COLUMBUS, Ohio – On the first full night of the NCAA Championships Thursday, Cal set a pair of school records and stands in second place in the team standings through the first seven events of the national meet.
 
Cal opened the session by setting a school mark in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:25.50. The Bears swam the second-fastest time in history, one that was under the American record, but Stanford got to the wall first in 1:25.43.Maddie Murphy led off, followed by Amy Bilquist, Katie McLaughlin and Abbey Weitzeil, who closed with a 21.01 anchor leg split. Cal and Stanford were both more than a second-and-a-half ahead of the rest of the field.
 
Junior Kathleen Baker also came through with a school record, breaking her own mark in the 200 individual medley by finishing in 1:51.25. However, Stanford's Ella Eastin was a tad faster and won in 1:50.67. Both times were under the previous American record. In addition, freshman Sarah Darcel claimed 16th with a B final time of 1:56.15.
 
The Bears scored 31 points in the 50 free with three swimmers contributing to the effort. Weitzeil was fourth in 21.67, while Bilquist captured the B final in 21.88 (9th overall) and Murphy was next in line with a time of 22.07.
 
Junior Phoebe LaMay placed 42nd on the 1-meter springboard with a 6-dive score of 251.10.
 
Cal closed out the evening with a third-place showing in the 400 medley relay with the foursome of Baker, Ali Harrison, Noemie Thomas and Weitzeil touching in 3:26.86, which stands as the No. 2 time ever at Cal, topped only by the Bears' 3:25.50 at the Pac-12 Championships last month.
 
"The school record in the 200 free relay, the second-best time in history, but we're obviously a little bummed that Stanford got their hand to the wall first," head coach Teri McKeever said. "I'm still really, really proud of all of those girls. Amy, Maddie, Katie and Abbey did a really nice job. Kathleen in the 200 IM – that was an exceptional swim. Ella and her just continue to battle it out. We did a good job in the 50s picking up some points with three women in the top 10. The 400 medley relay – wow, what an amazing field. It's weird. You get third place and you're kind of bummed, and then you realize that was the second-best time in Cal history. That was a particularly great job from Ali Harrison as a freshman – her fastest split ever – and Noemie Thomas continues to be a solid rock for us."
 
Among teams, Stanford leads with 211 points, with Cal second with 147 and Texas third with 109.
 
Racing resumes Friday morning at 6 a.m. PT (9 a.m. local time) – an hour earlier than Thursday – with qualifying in the 400 IM, 100 butterfly, 200 free, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke and 200 medley relay.
 
"It's going to be really important tonight to let this go and move on for tomorrow starting an hour earlier," McKeever said. "I think it's going to be really interesting how each team responds to that. We need to make sure we're ready. We need to focus on what we're doing and we're putting as many points on the board as we can."