The Cal men’s swim team took down Hawaii on Friday, and showed why they are the number one in the nation, putting up fast and even nation-leading times in the process.
Cal looked solid from start to finish despite not submitting their strongest lineup. They improve to 2-0 on the season. the Hawaii men fell to 0-1.
Full results are available here.
The Bears started things off strong, with a one, two, three finish in the 200 medley relay. The relay of Ryan Murphy, Connor Hoppe, Josh Prenot, and Tyler Messerschmidt put a 1:27.82, good for the number one time in the nation to this point. The C relay of Jacob Pebley, Chuck Katis, Will Hamilton, and Seth Stubblefield were 1:28.86, good for third in the nation behind Alabama.
Cal then went one and two in the 1000 freestyle, led by sophomore Janardan Burns who came in at 9:22.16, good for 17th in the nation and Cal’s fastest time this year. Adam Hinshaw, who had Cal’s second fastest time in the 1000 last season, was second in 9:24.41.
Distance will be something for the bears to focus on, freshman Ryan Kao put up the fastest time of the year in the 500 for the Bears, 4:29.74, good tenth in the nation, but more than five seconds behind florida sophomore and the nations leader in the 500 Mitch D’Arrigo.
However, Cal still dominated the meet. Junior Trent Williams dominated the 200 freestyle, earning an NCAA ‘B’ cut with his 1:37.33 performance. Williams is now second in the nation in the 200 freestyle behind Florida junior Pawel Werner.
Defending NCAA champion Ryan Murphy won the 100 back with his best time of the season so far, a 47.17. However, Murphy still has time to make up on Texas’ Kip Darmody, who was 46.92 in the 100 back at the Texas Orange and White intrasquad, and will likely impress this weekend when the Longhorns take on Texas A&M. Murphy did not swim the 200 back, which was won by Cal’s Jacob Plebley.
Murphy also won the 100 freestyle in 44.64.
Cal freshman Connor Hoppe, who was on the nation leading medley relay won the 100 breast, while junior Josh Prenot, Cal’s number two 200 breastroker last season, won the 200 breast.
Cal returned all four members of their 400 free relay from last season, but did not put them together on Friday. Instead, Murphy took the day off from the relay and head coach David Durden split up Stubblefield and junior Tyler Messerschmidt, who figure to be two of Cal’s top sprinters.
Messerschmidt and senior Fabio Gimondi were on the B relay, Cal’s fastest finisher, and split 44.31, good for the fastest from Cal’s relays, and 45.72, respectively. The B relay, made up of Long Gutierrez, Messerschmidt, Gimondi, and Henry Chung, came in at 3:00.54.
Stubblefield was on the C relay and split a 45.15.
Cal won the meet 159-117.
