By Tadzio Garcia
There was no change in the overall team standings at the Pac-12 Men’s Swimming Championships on the third day of competition at East Los Angeles College.
Stanford University however increased its lead over the rest of the field.
Stanford was led by freshmen Dave Nolan, who won the 100-yard backstroke and Drew Cosgarea who won the 400 individual medley.
Cosgarea led a Cardinal sweep of the 400 IM tapping in at 3:44.97 minutes. Junior Matt Thompson followed in second at 3:45.64 and sophomore Bryan Offutt took third at 3:46.56.
Nolan’s 100 back title time of 45.76 seconds, was the fourth-fastest time in Cardinal history. Junior Tom Shields of Cal grabbed second with a time of 45.76. Both times were automatic NCAA qualifying times. Cal senior Mathias Gydesen placed third with a time of 47.00.
Arizona junior Carl Mickelson won the Wildcats first Pac-12 title at East Los Angeles College. Mickelson’s 100 breaststroke time of 52.74 is an automatic NCAA qualifying time. Cal seniors took second and third with Nolan Koon’s time of 52.90 edging Martin Liivamagi, who finished at 52.94.
USC sophomore Dimitri Colupaev defended his 200 freestyle title, landing in at 1:34.20. USC has won this event for three straight years, a feat they also accomplished from 1997-99. Stanford senior Rob Andrews finished second at 1:34.84, followed by Cal freshman Tyler Messerschmidt who came in a close third at 1:35.24.
Stanford squeezed by Cal winning the 400-yard medley in the big event of the day with the entire crowd standing and screaming during the race.
Stanford finished with a time of 3:07.32 minutes; Cal at 3:07.70. Both times were NCAA automatic qualifying times. The University of Arizona finished third at 3:09.47.
The Cardinal relay team consisted of Nolan, senior Curtis Lovelace, freshman Jack Lane and junior Aaron Wayne. The Golden Bears relay team consisted of Gydesen, Koon, Shields and Messerschmidt.
Utah, which has a lock on fifth place in the overall standings, came away from day three with school records.
The Utes placed fifth in the 400 medley relay at 3:14.19. Freshmen Alexandre Fernandes and Ken Tiltges, junior Karson Applin and freshman Nick Soedel will be entered in the Utah record books as the fastest time in school history.
Applin shattered Utah’s 14-year 100 butterfly record in the prelims with a time of 47.27. Cal’s Shields won the event at 45.04, an automatic NCAA qualifying time. Second and third went to Cal’s Gydesen (46.07) and Arizona sophomore Woody Joye (46.84), respectively.
The Championships conclude today, March 3 with preliminaries and standard times trials at 11 a.m. followed by the finals at 6 p.m.
The standings after three days of competition, including national rankings (in parenthesis), as follows:
Men’s Championship Standings, Day 3
1. (3) Stanford, 623.5 points
2. (6) California, 544 points
3. (1) Arizona, 382 points
4. (5) USC, 324 points
5. Utah, 185.5 points
6. Arizona State, 175.5 points
7. UC Santa Barbara, 164.5 points
8. Cal Poly SLO, 94 points