Swimming

2024 Men’s Pac-12 Championships: Day 4 Prelims Live Recap

March 10, 2024

2024 MEN’S PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS

Dates: Wednesday, March 6 – Saturday, March 9
Location: Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center, Federal Way, WA
Defending champions: Arizona State (1x)
Live Results
Live Video (Pac-12 Network)
Championship Central
Fan Guide Preview
Day 1 Finals Recap
Day 2 Prelims Recap| Day 2 Finals Recap
Day 3 Prelims Recap | Day 3 Finals Recap

TEAM SCORES (AFTER DAY THREE)

Arizona State – 725
Stanford – 505.5
Cal – 406
Arizona – 372
USC – 288.5
Utah – 167

The final morning of the 2024 Pac-12 Championships will feature the usual 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly lineup. There will also be the early heats of the timed final 1650 this afternoon, with the fastest seeded heat swimming with finals.

ASU’s Hubert Kos comes in as the top seed in the 200 backstroke with a season best time of 1:36.54. Kos has already won two events so far, taking the 200 IM on day one (1:38.77) and 100 back last night (43.75). He’s in a strong position to make it three, as his entry time is nearly three seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

Jonny Kulow, a sophomore from Arizona State, owns the top seed in the 100 at 41.44. The only other entrant under the 42-second barrier is his teammate, Jack Dolan, who comes in at 41.53.

Leon Marchand will take on one of his signature events today, the 200 breast. He’s the NCAA record-holder in the event, but is actually the 2nd seed this morning behind his teammate David Schlicht. Schlicht’s season best stands at 1:51.55, while Marchand is entered with a 1:51.71.

Rounding out this morning’s events will be the 200 fly, where Sun Devil Ilya Kharun is the top seed. Kharun swam a best time of 1:37.93 at the Stanford-ASU dual meet, putting him just over half a second shy of Jack Conger‘s NCAA record from 2017.

MEN’S 200 BACKSTROKE – PRELIMS

NCAA Record: 1:35.73 – Ryan Murphy, Cal (2016)
Pac-12 Record: 1:35.73 – Ryan Murphy, Cal (2016)
Pac-12 Championship Record: 1:36.94 – Destin Lasco, Cal (2023)
NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:39.13

Top 8 Qualifiers:

Owen McDonald (ASU) – 1:38.49
Hubert Kos (ASU) – 1:39.05
Aaron Sequeira (STAN) – 1:39.62
Sebastian Somerset (CAL) – 1:40.32
Josh Zuchowski (STAN) – 1:40.62
Rex Maurer (STAN) – 1:40.68
Ziyad Saleem (CAL) – 1:40.73
Kai Crews (CAL) – 1:41.09

Arizona State’s duo of sophomore Owen McDonald and Hubert Kos clinched the top two seeds for tonight’s final with times of 1:38.49 and 1:39.05, respectively. McDonald’s time takes him under his previous best from this meet a year ago by about half a second, and moves him to 5th in the country so far this season. Kos added two and a half seconds to his seed time, and will likely be much faster tonight.

Stanford and Cal each got three athletes into the championship final. Stanford is led by junior Aaron Sequeira, who shaved off a few tenths from his personal best to hit a 1:39.62. Joining him the A-final will be Josh Zuchowski and Rex Maurer, who both added this morning.

Cal’s top finisher out of prelims was graduate student Sebastian Somerset (1:40.32), followed by juniors Ziyad Saleem (1:40.73) and Kai Crews (1:41.09). All three improved on their season bests, with Saleem and Crews also notching personal bests.