FRESNO – Second-ranked California opened up the Chick-Fil-A Invitational Friday by winning 11 of 13 events in a five-way meet at Fresno State, led by two victories apiece by junior Kathleen Baker and freshman Sarah Darcel.
 
The meet, which features teams from Cal, Fresno State, San Diego State, San Jose State and Nevada, concludes with seven more races on Saturday.
 
"Our goal for this weekend is to have a lot of people compete a lot of different events, both individually and in relays," head coach Teri McKeever said. "We want to race as much as we can – race against others, race against ourselves and race in events that we're not as comfortable swimming. We'll then take feedback and use it to get an idea where we are at this point of the year to prepare us for what we'll face down the road."
 
Baker, a three-time individual NCAA champion last year, skipped her specialties in the backstroke and individual medley, and instead captured the 50 freestyle in 23.55 and the 100 breaststroke in 1:03.28. Darcel, a member of the Canadian National Team, claimed both individual medley events, taking the 200-yard race in 2:00.96 and the 400 IM in 4:15.56, almost five seconds ahead of Baker, who was the runner-up.
 
Cal started the day by taking the top two spots in the 200 medley relay, with the foursome of Amy Bilquist, Abbey Weitzeil, Noemie Thomas and Robin Neumann touching in 1:42.06. The Bears also won the two others relays on the afternoon. Darcel, Valerie Hull, Thomas and Bilquist completed the 200 free relay in 1:34.73, while Baker, Keaton Blovad, Neumann and Katie McLaughlin took the 800 free relay in 7;24.80.
 
Other individual winners for the Bears were Chenoa Devine in the 500 free (4:55.81), Thomas in the 100 butterfly (53.22), Bilquist in the 100 backstroke (55.01) and Briana Thai in 1-meter diving (289.75).
 
In the team standings, Cal leads with 879 points, followed by San Diego State (443), Nevada (395), Fresno State (332) and San Jose State (305).