100 (42.21), 200 (1:32.40), and 500 (4:11.25) freestyles while also displaying some incredible depth in the relays, splitting as fast as 18.83 (200 free relay), 41.69 (400 medley relay), and 1:31.60 (800 free relay) throughout the meet. This was Quintero’s third straight win in both the 200 and 500, and he will go into NCAA’s as the first seed in the 200 free, second seed in the 500 free, and fourth seed in the 100 free.

Kevin Cordes

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Perhaps one of the more shocking storylines from this meet was Arizona senior Kevin Cordes not being the fastest breaststroker in the pool after absolutely dominating the events the last two years. While Cordes captured his third straight 100 breaststroke title in 52.18, Cal’s Chuck Katis actually had the fastest flat start swim with a 52.00 in prelims. Cordes finished third in the 200 breast with a 1:53.55.

While off of his meet record times from last year in both events, as noted in our preview newly appointed head coach Rick DeMont may be deviating from the usual rest pattern Arizona has followed in the past. Cordes actually sported a beard throughout the meet, a sign that his big rest will be in a few weeks at NCAAs. Cordes will enter NCAA’s as the ninth seed in the 100 and fifth seed in the 200.

Brad Tandy

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

The Arizona sprint specialist landed himself another Pac 12 title with an 18.95, his exact time from his co-NCAA title in the 50 freestyle last year. While off his 18.80 meet record for last year, it seems that Arizona as a whole may be saving their big rest for NCAA’s. T

andy is still seeded well going into that meet in his specialty, occupying the third spot behind SEC young guns Caeleb Dressel and Kristian Gkolomeev, and split as fast as 18.71 with a flying start on the 200 medley relay. Expect this guy to be a factor for an NCAA title in a few weeks while giving Arizona’s relays a nice sprint boost.

David Nolan

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Stanford senior David Nolan brought some fireworks on the first full day of conference competition with a Pac-12, NCAA, and American record in the 200 IM. Nolan has been stuck at 1:41 low since coming out of high school (which is, admittedly, not a bad place to be stuck), but finally broke through the 1:41 barrier with a 1:40.07 that clipped the American record by .01. It was apparent in post-race interviews that Nolan hadn’t fully shaved down for the race, signaling he may have a little left in the tank come time for NCAAs.

He was also no slouch in the backstrokes, taking third in 100 (45.37) and second in the 200 (1:40.02), and was a key part of Stanford’s medley relays and 200 and 800 free relays. In an interesting twist, Nolan had the meet’s fastest 50 backstroke (21.13), 50 freestyle (18.63 – tied with Cal’s Seth Stubblefield), and 100 breaststroke (51.78) splits while also posting Stanford’s fastest 200 free split (1:32.49), showing just how crazy versatile this swimmer is.

Ryan Murphy

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

The reigning NCAA champion is both the 100 and 200 backstrokes once again swept those events at this year’s Pac-12 meet, taking them both in a swift 44.98 and 1:38.34 respectively. Both of those times were under where Murphy was at this meet last year, and both are scary close to his lifetime bests from last year.

This sets himself up very well for NCAAs as he will look to defend both his backstroke titles from the 2014 meet. Murphy was also 3^rd in the 200 IM (1:42.94), which was also a little more than half a second off his lifetime best. Like Nolan, this Cal sophomore was also essential to Cal’s relays, coming home with relay titles in the 200 free (18.94) and 200 medley (21.21), recording the fastest backstroke split on Cal’s second place 400 medley (45.18), and owning Cal’s fastest 100 split on their 400 free relay that was ultimately disqualified for an early take off.

Be sure to watch these five Pac-12 athletes lead their teams at what is bound to be an exciting and fast NCAAs, which will take place in Iowa City, Iowa March 26-28.

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