Night number three of the Pac-12 Men’s Swimming Championships held a high level of excitement and entertainment for all in attendance at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Wash. California extended their lead to total 583 points. Stanford remained in second place, tallying 520 points and USC is in third with 404.5 points.
California kicked off the night with a strong performance in the 400-yard IM, claiming first and second place. Freshman Josh Prenot earned first place with a time of 3:41.82, breaking the Pac-12 meet record set in 2005 by Ous Mellouli from USC. Sophomore Adam Hinsaw came in second at a time of 3:44.36. Touching at third was Stanford senior Matt Thompson at 3:45.82.
The second final continued on the same trend for the Golden Bears as they once again went one-two with senior Tom Shields defending his title in the 100-yard butterfly, touching the wall at 44.92. Shields won the 100 fly three out of the four years of his collegiate career, missing the title only in 2011. Marcin Tarczynski, a Cal junior, claimed second with a time of 45.97. Arizona claimed its first top-three finish of the night with junior Giles Smith touching in third with a time of 46.16.
In the 200-yard freestyle, the swimmers switched it around as USC this time claimed the top two spots, with a California swimmer taking third place. Sophomore Cristian Quintero claimed his second individual title of the 2013 Championships with a time of 1:33.21 while teammate junior Dimitri Colupaev came in second at 1:34.44. California stepped on the awards stand for the third time in as many events on the night as freshman Trent Williams placed third in the first individual Pac-12 Championships final of his collegiate career, finishing 1:35.22.
In the last individual final of the night – the 100-yard breastroke – the Wildcats topped the podium for the first time this week with sophomore Kevin Cordes winning in a time of 51.65. USC junior Vladamir Morozov earned second place with an NCAA A standard qualifying time of 52.06. California continued its trend of stepping on the awards stand with senior Trevor Hoyt claiming third with a time of 52.78.
The 400-yard medley relay closed the night of swimming. California came out on top with a relay of freshman Jacob Pebley, sophomore Seth Stubblefield, Hoyt and Shields. The Golden Bears finished at 3:06.09. USC, composed of sophomore Luca Spinazzola, freshman Maclin Davis, Colupaev and Morozov, touched at 3:06.17 for second. In third place was Arizona with junior Mitchell Friedemann, sophomore Kevin Cordes, junior Giles Smith and senior Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or finishing in a time of 3:06.80.
The 2013 Pac-12 Men’s Swimming Championships will conclude with day four on Wednesday, March 6 starting in the morning at 11 a.m. PT with preliminaries, and the finals session starting at 6 p.m. PT. Swimmers will compete for the title in the 1650 freestyle, 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly and the 400 free relay. If Cal maintains its lead over Stanford, the Golden Bears will snap Stanford’s streak of 31 consecutive team conference championships.
Men’s Current Team Standings
1. California 583 points
2. Stanford 520 points
3. USC 404.5 points
4. Arizona 340 points
5. Utah 199.5 points
6. Arizona State 195 points
7. UC Santa Barbara 154 points
8. Cal Poly 74 points
