SALT LAKE CITY – In its first dual meet of the season, second-ranked Cal cruised past Utah, 186-114, Monday with a trio of swimmers winning two individual events each – freshman Ali Harrison, junior Amy Bilquist and senior Noemie Thomas.
 
The Golden Bears were coming off a two-day meet at Fresno State over the weekend and traveled with a smaller roster to allow some of the team members to recover physically and take care of some of their academic responsibilities. The lower numbers, though, didn't affect Cal in the outcome.
 
"We had a little bit of a skeleton crew, and I thought we did a nice job overall," head coach Teri McKeever said. "I thought the freshmen did well in their first dual meet, with several picking up event victories. We had different women stepping up at different times and gave a really good team effort. We'll now get back to Berkeley to resume training after a few days of competition."
 
Harrison earned wins in both the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke, while Bilquist swept the 100 and 200 freestyle, and Thomas took first in the 100 and 200 butterfly. In addition to Harrison, other freshmen who prevailed were Briana Thai on the 1-meter springboard, Sophie Krivokapic-Zhou in the 200 back and Sarah Darcel in the 200 IM.
 
Sophomore Maddie Murphy won the 50 free and Alexa Cacao triumphed on the 3-meter board to round out the individual victors. The foursome of Bilquist, Harrison, Thomas and Valerie Hull also touched first in the opening 200 medley relay.
 
Cal next will send a contingent of five swimmers to the USA College Challenge Oct. 21-22 before the entire team returns to action for dual meets against Oregon State Nov. 3 and North Carolina State Nov. 4 in Berkeley.