ATHENS, Ga. - Senior Josh Prenot laid down a national-best time in the 200-yard individual medley and the 400 medley relay followed suit with a top time of its own as the Cal men's swimming team kicked off competition on the first of three days at the Georgia Fall Invitational.

Prenot didn't take long to assert himself, clocking a preliminary time that was over a second faster than his previous season-best in the event. The Orcutt, Calif. native bettered that mark in the evening session, stopping the clock in 1:43.13 to set a new national best in the event and edge Georgia's Gunnar Bentz by 15-hundreths of a second. 

The Bears were well represented in the 200 IM final, with Prenot leading a group of three Cal swimmers to finish in the top five. Junior Ryan Murphy, swimming the event in competition for the first time  this season, finished fourth and achieved the NCAA B standard with a time of 1:43.72 while freshman Andrew Seliskar finished one spot behind in fifth at 1:43.80.

After Prenot set the tone, the Bears made sure to finish the day with a flourish in the 400 medley relay. Murphy put Cal in front with a scorching backstroke leg, Prenot followed with a strong breaststroke leg, Justin Lynch continued with an impressive butterfly leg and Long Gutierrez brought it home in the freestyle to stop the clock in 3:04.88. The Bears finished nearly three seconds in front of Georgia and bettered Missouri's previous top national time by over a second.

Murphy and Seliskar were also in the mix when it came to the 200 freestyle relay, helping Cal to a third-place finish with Gutierrez and Lynch. The latter duo also featured in the final of the 50 freestyle, with Gutierrez claiming Cal's best finish in sixth.

Sophomore Ryan Kao and freshman Nick Norman continued their progress in the 500 freestyle by each making the final, and Norman dropped his season best by over nine seconds to finish in 4:20.66. Kao also showed how well he's coming along as the season rolls by as he also dropped his personal best by over nine seconds with a time of 4:20.72.

Day two of the meet starts Saturday at 6:30 a.m. (PT) with preliminaries and continues at 2 p.m. with the finals. Swimmers will compete in the 200 medley relay, 400 IM, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke and 800 freestyle relay. Action concludes Sunday.