CAL VS. STANFORD
- Results
- Hosted by Cal
- Friday, November 10th
- 25 Yards
- Triple Distance Format
- Unscored
The Cal Golden Bears and Stanford Cardinal met in Berkeley on Friday for their annual unscored triple distance meet. All-American butterfliers Zheng Quah and Justin Lynch put on a show for the Bears, with Quah sweeping the butterflies in a trio of tight battles with Lynch. They first tied in the 50 fly, with each touching in 21.13. In their next race, the 100 fly, they were separated by hundredths. Lynch had the edge up front, 22.14 to 22.18, but Quah came through down the final stretch to get his hands to the wall first in 47.02 to Lynch’s 47.07. He completed the sweep in the 200 fly, pushing ahead of Lynch on the back half to win it in 1:44.63, followed by Lynch in 1:45.10.
Mike Thomas picked up an IM sweep for the Bears. In the 100 IM, he held off Stanford’s Alex Liang to take the win 50.61 to 50.66. Thomas and Liang battled closely in the 200 IM as well, with Liang leading through the 150 but Thomas battling back with a 25.08 closing split to secure the win in 1:48.01 to Liang’s 1:48.76. Thomas finished things off with a dominant 3:49.50 victory in the 400 IM.
Swimming fans have speculated that Andrew Seliskar may be swapping out the 200 fly for the 200 breast this season. Seliskar took on the breaststrokes in triple distance action. Teammate Connor Hoppe won the sprints, putting up a 24.53 in the 50 breast and a 53.88 in the 100 breast, but Seliskar dominated the 200 breast in 1:56.83.
Stanford freshman Johannes Calloni picked up a pair of distance free wins. In the 500 free, Calloni set the pace early on, leading the way in 4:24.99 ahead of All-American teammate Grant Shoults, the reigning Pac-12 champ, who touched in 4:27.70. Shoults had topped Calloni in the 200 free earlier, leading from start to finish in 1:37.38 while Calloni tied teammate True Sweetser for 2nd in 1:40.17. Calloni went on to take his 2nd win in the 1000 free, touching in 9:04.09 to finish over 8 seconds ahead of Cal’s Nick Norman (9:12.76).
PRESS RELEASE – CAL:
BERKELEY – Given a chance to see swimmers challenged in three different distances of one stroke, the Cal men’s swimming team showcased its strength up and down the lineup as the Bears won five of six events and edged Stanford in both relays as the two Bay Area rivals squared off in their annual Triple Distance Meet.
With winners crowned through the combined time in three strokes, the Bears and Cardinal got a chance to see plenty of racing under cloudy skies in Berkeley. Cal’s depth in the butterfly was particularly evident as Justin Lynch won the 50 and Zheng Wen Quah, who placed second in the 50, came back to win both the 100 and 200 and edge his teammate for the overall win. Quah swam to times of 21.13 in the 50, 47.02 in the 100 and 1:44.63 in the 200 to get the victory.
In the breaststroke, Connor Hoppe jumped out to the early lead with wins in the 50 and 100 but it was Andrew Seliskar who came through at the end as the junior swam to a time of 1:56.83 in the 200 to earn the overall victory. Carson Sand was also a factor in the final standings, placing second in all three distances.
The sprint freestyle came down to the final event as well, with freshman Ryan Hoffer swimming to a time of 20.04 in the 50 free and Michael Jensen taking the 100 in a time of 43.80. Jensen powered to the overall win with an impressive performance in the 200, stopping the clock in a time of 1:36.14 that was over three seconds better than Stanford’s Sam Perry, who placed second.
A pair of second-place finishes in the backstroke got the job done for freshman Daniel Carr as, after the whole field was awarded the same time in the 50 due to a timing malfunction, the Colorado native swam to a time of 48.19 in the 100 and 1:45.25 in the 200. Matthew Josa won the 100 and Bryce Mefford took the 200 in 1:45.01.
Cal’s final win came in the individual medley with junior Mike Thomas sweeping all three events to get the overall victory. He swam to a time of 50.61 in the 100, 1:48.01 in the 200 and 3:49.50 in the 400 and was the only swimmer to sweep an individual event.
The day finished up with a pair of relay wins for the Bears as the team of Carr, Hoppe, Quah and Lynch finished with a time of 1:27.29 in the 200 medley relay and the quartet of Pawel Sendyk, Jensen, Hoffer and Josa won the 200 free relay in 1:18.23.
“We have the benefit of swimming at home. We have a great environment for dual meets,” Cal head coach David Durden said. “We re-orientated the pool, so we had the start on the south end which might not be new for Nort (Thornton) but it’s new for us and something we haven’t done in 11 years. It was cool to see that and to have the fans on the course for a majority of the 25 yards was really cool. I think we benefited from that. The guys did a nice job through the four races that they had.”
Friday’s meet represented Cal’s one home meet of the fall season but the Bears still have one big competition in front of them before turning the calendar to 2018. They’ll travel to Georgia from Dec. 1-3 to compete in the Georgia Fall Invitational and close out 2017. Cal’s divers will also compete once more in 2017 as they head to Flagstaff, Ariz. on Nov. 17-19 to compete in the NAU Lumberjack Diving Invitational.
PRESS RELEASE – STANFORD:
BERKELEY, Calif. – No. 7 Stanford traveled across the bay to compete in its annual triple distance meet with No. 2 California at the Legends Aquatic Center.
“Different guys had their chances to shine today, depending on the length of the race, and we had some great swims every time the gun went off,” said Goldman Family Director of Men’s Swimming Ted Knapp. “After today, we know where we stand as we get ready for the Texas Invitational in a few weeks.”
The format of the meet, which does not include a team score, was to swim three distances in one of six disciplines – butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, sprint freestyle, individual medley and distance freestyle.
In the first event of the day, Andrew Liang (21.54) paced Stanford in the 50-yard butterfly, followed by William Macmillan (22.73) and Brad Zdroik (22.81).
Matt Anderson (25.69) and Hank Poppe (25.69) tied for fourth in the 50-yard breaststroke, before Sam Perry (20.19) led Stanford with second place in the 50-yard freestyle. Alberto Mestre (20.47) was not far behind in fourth, and Cole Cogswell was sixth (20.69).
Alex Liang (50.66) paced the Cardinal in the 100-yard individual medley, finishing second while Curtis Ogren (51.59) was fourth.
Grant Shoults (1:37.38) recorded Stanford’s first win of the day in the distance 200-yard freestyle. Johannes Calloni (1:40.17), True Sweetser (1:40.17) and James Murphy (1:40.63) rounded out the top four.
Andrew Liang (47.39) swam Stanford’s fastest time in the 100-yard butterfly, while Zdroik (49.50) placed fourth. In the 100-yard backstroke, Benjamin Ho (48.56) led the Cardinal with a third-place finish.
In the 100-yard breaststroke, Poppe (55.17) registered Stanford’s fastest time in fourth place, and Brennan Pastorek (55.94) was right behind him in fifth.
Sam Perry (43.80) was Stanford’s fastest man in the 100-yard freestyle, followed by Cole Cogswell (45.07) and Alberto Mestre (45.44). In the 200-yard individual medley, Alex Liang(1:48.76) paced the Cardinal in second place with Ogren (1:50.00) in fourth.
Stanford was dominant in the second distance swim of the day, the 500-yard freestyle. Calloni (4:24.99) paced the field, followed by Shoults (4:27.70) and Murphy (4:28.13) to complete the podium.
Macmillan (1:48.45) was the fastest Cardinal in the 200-yard butterfly, while Andrew Liang(1:48.70) took fifth and Zdroik (1:50.14) placed sixth.
Ho (1:47.41) and Glen Cowand (1:48.29) were Stanford’s fastest swimmers in the 200-yard backstroke, and Pastorek (2:00.55) paced the Cardinal in the 200-yard breaststroke, followed by Poppe (2:02.46) and Anderson (2:05.63).
Perry (1:39.50) took second place in the sprint 200 free with Cogswell (1:41.44) in fourth, Mestre (1:43.18) in fifth and Jordan Greenberg (1:43.79) in sixth.
Ogren (3:54.61) logged his best finish of the day in the 400-yard individual medley, placing second with Alex Liang (3:55.02) right behind him in third.
Stanford took five of the top six spots in the 1000-yard freestyle, led by Calloni (9:04.09). Liam Egan (9:13.81) was third, followed by Shoults (9:15.88), Murphy (9:18.29) and Sweetser (9:18.74).
The final two events of the meet were the 200-yard medley relay and the 200-yard freestyle relay. Ho, Poppe, Macmillan and Pastorek (1:29.98) led Stanford in the 200 medley relay, and Andrew Liang, Perry, Mestre and Cogswell (1:19.96) were the Cardinal’s fastest in the 200 free relay.
Stanford returns to action on Nov. 29 when it travels to compete in the Texas Invitational in Austin, Texas. The meet will run through Saturday, Dec. 2, with limited coverage on Longhorn Network. Heat sheets and live results will be available at GoStanford.com.
What’s going on with hoffer?
Looked like he swam decently fast to me, especially when you factor in how a big guy like him responds to hard training, lifting, etc. in season. Certainly far better results than the Utah meet, to be sure.
I was at the meet in Berkeley. The format for the Triple Event moved real fast with swimmers all over the place including Cal Olympian medalists Josh Prenot, Jacob Pebley, Ryan Murphy, Missy Franklin and invited High school preps Reece Whitely (Cal) and Liang (Stanford).
This meet was both schools first strong meet. For people worrying about Hoffer, let’s wait until Cal participates in the Georgia Invitation meet for Men and Women in early December and we will see how much the Bears have progressed. Ditto Stanford.
Did anyone else notice Shoults’ splits in the 500/1000?
yeah he was clearly messing around or (more charitably) trying some different racing strategies
Seliskar swam breaststroke at this meet… looking at that 200 for NCAAs? It’s a wide open event and his best time from 2015 (1:51, right?) might be the fastest of any current NCAA eligible swimmers.
MIke T had a really nice 400 IM, and his breaststroke splits were not too shabby! That seems like a good event for him on Championship day 3, and maybe the 200 IM on Day 2, to add to 200 Fly on Day 4.
They need guys like Thomas, Jensen, and Xie to really step it up at NCAAs this year and score individual points if they want to take this likely narrow window to win it all. They’ve brought in so many top recruits but they need to capitalize more on some of that potential. Thomas finding success as a butterflier and hopefully an IMer as well is helpful,but you’d like to have one of the fastest high school 100 backstrokers ever contribute in that event. Young not qualifying for NCAAs last year was another indicator that they have a bit of a backstroke problem that has been (effectively) masked by Ryan Murphy’s dominance.
Yeah I remember that Mike T. went something like 46.1 for the 100 back in a Pennsylvania HS meet. He’s been more a flyer at Cal but also threw in a 1:50 LCM 200 free in the early summer at Santa Clara during what was likely heavy training.
Uh unless the NCAA has rules where slower people qualify before higher people he definitely qualifies, they just chose not to take him
Mm actually his best time in the 100 last year looks like it was a 46.92, same as Thomas, and at a glance his 200 didn’t put him among the top 100. So no, he didn’t qualify.
Yet people with slower times did, interesting
They qualified in other events. Learn the rules before you talk.
The next Conger-Schooling after Schooling graduates? But for now its Dressel-Schooling & Schooling-Quah.
NCAA Win is lookin pretty possible. Some really need to show up. Mike T finding his 400 IM juice looks primising. Hoffer lookin real good. Even had a decent 200. Hoping Jensen will step up more this year on ind swims in the post season… He’s so good at duals. Seli figuring out breastroke again. Carson looking clutch for a wide open 100 Breast.
They really have quite the squad loaded in butterfly for all distances. Got 3 52 or below breastrokers IIRC. Got 2 18 second freestylers. They got a solid IM group with Seliskar. And their backstroke group is pretty nuts. Relays looking really good. Only gap is they may only have one scorer in distance free
Dang 21.13 fly for Quah and Lynch. That’s fast. Also nice Hoffer first in the 50 and third in the 100. Will people still complain about him the answer may not surprise you it’s yes