Always Clutch, Jack Alexy and Cal Men Have Path to NCAA Title Defense

Cal sprint freestyler Jack Alexy -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Jack Alexy, Cal Men Have Narrow Path to NCAA Title Defense

Check out the newly-released psych sheets for the NCAA Men’s Championships, and you will notice a heavy dosage of Arizona State, including top-seeded times in eight out of 13 individual events and 14 individual swims seeded in the top-five. The Sun Devils’ performance at last week’s Pac-12 Championships established them as favorites to earn the school’s first-ever national title in men’s swimming later this month.

As for the California Golden Bears, the two-time defending national champions, the only swimmer to occupy first place heading into the national meet is Liam Bell in the 100 breaststroke. Cal has only six individual swims seeded top-five. Arizona State has four relays seeded first with another ranked third while Cal’s highest-seeded relay is third, with two ranked fourth and others sitting sixth and eighth.

But despite these gloomy projections, do not forget about this Cal team has title contenders. Last season, Arizona State handled Cal in both dual-meet and conference championship action before Cal rebounded to win by 52 points at the national level. This year, the two teams tied in a hotly-contested dual meet in Berkeley. Yes, the Sun Devils were dominant at the conference meet, but most of Cal’s big names were absent.

Cal’s Destin Lasco is the two-time defending NCAA champion in the 200 backstroke — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Jack Alexy, Dare Rose and Destin Lasco were all newcomers to the U.S. team at last summer’s World Championships. That group along with Gabriel Jett swam instead at the TYR Pro Swim Series in Westmont, Ill., balancing their focus on the college season with their Olympic Trials hopes. Swedish sprinter Bjorn Seeliger also missed the Pac-12 meet. Cal is also known for peaking at NCAAs year after year, with six consecutive titles and a whopping 13 consecutive top-two finishes at the national level under head coach Dave Durden.

Cal’s one last gasp hope of a third consecutive crown relies on the team’s established stars all showing up huge while the Sun Devils fall back slightly from their amazing performances at the conference championships. Alexy, Rose, Lasco, Jett, Seeliger and Bell all have to be essentially perfect.

Alexy enters his third NCAA Championships seeded seventh in the 100 free, 17th in the 50 free and 27th in the 200 free — as if anyone actually expects this 21-year-old from Morristown, N.J., not to show up huge with team points on the line. Alexy showed off his ridiculous talent at the global level last year when he claimed World Championships silver in both the 50 and 100-meter free. Top-three finishes are likely, with a win in the 100 free within his capabilities.

Also in the sprints, expect way better than eighth (100 free), 12th (50 free) and 15th (100 back) from Seeliger, who has multiple top-four finishes each of the last three years. The Bears’ 200 and 400 relays are seeded well down in the field, but they bring back every swimmer from last year’s runnerup squads (Florida won both): Alexy, Seeliger, Lasco, Bell and Matthew Jensen.

Lasco might have trouble defending his national title in the 200 back given the emergence of ASU’s Hubert Kos, but he has enough speed to at least finish second in both that event and the 200 IM while contending in the 100 back. Jett is the only one of Cal’s stars to have any high seed times, with Jett sitting fourth in the 500 free and fifth in the 200 free, but we can expect him to move up into the A-final mix in the 200 fly.

Rose, meanwhile, won World Championships bronze in the 100-meter fly last year but is better in the 200-yard distance for short course. Still, having collected big-time international experience and performing well will only be a boost for him at this latest championship-caliber meet, where Rose is expected to take on a more significant relay role.

Enough to take down Arizona State? Probably not, considering the improvement of Kos and Zalan Sarkany plus the emergence of freshman Ilya Kharun and phenomenal sprint depth to go along with established star Leon Marchand.

But what if Cal can match ASU in the sprint relays and come close in the medleys? If the usual big names on the Bears’ roster can come through in the way we’ve become accustomed? Perhaps that could put Cal within striking distance heading into the final day.

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Cal stan

1 month ago

pls cal clutch

Idk if they can do it but I pray