Cal Rolls Again To Finish Two-Win Road Trip
Tim Binning/TheSwimPictures.com
Andrew Seliskar Recorded The Top Time In Three Races Saturday At ASU (Tim Binning)

Cal Rolls Again To Finish Two-Win Road Trip

Story Links

TEMPE, Ariz. – For the second day in a row, the Cal men's swimming and diving team touched the wall first in each race and that translated to another emphatic dual meet victory as the Bears beat Arizona State 160-130 to win their second dual meet in as many days.

One day after earning a win at Arizona, No. 1-ranked Cal (3-0) kept its momentum going against a No. 12-ranked Arizona State squad swimming its final home meet of 2016-17. High winds and chilly temperatures didn't deter the Bears from getting off to a good start as Ryan Murphy provided a big lead after the backstroke leg and Hunter Cobleigh, Justin Lynch and Long Gutierrez kept right on rolling to a time of 3:09.67 and a win in the 400-yard medley relay.

Sophomore Nick Norman got his day started with a competitive effort in the 1,000 freestyle, battling Arizona State's Benjamin Olszewski throughout but eventually picking up the win with a time of 9:14.05. The 200 free was a similarly close affair, but this time it was a pair of Bears fighting for the win as Gutierrez pulled into the lead late to edge Jensen with a time of 1:35.34. Ryan Kao placed third and Kyle Coan touched fourth to wrap up a Cal sweep.

Murphy picked up the first of two backstroke wins with a dominant effort in the 100, cruising to a time of 46.42. He earned a similarly impressive victory in the 200 with a time of 1:41.22 later in the day and set a pool record in the process, eclipsing the mark of 1:41.84 set by ASU's Barkley Perry in 2016.

A trio of Bears battled through the breaststroke events with Connor Hoppe picking up the win in the 100, Andrew Seliskar taking the 200 and Hunter Cobleigh placing second in both. A similar scenario played out in the butterfly with a good dual between Seliskar and Matthew Josa giving way to a Seliskar win in the 200 and Josa coming back to outduel Lynch for a win in the 100.

Jensen continued a standout freshman campaign with more success in the sprint freestyle as the native of Upper Dublin, Pa. won the 50 for the second-straight day and added a victory in the 100 as well. The 500 free provided some of the day's more exciting racing as Kao overtook ASU's Olszewski in the final 50 yards to win with a time of 4:28.23.

After the final break of the day, Seliskar put the finishing touches on a big day with a dominant top time of 3:50.88 in the 400 individual medley. A battle between Bears capped a 1-2-3 finish as freshman Jack Xie outdueled Ken Takahashi for second. The day closed with another strong relay performance as Jensen, Murphy, Pawel Sendyk and Josa earned the top time of 1:18.99.

Conor Callahan added points for the Bears with a pair of third-place finishes in diving but the freshman continued to show his progress as he set season-highs with a score of 355.05 in the 1-meter and 382.65 in the 3-meter. Both marks are believed to be the second-best in program history.

Cal returns to action at Spieker Aquatics Complex on Feb. 3 when the Bears host USC at 2 p.m. The 2016-17 dual meet season comes to a close on Feb. 18 when Cal hosts Stanford at noon. That meet will also serve as Senior Day and the final prep meet for the Pac-12 Championships in Federal Way, Wash.
 
Print Friendly Version