ATHENS, Ga. - A duel between teammates in the 100-yard butterfly, another reminder of strength in the backstroke from Ryan Murphy and a strong freestyle relay swim provided the highlights for the Cal men's swimming team on another strong day at the Georgia Fall Invitational.
After a good first day on Friday, the Bears returned to the University of Georgia on Saturday looking for even more momentum to carry into Sunday's final day of competition. And, it didn't take long for that forward progress to show up as a 1-2 finish in the 100 butterfly provided an early highlight for the day.
Sophomore Justin Lynch and junior Long Gutierrez staged a Cal takeover, battling to the wire for the victory. Lynch touched the wall first, finishing with a time of 45.66 to narrowly edge Gutierrez's time of 45.80.
Murphy was the next Bear to land in the winner's circle, and his time of 44.75 wasn't only good enough to win the race, it also easily passed the nation's best time of 45.42 set previously by Alabama's Luke Kaliszak. Murphy was one of three Bears to make the event final, with Jacob Pebley finishing third and Jeremie DeZwirek landing eighth.
The Bears wrapped up their day with one of their more impressive relay swims so far this season, taking the 800 free relay thanks to the quartet of Gutierrez, Murphy, Andrew Seliskar and Trent Williams. Gutierrez got Cal out to a lead early and the Bears never gave it back, edging Georgia to win with a time of 6:16.41 that is under the A standard qualifying time for the NCAA Championships.
Cal claimed top high finishes in a number of other events, including a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay. Josh Prenot and Seliskar finished 3-4 in the 400 IM and Williams finished third in the 200 freestyle. Hunter Cobleigh registered Cal's top finish in the 100 breaststroke in fourth place.
The Bears jump back in the pool Sunday for the final day of competition in Georgia. The host Bulldogs lead the team competition with 663.5 points but Cal isn't far behind with 599. Links to live stats are available on CalBears.com.