Cal Swim: Golden Bears Charge into First Place at the NCAA Men's Championships
The Cal men’s swim team took a big step closer to its seventh NCAA championship, surging ahead of Texas and Florida into the lead on Friday through 14 events.
Hugo Gonzalez set an NCAA record while winning the 400-yard individual medley to open the day at Atlanta, and the foursome of Destin Lasco, Reece Whitley, Trenton Julian and Bjorn Seeliger capped the night with a victory in the 400 medley relay in school-record time.
The meet concludes Saturday with seven events. Cal has 320.5 points, the Longhorns are second at 313 and the Gators third at 272.
Cal has finished among the top two teams at the past 11 NCAA meets, posting victories in 2011, 12, ’14 and ’19. There was no national championship meet in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bears previously won national crowns in 1979 and ’80.
On the heels of winning their fifth straight Pac-12 title, the Bears swam to third place in the team standings after Wednesday and Thursday.
Gonzalez broke Cal’s record in the 400 IM in the morning prelims then took two more seconds off that mark with a time of 3:32.88 to eclipse the NCAA and U.S. Open mark of 3:33.42 set by Georgia's Chase Kalisz in 2017.
Sean Grieshop and Jason Louser scored points by finishing eighth and ninth in the same event.
The 400 medley relay was contested in four timed heats and the Bears captured the third of those with a mark of 3:00.36 which gave them the lead and set a program record. Indiana won the final heat in 3:00.76, keeping Cal atop the rankings.
Cal scored significant points in the 100 breast, where Liam Bell twice lowered the program record, including a 50.50 mark in the final that earned him third place. Teammate Whitley was fourth in 50.84, also his lifetime best.
Julian and Jason Hanson placed seventh and 15th in the 200 free, and four Cal swimmers scored in the 100 back, topped by Lasco’s personal-best clocking of 44.36 for fourth place.
On Thurdsay, Lasco was second in the 200 IM with a time of 1:38.21 that lifted him to No. 2 in school history. Seeliger was second in the 50 free at 18.59 seconds — just 0.03 seconds behind LSU's Brooks Curry.
Seeliger led off the 200 free relay with a school-record mark of 18.27 for the 50 free, and the team tied its school record with a runner-up tie of 1:14.36.
On Wednesday, the meet’s opening night, the Bears’ 200 medley relay team of Seeliger, Bell, Julian and Carr tied for third and set a school record of 1:21.69. Seeliger’s opening 50 backstroke leg of 20.08 was the fastest in history, topping the previous record set by Olympian Ryan Murphy of Cal.
The Bears’ quartet of Julian, Hanson, Gabriel Jett and Lasco set a school record of 6:06.90 in the 800 free relay to secure fourth place.
Cover photo of the Cal relay team of Destin Lasco, Bjorn Seeliger, Trenton Julian and Reece Whitley by Justin Casterline, KLC fotos
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo