ATHENS, Ga. - Two impressive relay swims and a pair of fast freshmen in the 50-yard freestyle were just a few of the highlights from an impressive first day for the Cal men's swimming team at the Georgia Fall Invitational.

After 12 events, Cal leads the team standings with a score of 259. Host Georgia is second with 223 while Auburn is third at 209.

Racing against others for the first time in nearly a month, the Bears didn't wait long to unleash the competitiveness they had stored up. Freshman Pawel Sendyk sent Cal to the lead with a split of 19.41 to lead off the 200 freestyle relay and that lead only grew when senior Ryan Murphy jumped in and split 19.10. Michael Jensen went even faster, touching in 19.01 to set Justin Lynch up to close the deal. The junior swam to a time of 19.42 and Cal stopped the clock in 1:16.94 to win the night's opening relay and set an NCAA A qualifying time.

The 500 freestyle came next and a pair of Bears landed a spot in the A final. Ryan Kao led the way, finishing third in a time of 4:18.97 that was over 10 seconds faster than his previous best this year. Teammate Nick Norman was right behind him, finishing fourth in 4:19.27.

In the 200 individual medley, a pair of Bears took aim at an Olympic silver medalist and battled him right to the wire. Georgia's Chase Kalisz, who took silver in the 400 IM at the Rio Olympics, won with a time of 1:41.26 that is the best in the nation so far this year. Cal sophomore Andrew Seliskar also posted a time faster than the previous national best, finishing in 1:42.41 to finish second, as did Murphy who finished in 1:42.53 to place third. Cal's Mike Thomas also made the A final, continuing his strong start to the 2016-17 season.

The 50 freestyle turned into a battle of blue and gold, with three members of the 200 free relay team -- Sendyk, Lynch and Jensen -- all returning to swim the A final. And, Cal's youngsters delivered the goods in an impressive turn of speed as Sendyk clocked a time of 19.01 that is second in the country this year. Jensen finished second in 19.49 while Lynch placed seventh.

To wrap up the evening, Cal turned up the heat yet again with a strong performance in the 400 medley relay. Murphy gave the Bears a lead of over a second after the backstroke, Connor Hoppe kept things rolling with a strong turn in the breaststroke, Lynch took over for the butterfly and Jensen closed it out in the freestyle to stop the clock in a time of 3:03.82 that is fastest in the nation so far this year and also doubles as an A qualifying time. And, the Bears placed two other relays in the top eight as the team of Thomas, Seliskar, Sendyk and 'Aukai Lileikis finished fourth and the quartet of Ethan Young, Carson Sand, Jack Xie and Dillon Williams placed seventh.

Cal returns to action on Saturday morning with prelim swims in the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, and 100 back. The night session will feature finals in all those races as well as the 200 medley relay and the 800 free relay.