Michael Jensen Erupts for 43.2 100 Free as Cal Blanks Pacific

MEET INFO

FINAL SCORE: Cal 172 – Pacific 52

The Cal Golden Bears kicked off their season with a blowout win over Pacific, wasting no time getting started with six different nation-leading times from five different swimmers.

According to USA Swimming States on Twitter (@USASwimStats), two of those #1-ranked times went to stud freshman Michael Jensen. Coming from Upper Dublin HS and UDAC in Pennsylvania, Jensen muscled his way to a 1:36.27 clocking in the 200 free and a 43.22 showing in the 100 free. In addition to winning handily in either race over fellow frosh ‘aukai Lileikis (the Hawaiian was 1:37.67 and 44.66 in the 200 and 100, respectively), Jensen was tenths off of his 42.69 personal record in the 100 free.

Justin Lynch and Andrew Seliskar dominated the butterfly events, both soaring to nation-leading times in their respective races. Lynch popped a 47.50, edging Seliskar by a slim margin (47.53), while the sophomore Seliskar glided to a 1:45.65 showing in the 200. Lynch also blasted a 19.95 to take the 50 free win. Connor Hoppe added another #1 time in the 100 breast, sprinting to a 53.87 to win the race by over a full second.

Sophomore Mike Thomas was a double winner, like Lynch, posting victorious times in the 200 back (1:46.54) and the 200 IM (1:49.13), the latter of which was a nation #1 time. The Golden Bears went 1-2 in every event, and went as deep as 1-2-3-4 in some events in their big win over the weekend. Superior swimming from Cal‘s younger ranks gives us a glimpse into the future, as the Bears are front-runners to capitalize on a couple down years in recruiting from current NCAA juggernaut Texas.

PRESS RELEASES

CAL

COURTESY OF CAL ATHLETICS:

BERKELEY – With plenty of new faces getting their first collegiate race action and a group of returners intent on setting the tone for the season to come, the Cal men’s swimming team kicked off its 2016-17 campaign with a 172-52 dual meet victory over Pacific at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

Hosting their lone home dual meet of the fall, the Bears got started right away with a 1-2-3 finish in the 200-yard medley relay. Though a technical issue left the relays unscored for the day, Cal (1-0) kept right on rolling into the 1,000-yard freestyle where sophomore Nick Norman set the pace early and cruised home for a winning time of 9:12.93.

The 200 freestyle gave Cal fans a look at a pair of promising freshmen as Michael Jensen and ‘Aukai Lileikisdueled to the finish. Jensen posted a time of 1:36.27 to edge his teammate and the duo battled again later in the day as Pawel Sendyk joined his fellow underclassmen to go 1-2-3 in the 100 free. Jensen took that race as well with a time of 43.22.

Freshman Andy Song picked up his first collegiate win with a victory in the 100 backstroke and juniorConnor Hoppe, the defending Pac-12 champion in the 100 breaststroke, again showed his strength in that event with a good swim to earn his first win of the year. 2016 Pac-12 Newcomer of the Year Andrew Seliskar pulled away for a convincing win in the 200 butterfly and fellow Pac-12 champion of a year agoJustin Lynch claimed the 50 free to take the meet into its first break.

After fans were treated to an exhibition swim by 2016 Olympic gold medalist Tom Shields as well as Cal‘s 1-2-3 finish in the 100 free, sophomore Mike Thomas picked up a win in the 200 backstroke to highlight an impressive day for the Pennsylvania native. Senior Hunter Cobleigh outdueled Hoppe to win the 200 breaststroke and Norman made it a distance double with another convincing win in the 500 free.

Lynch earned his second victory in the 100 butterfly and Thomas closed the day’s scoring out with the top time in the 200 IM. Lynch, Lileikis, Sendyk and Jensen combined to win the 400 free relay to finish the afternoon.

“The guys stayed invested in the meet all the way through. It’s really easy to have a mindset that it’s an early season competition, we’re training through this but our guys took this meet seriously,” said Cal associate head coach Yuri Suguiyama. “I thought they gave good attention to all of their races and I felt like they were generally very invested in it.”

With the home portion of the fall dual schedule complete, Cal next turns its attention to the Pacific Invitational on Oct. 21-22. The annual Triple Distance Meet between the Bears and Stanford takes place Nov. 2 at Stanford and Cal wraps up its fall schedule from Dec. 2-4 with a trip to the Georgia Fall Invitational.

PACIFIC

COURTESY OF PACIFIC ATHLETICS:

Berkeley, Calif. – The Pacific men’s swim team couldn’t overcome nationally-ranked California Friday night in the first dual meet of the year, losing on the road in total points.  The men will next be in action at the Pacific Invitational, which begins Friday, October 21 at 7:00 pm.  The women’s team starts their season today at 4:30 pm at Cal State East Bay before coming home for the Pacific Invitational.

Mitchell Ongstad and Curtis Klein each came away with third-place finishes for the best placing of the day for the Tigers against Cal, which ended last season ranked second in the nation.  Ongstad swam a 20.98 in the 50 Free while Klein swam a 1:49.72 in the 200 Back, more than five seconds ahead of fourth place.

Klein also had the best time of any Tiger in the 100 Back with his 51.34, which was less than two-tenths of a second behind third place.  He swam a 1:56.15 in the 200 IM for the best time of any Tiger as well.

In the 200 Free, Josh Owens had Pacific‘s top time with a 1:43.61.  That was just barely ahead of Miles MacKenzie, who swam a 1:44.26.  MacKenzie also swam a 46.84 in the 100 Free while Owens put up a 46.98 in that event.  It was Stewart Harrison who had the best time of the Tigers in the 100 Free at 46.31.

In the 100 Breast, Yahav Shahaff swam a 58.24 after setting the school record last year in that event.  Freshman Brandon Reno, who also had a 2:15.79 in the 200 Breast, was just two seconds behind Shahaff in the 100.

Jared Vu swam the 200 Fly in 1:56.54, the only Tiger to come under two minutes.  Vu’s 100 Fly time of 50.01 was also the best by a Tiger, coming just one second away from third place.

Nick Zachmeier was the lone Tiger swimming in the 1000 Free and came away with a time of 10:37.28.  He also swam the 500 Free, finishing best among the Tigers with a 5:07.28.

Make sure to follow Pacific swimming on Twitter with the username @PacTigersH2O and on Instagram at pacificswimteam.

 

AB

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Max
7 years ago

I got to swim with him in high school and hes a savage

Bfunk
7 years ago

I don’t want to sound dumb but were these swims done in just a brief or tech suits?

Sarcastic
Reply to  Bfunk
7 years ago

I’m sure they wore tech suits, they were also shaved and a bit tapered too!

pine tree
7 years ago

Cals early season was impressive and promising. But what’s the story with Gwo and Vergani and Burns, are they going to join the team at some point?

Admin
Reply to  pine tree
7 years ago

pine tree – Burns has left the program to focus on academics, and is not expected to return. No updates on Gwo or Vergani yet.

pine tree
Reply to  Braden Keith
7 years ago

Thanks for the update Braden. Good for J. Burns, his life is in front of him and there’s nothing better than a great education to enhance his future. Congrats him.
Wonder what’s up with Gwo & Vergani though?

PACFAN
7 years ago

Details on the Shields exhibition swim?

gator
Reply to  PACFAN
7 years ago

he stepped onto the blocks, scorched the lane, and then got out and toweled off.

student
Reply to  PACFAN
7 years ago

Nothing special. He swam a 200 fly in 1:43 low

Cmon
7 years ago

Wheres kids?

weirdo
Reply to  Cmon
7 years ago

huh?

Cmon
Reply to  weirdo
7 years ago

Haha I thought I typed Josa isn’t he supposed to be on cal this year?

James
7 years ago

The disparity between the D1 swimming programs in CA is massive. Cal would be better off with an intersquad meet then going up against the likes of Cal Poly, Pacific, etc. And that’s not to knock the swimmers at any of those other programs – they are talented in their own right and certainly have a couple standouts each. But Cal (and even USC, both AZ programs, and UCLA women) are just far and away from instate competition.

Harambe
Reply to  James
7 years ago

Which state has more disparity, Cal or Texas?

Sccoach
Reply to  James
7 years ago

Nationally ranked teams in all sports go up against soft teams in early season out of conference competition. It’s not a big deal. It’s also nice to have some early low pressure competitions when everyone is swimming tired. Cal knows they are going to win, UOP knows they are going to lose, no pressure. Going outside the PAC 12 in California they are going to face soft teams, but it’s better than having to get on a plane and losing study time to see an out of conference faster team in another state.

It also doesn’t hurt these smaller schools to see what the best teams are doing even if they are getting crushed. I think it gives them… Read more »

James
Reply to  Sccoach
7 years ago

I agree, though I think it would be neat to see a swimming National level meet for what football programs would classify as NCAA D1-AA. Because many of these “soft” teams would dominate at the D2 or D3 level meets, but are unlikely as a team to get representation at the biggest stage.

Sccoach
Reply to  James
7 years ago

Well the swimmers know what they are getting into when they commit to school. They could be a top dog at a D2 or D3 school and make nationals for that division, or be mediocre at a D1 school where their taper meet would be league championships. It’s up to them. Every division is going to have to have slower teams, they can’t all be the best.

UOP is D1 and they are competitive in their conference, I think their swimmers are ok with tapering for their league championship meet. There aren’t many school nationwide where the majority of their team qualifies for the NCAA championships. Most schools taper for league champs.

TAA
Reply to  Sccoach
7 years ago

I still have vague memories of the year I had dual meets swimming against Biondi and Jaeger. God I am getting old

JJG
7 years ago

43.2 at the beginning of the season?? Very impressed by this kid. Cal’s freshmen class is unbelievably good this year.

iLikePsych
7 years ago

Have they done the King of the Pool yet?

Sarcastic
Reply to  iLikePsych
7 years ago

They don’t swim that meet anymore.

About Karl Ortegon

Karl Ortegon

Karl Ortegon studied sociology at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, graduating in May of 2018. He began swimming on a club team in first grade and swam four years for Wesleyan.

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