California Golden Bears Athletics

ATHENS, Ga. - A highly successful weekend at the Georgia Fall Invitational closed with three individual wins, another relay triumph and a team title in hand for the Cal men's swimming team as the Bears closed out the fall season with three days of high-quality racing at the University of Georgia.

Cal, which led the team standings from start to finish, finished with 1,014 points to earn the team win. Michigan finished second with 915 and the host Bulldogs placed third with 674.

As was the case during the first two days in Georgia, Cal set the table for the night session with a strong effort in the morning. The Bears advanced 14 swimmers to four A finals, and the evening kicked off with a third-place finish by Nick Norman in the 1,650-yard free. Norman finished in 14:55.73 while freshman Sean Grieshop took fifth in 15:00.20.

Three Bears competed in the 200 back final with freshman Daniel Carr capping a strong weekend with a time of 1:40.65 and a second-place finish. Fellow freshman Bryce Mefford was right on his teammate's heels in 1:40.84 and senior Matthew Josa took sixth. Cal also factored heavily in the other finals as Andy Song finished in a dead heat for first in the B final and Ethan Young took first in the C final with a time that would've placed third in Song's race.

Four Cal swimmers dove in for the 100 free final and senior Justin Lynch emerged victorious, stopping the clock in a time of 42.01 that ranks second in the nation this season and gives the upperclassman his A qualifying time for the NCAA Championships. Freshman Ryan Hoffer took second, Michael Jensen swam to fourth and Pawel Sendyk placed sixth.

Cal returned to the winner's circle in the 200 breaststroke. Junior Andrew Seliskar took the lead right away and never looked back, swimming to a time of 1:53.05 that leads the country this season. Matt Whittle, Carson Sand and Connor Hoppe also made the A final and finished sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively.

The 200 fly offered one more chance for a win and Zheng Wen Quah took advantage of the opportunity as the sophomore from Singapore claimed his own A qualifying time and posted the second-fastest time in the nation this season with a mark of 1:40.68. Mike Thomas finished right behind Quah in second and his time of 1:41.22 made him just the sixth swimmer this year to earn an A cut in the event. Sophomore Jack Xie also made the A final and placed seventh.

Needing a win in the 400 free relay to finish off a relay sweep for the weekend, Cal made sure to claim one more win on its way out of town. The team of Lynch, Jensen, Seliskar and Hoffer finished with a time of 2:48.42 that also achieves an A cut and ranks as the top time in the country.

Cal now turns its attention to finals and training as the Bears next competition comes with the Cal Invitational all-comers meet on Jan. 13 and 14. Dual competition resumes on Jan. 19 and 20 when Arizona State and Arizona visit Spieker Aquatics Complex.