BERKELEY - The Cal men's swimming and diving team will try to put a cap on a successful fall season when it travels to the Georgia Fall Invitational this week to compete against a number of the nation's best teams.

The Bears head to Athens as the defending champion of the event after winning eight races en route to the 2014 crown. A strong final day of competition carried Cal to the win, edging the host Bulldogs 921-916. Fellow SEC power Auburn finished third with 641 points.

This year's Bears head across the country with a strong base of fall competitions to build from. Cal is a perfect 3-0 in dual meets, with wins over Pacific, Utah and North Carolina State already to its credit. Another strong performance in the annual Triple Distance Meet against Stanford added to the strong start to the season, and that momentum will now hit the road as Cal's full squad competes away from home for the first time this fall.

Ryan Murphy was one of Cal's standouts during last year's trip to Georgia, winning both the 100 and 200-yard backstroke, and he'll look to repeat that double this time around. He enters with top five national times in both events this year despite having also spent time swimming several other events throughout the fall.

Murphy isn't the only Bear enjoying a standout fall campaign. Seniors Josh Prenot and Jacob Pebley remain on course to be among the nation's top performers once the spring season rolls around, with each turning in a series of impressive swims already this season. Several other returners, including Long Gutierrez, Trent Williams, Justin Lynch and Connor Hoppe, have also posted NCAA B standard times in their respective events and will try to continue that progress this week in Georgia.

Several of the newest Cal swimmers have also impressed in their short time in Berkeley. Freshman Andrew Seliskar owns Cal's top time in the 200 butterfly and is No. 2 in both the 200 breaststroke and 200 IM. Fellow freshmen Nick Norman and Ken Takahashi have made a good transition to college swimming as well, with Norman showing his strength in the distance freestyle events and Takahashi showing well in the IM.

The Bears return to action on Jan. 22 and 23 when Arizona and Arizona State visit Berkeley for the final home meets of the 2015-16 season. After that weekend, Cal travels for dual meets at Cal State Bakersfield, USC and Stanford before heading to Washington for the Pac-12 Championships on March 2-5.