Bears Claim Four More Titles At Pac-12s
Pac-12 Conference

Bears Claim Four More Titles At Pac-12s

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FEDERAL WAY, Wash. - The Cal men's swimming team continued to put its stamp on the 2016 Pac-12 Championships by finding itself on the top step of the podium often as Andrew Seliskar won his second individual title, Justin Lynch and Connor Hoppe each captured one of their own and the 400 medley relay capped day three with another relay victory at Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center.

Already the owner of conference titles in both the 800-yard freestyle relay and 200 individual medley, Seliskar took to the pool Friday night for the 400 IM in search of his third win in three days. The freshman from McLean, Va. didn't disappoint, edging Stanford's Abrahm DeVine, also a freshman, with a time of 3:39.78 that is the second-fastest in the nation this season. With the win, Seliskar became the first swimmer to earn the win in both the 200 and 400 IM since Stanford's Tom Wilkens in 1996.

Next up was the 100 butterfly and Lynch got his turn in a competitive field of conference foes. The Cal sophomore got a test right to very end but pulled out the victory by out-touching USC's Alex Valente for a time of 46.08. That edged Valente by only two-hundreths of a second and only five-hundreths separated first and fourth place.

Hoppe was the next to join the winner's circle, pulling away early for a victory in the 100 breaststroke. The sophomore from Merced, Calif. built and early lead over USC's Carsten Vissering and never gave it back, steadily building his advantage to finish with a time of 51.86. Vissering finished second in 52.58. Hoppe's time is the third fastest in the nation this year.

Those three weren't done. Long Gutierrez joined the group in the 400 medley relay and the quartet picked up Cal's sixth win of the week with a time of 3:06.89 that was just better than USC's 3:07.14. Seliskar led off, Hoppe followed, Lynch took over third and Gutierrez finished it off in the freestyle to give the Bears their second relay win of the week, joining the 800 freestyle relay.

"Being able to represent this team and compete for a championship is a great feeling," Seliskar said. "I'm really excited to be a part of this team and swim alongside my brothers."

Saturday brings the finale of the 2016 Pac-12 Championships with the 1,650 freestyle, 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly and 400 freestyle relay.

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