Whitley Punches 1:55.8 200 Breast as Cal Dominates Triple Distance

2018 TRIPLE DISTANCE MEET (STANFORD V. CAL MEN)

• November 8th, 2018
• Palo Alto, CA (Avery Aquatic Center)
• Results
• Scores
  • Cal 217, Stanford 158

Cal won the vast majority of events over Stanford, keying on big performances from several of their stars.

One of the most impressive races came from Cal freshman Reece Whitley, who took all three breaststroke events. In the 200 breast, he ripped a 1:55.87 to improve upon his old #1 time of 1:56.69. With Andrew Seliskar at 1:56.81, Cal leads this event with two swimmers– nobody else in the country has been under 1:57.9, either. In that race, Stanford frosh Daniel Roy was 1:58.54 for 2nd.

Seliskar, arguably Cal’s most valuable swimmer, did not compete today for the Bears. Neither did distance ace Nick Norman.

Whitley, earlier in the meet, was 24.76 to win the 50 breast and 53.72 to take the 100 breast. Another Cal swimmer, Zheng Quah, cleaned up the fly events, winning all three. He was 21.20 in the 50, winning by a full second, and then 47.33– over a second ahead of the field. He finished with a 1:45.13 in the 200 fly, pushing him to 3rd in the country this year. Seliskar ranks 2nd right now with a 1:44.26, and West Virginia’s David Dixon‘s 1:43.81 from October still reigns.

Sophomores Bryce Mefford and Trenton Julian won two, each. Mefford was 47.59 to win the 100 back and was 1:43.79 to take the 200 back, the latter of which ranks 2nd in the NCAA this year. Mefford was just edged out of the 50 back win with a 22.20, as Cal sophomore Daniel Carr took the race in 22.19. Julian, meanwhile, was 1:48.19 in the 200 IM and 3:49.83 in the 400 IM.

Cal junior Pawel Sendyk took the sprint frees, hitting a 19.80 to take the 50 over Cal’s Ryan Hoffer (20.04). The duo went 1-2 in the 100 free, Sendyk at 44.05, Hoffer at 44.30.

Though Cal was largely dominant, Stanford found wins in the distance freestyle events. True Sweetser dominated the 1000, going 9:06.59 for the win, while Johannes Calloni popped a 4:26.50 to lead a Stanford 1-2-3 in the 500. Abrahm Devine looked to have won the 100 IM early in the meet, but was DQ’d, allowing Mike Thomas of the Bears to win at 50.01. Devine, the reigning 400 IM NCAA champion, was 4th in the 200 and 400 IM.

OTHER WINNERS

• 200 free (distance swimmers) – James Murphy, Stanford – 1:38.33
• 200 free (sprinters) – Michael Jensen, Cal – 1:38.69
• 200 medley relay – CAL – Carr 22.20/Whitley 24.67/Sendyk 20.84/Mefford 19.88 | 1:27.59
  • Cal already holds the #1 time in the country with a 1:26.20.
• 200 free relay – CAL – Jensen 20.12/Hoffer 19.41/Quah 19.64/Thomas 20.00 | 1:19.17
  • Cal improves to #2 in the country on this relay, behind only Alabama. Notably, top sprinter Sendyk was on the 200 medley relay seconds before the 200 free relay, therefore he was left off it. Feasibly, Cal would’ve been sub-1:19.0 with Sendyk on the relay, likely instead of Thomas.