As we near Friday's finals session at the Pac-12 Championships, prepare yourself for a three-way slugfest between Stanford, Cal, and USC in Federal Way, Washington. Stanford amassed a nice lead on Thursday, but Cal put some great numbers up in the morning session. There are quite a few Bears swimmers who got into A-finals Friday night and will probably move up, having not showed all their cards in prelims (we're looking at you, ​Ryan Murphy).
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400 IM

Pac-12 Conference Record: 3:35.82 (Josh Prenot - Cal, 2016)
Pac-12 Championship Record: 3:38.83 (Josh Prenot - Cal, 2016)
NCAA 'A' cut: 3:40.76
2016 Invited: 3:45.61

Andrew Seliskar of Cal is the favorite going into Friday night, having won the 400 IM title last year and the 200 IM title on Thursday. He was 3:39.78 at last year's meet, and given his performance in the 200 IM, that shouldn't be a problem. Last year's runner-up Abrahm DeVine, is the top seed, and was only 0.5 seconds behind Seliskar last year. His last 100 is a definite advantage over Seliskar, so it depends on how far apart they are at the 300 mark. Seliskar's first 100 in the 200 IM outpaced Ryan Murphy, so look for him to have a large lead, but don't count out DeVine. Curtis Ogren is seventh after prelims with a 3:47.34, but his time of 3:41.43 was third last year.

1.) Abrahm DeVine (Stanford): 3:44.49
2.) Nick Thorne (Arizona): 3:44.56
3.) Ken Takahashi (Cal): 3:44.92
4.) Patrick Mulcare (USC): 3:45.54 
5.) Andrew Seliskar (Cal): 3:46.34
6.) Justin Buck (Stanford): 3:47.02
7.) Curtis Ogren (Stanford): 3:47.34
8.) Max Williamson (Stanford): 3:48.93

100 BUTTERFLY

Pac-12 Conference Record: 44.18 (Austin Staab - Stanford, 2009)
Pac-12 Championship Record: 44.66 (Austin Staab - Stanford, 2009)
NCAA 'A' cut: 45.73
2016 Invited: 46.44

Justin Lynch of Cal hopes to repeat as the 100 fly champ. However, new teammate Matt Josa -- a transfer who smashed the NCAA Division II record with a 44.89 and redshirted last year -- may disrupt his plans. Arizona State's Andrew Porter will be fighting Lynch as well, in addition to USC's Alex Valente, who was last year's runner-up in 46.10. The field around third to sixth place is going to be really tight and can go many ways with Santo Condorelli, Andrew Liang​, and Chatham Dobbs in the mix too. Condorelli, who is a mid-distance freestyle specialist for USC, is an aggressive racer and will look to get out in front of the field at the 50 if he is to have a shot.

1.) Justin Lynch (Cal): 45.51 (NCAA 'A')
2.) Matt Josa (Cal) 45.68 (NCAA 'A')
3.) Andrew Porter (ASU): 45.75
4.) Alex Valente (USC): 46.02
5.) Andrew Liang (Stanford): 46.03
6.) Chatham Dobbs (Arizona): 46.18
7.) Santo Condorelli (USC): 46.20
8.) Tadas Duskinas (ASU): 46.36 

200 FREESTYLE

Pac-12 Conference Record: 1:31.20 (Simon Burnett - Arizona, 2006)
Pac-12 Championship Record: 1:32.40 (Cristian Quintero - USC, 2015)
NCAA 'A' cut: 1:32.97
2016 Invited: 1:34.67

ASU freshman Cameron Craig will be be gunning to win the first conference title for the Sun Devils so far this meet. His leadoff of 1:32.16 was what could have been the meet record, however, the Trojans' Dylan Carter was 1:32.15 in the same heat. Ladies and gentlemen, turn your volumes up Friday night on this one. Craig was better in the back half, so keep your eyes glued for the last 50! Grant Shoults, ​the 500 champion from Thursday night, will be battling Cal's Long Gutierrez​, who led off a 1:33.44, and Reed Malone​, who was 1:32.7 on the anchor.

1.) Cameron Craig (ASU): 1:33.34
2.) Austin Phillips (Utah): 1:34.20
3.) Long Gutierrez (Cal): 1:34.22
4.) Michael Jensen (Cal): 1:34.31
5.) Reed Malone (USC): 1:34.37
6.) Grant Shoults (Stanford): 1:34.46
7.) Dylan Carter (USC): 1:34.53
8.) Kyle Coan (Cal): 1:34.94 

100 BREASTSTROKE

Pac-12 Conference Record: 50.04 (Kevin Cordes - Arizona, 2014)
Pac-12 Championship Record: 51.23 (Kevin Cordes - Arizona, 2014)
NCAA 'A' cut: 51.93
2016 Invited: 52.92

Carsten Vissering made quite a statement on Friday morning with prelim whopper of 51.82. Could we see Kevin Cordes' meet record go down? Zona's Blair Bish had the fastest split on the 200 medley relay with a 23.01 but is traditionally a much faster relay swimmer. Connor Hoppe will be battling for the podium as well, having won the title last year in 51.86. Could we see the same top three Friday night as we saw last year?

1.) Carsten Vissering (USC): 51.82 (NCAA 'A')
2.) Connor Hoppe (Cal): 52.29
3.) Christian Lorenz (ASU): 52.32
4.) Blair Bish (Arizona): 52.61
5.) Matt Anderson (Stanford): 52.69
6.) Carson Sand (Cal): 52.72
7.) Steven Stumph (USC): 53.00
8.) Matt Whittle (Cal): 53.05

100 BACKSTROKE

Pac-12 Conference Record: 43.49 (Ryan Murphy - Cal, 2016)
Pac-12 Championship Record: 44.95 (Ralf Tribuntsov - USC, 2015)
NCAA 'A' cut: 45.37
2016 Invited: 46.51

Get your popcorn ready. Ryan Murphy will undoubtedly take down the meet record in this after having gone 20.7 leading off the 200 medley relay on Wednesday. Murphy holds every record in the books with his unfathomable 43.49 from NCAAs last year, but he will be fighting off USC's Ralf Tribuntsov​, who currently holds said meet record… for now. Last year had only two swimmers go 45 or faster, and we could see five Friday night.

1.) Ralf Tribuntsov (USC): 45.74
2.) Ryan Dudzinski (Stanford): 45.84 
3.) Richard Bohus (ASU): 45.91
4.) Ryan Murphy (Cal): 45.94
5.) Paul Ungur (Utah): 46.31
6.) Thomas Anderson (Arizona): 46.41
7.) Andrew Liang (Stanford) 46.54
8.) Justin McArthur (Utah): 46.60