Cal Downs American Record in 200 Medley Relay Victory

Swimming out of lane 8, the California Golden Bears took down the American Record from SwimMAC Carolina in the opening event of night two, the 200 medley relay.  Ryan Murphy, Chuck Katis, Tony Cox, and Tyler Messerschmidt touched first in 1:22.83, lowering SwimMAC’s record of 1:23.02.

The original second-place team, the Arizona Wildcats, were disqualified for a jump from flyer Giles Smith.  The Texas Longhorns ended up taking second in 1:23.30.

The splits comparisons between the new record, old record, and Cal’s 2013 American Record-setting relay:

Cal – 2014 NCAA:
Murphy: 20.90
Katis: 23.29
Cox: 19.99
Messerschmidt: 18.65

SwimMAC Carolina – 2013 AT&T Winter Nationals
Nick Thoman: 20.69
Eric Knight: 23.83
Tim Phillips: 20.02
Cullen Jones: 18.48

Cal – 2013 NCAA:
Cox: 21.24
Hoyt: 23.58
Shields: 19.71
Stubblefield: 18.64

The front half (Murphy and Katis) made the difference for the Bears in the race and in the record hunt.  Shields’ fly split from a year ago was one of the best ever, but Tony Cox nearly matched it with a field-leading 19.99.

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jiggs
10 years ago

Great job California! Looks like this race needed two “other” spots in the pick em contest.
2 – Texas, 3 – Auburn
Maybe the relays could have 12 choices up front. (and bonus points with an added “DQ” selection)

bobo gigi
10 years ago

Ladies and Gentlemen, here’s the race video! 😎
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cb1GN6FTXo

sven
10 years ago

Arizona is breaking my heart this weekend. I can’t imagine how they must be feeling right now. Hopefully they’ll get it together for day 3.

liquidSaysRollOnYouBears!
10 years ago

The Bears rolled over them all!!

Peterdavis
10 years ago

Yea buddy

About Morgan Priestley

Morgan Priestley

A Stanford University and Birmingham, Michigan native, Morgan Priestley started writing for SwimSwam in February 2013 on a whim, and is loving that his tendency to follow and over-analyze swim results can finally be put to good use. Morgan swam competitively for 15+ years, primarily excelling in the mid-distance freestyles. While …

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