BERKELEY - A late afternoon meet that finished under the lights served as a good example of the Cal men's swimming team's versatility as the Bears continued their run of good early season form and defeated Utah 165-128 in the Pac-12 opener for both schools.

Junior Ryan Murphy had a strong day individually, claiming event dominant wins in the 50-yard freestyle and 100 butterfly while also swimming on the winning 200 medley relay. Freshman Andrew Seliskar was Cal's other double-event winner, taking victories in the 100 backstroke and 200 breaststroke.

"Tonight was about our seniors laying out a plan for what our guys wanted to do, not necessarily having it come from myself or Yuri (Suguiyama)," Cal head coach David Durden said. "Our seniors followed through with that expectation, not necessarily through their performance but through them setting the tone for what needed to get done tonight and making sure our guys were following through."

In much the same way as it did against Pacific to open the season, Cal (2-0) came out strong in the early events. Murphy swam the leadoff leg of the 200-yard medley relay and built a lead that Connor Hoppe extended, allowing Justin Lynch and Kyle Coan to finish off a nearly two-second win over teammates Long Gutierrez, Seliskar, Josh Prenot and Dillon Williams.

Ryan Kao followed with a resounding win in the 1,000-yard freestyle, outdistancing the next closest swimmer by nearly 14 seconds. A wire to wire victory by Trent Williams in the 200 freestyle saw the senior hold off a hard-charging Bence Kiraly of Utah and Hunter Cobleigh turned a small early lead in the 100 breaststroke into a final time of 56.29 that was just four one-hundreths faster than Utah's Jack Burton. Justin Lynch also won the 100 freestyle with a time of 45.11.

Seniors Prenot and Jacob Pebley continued to post good early season results, with Prenot stopping the clock in 1:45.27 to win the 200 butterfly and Pebley clocking a 1:45.77 to win the 200 backstroke. Prenot was also impressive in the 400 IM, swimming a time of 3:46.59 that ultimately wasn't counted.

Murphy put together a series of the night's most impressive swims and showed his versatility in a big way, getting out quickly in the 50 freestyle en route to a time of 20.15. A little later, he jumped back in the pool and finished the 100 butterfly in a time of 47.22 that ranks fastest in the nation so far this year.

"It's good to see a guy like Ryan Murphy not really race a lot of backstroke, and I know he was the backstroke in our medley relay, but come back and do a 50 free and 100 fly," Durden said. "It's good for Josh Prenot to go 50 fly, a 200 fly, a 400 IM. That's a pretty good event load and he did a really nice job with that. Andrew Seliskar racing a 100 back, a 200 breaststroke, a 100 free on the end, a 50 breaststroke in the relay, I thought that was good too."

The win is Cal's 24th in a row in dual competition in a streak that dates back to the 2012-13 season. The Bears' next meet comes on the road as several members of the team will travel to Stockton next Friday (Oct. 23) to compete at Pacific. After that, Cal returns to Spieker Aquatics Complex for two more fall home meets beginning Nov. 4 with a triple distance meet against Stanford. NC State visits at 3 p.m. on Nov. 6 to close out the fall home schedule.