ATHENS, Ga. – Sophomore Abbey Weitzeil lowered her national-leading time in the 50-yard freestyle and anchored two relays to victory to lead Cal on the first night of the Georgia Fall Invitational Friday.
 
Weitzeil, the American-record holder in the 50 free, posted a season-best time of 21.44 in morning qualifying, then sprinted to the win in the final with a time of 21.60. Junior Amy Bilquist (third, 22.03), sophomore Maddie Murphy (sixth, 22.43) and senior Valerie Hull (seventh, 22.51) rounded out the group of four Golden Bears in the A final.
 
In the opening event of the meet, Cal showed why it is a force again in the 200 free relay. The Bears, who are the three-time defending NCAA champions in the event, used an order of Murphy, Bilquist, Hull and Weitzeil to finish in 1:28.71, which ranks as the fastest in the country this year and No. 8 on the school's all-time list.
 
Closing out the night, Bilquist, freshman Ali Harrison, senior Noemie Thomas and Weitzeil captured the 400 medley relay in 3:30.45 to give the Bears their second relay cut below the NCAA "A" qualifying standard.
 
"I thought we did a nice job with good, positive energy against some very good competition," head coach Teri McKeever said. "We still get to experiment a little and get some people second swims. Overall, I was happy with today's performance and we look forward to backing it up over the next couple of days."
 
In other races, junior Katie McLaughlin led the Bears in the 500 free with her time of 4:39.45, with freshman Robin Neumann right behind in seventh in 4:43.50. Chenoa Devine took 10th – second in the B final – in 4:42.63 with a nearly four-second improvement over her morning qualifying time.
 
In the 200 individual medley, freshman Sarah Darcel placed fifth with a time of 1:56.69, which puts her ninth on Cal's all-time list in the event, while sophomore Keaton Blovad finished sixth in a personal-best 1:57.08.
 
Kathleen Baker, who has already posted NCAA "A" qualifying times in three events, did not make the trip to Georgia due to illness, deciding instead to recover and prepare for upcoming final exams. The Bears are also competing without their divers, who recently wrapped up three days of competition at the Lumberjack Invitational in Arizona.
 
Michigan leads the team standings with 296.5 points, followed by Cal with 271.5, host Georgia with 222 and Virginia with 187.5.
 
Racing continues Saturday and Sunday with prelims starting at 6:30 a.m. PT and finals at 2 p.m. PT Saturday and noon PT Sunday. The finals sessions both days will be streamed by the SEC Network.