MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – In the middle of a heated race for the team championship, the Cal men's swimming and diving team ended day three of the 2018 NCAA Championships with an American record swim in the 200-yard medley relay as the Bears capped a tremendous all-around day in the pool.

With Daniel Carr, Connor Hoppe, Justin Lynch and Ryan Hoffer primed for the final race of the evening, Cal's medley quartet made sure to provide plenty of momentum with one day left to swim. Carr got the Bears out fast, taking first with a backstroke split of 20.85. Hoppe followed with a breaststroke split of 23.01, Lynch split 19.77 in the fly and Hoffer came home with a freestyle split of 18.25 that was second only to Florida's Caeleb Dressel.

Cal's final time of 1:21.88 sat just six-hundreths of a second off USC's first-place time of 1:21.82 but it set multiple records in the process. It eclipsed the previous American record of 1:22.40 held by Cal's 2015 team of Ryan Murphy, Chuck Katis, Justin Lynch and Tyler Messerschmidt while also breaking the Cal school record of 1:22.28 set by Murphy, Hoppe, Lynch and Pawel Sendyk in 2017.

At the conclusion of the relay, Cal found itself right in the thick of the team standings with one day left to swim. The Bears sit third with 291.5 points, trailing only Indiana (325) and Texas (306).

"Crazy enough, we're just getting faster as these sessions go on," Cal head coach David Durden said. "Even with Daniel Carr in that relay tonight going 20.8 and then Ryan Hoffer anchoring in 18.2, those were those guys' fastest splits. We're just getting better as we're moving through this. Our morning session was really good and set us up for a good opportunity to score some points at night, which we did. We took advantage of that."

The Bears got rolling with two swimmers in the 400-yard IM and both Andrew Seliskar and Mike Thomas helped move Cal up the team leaderboard with strong swims. Seliskar stopped the clock in 3:38.73 to take third in the championship final and Thomas swam to a time of 3:37.75 that not only put him second in the B final but also now ranks him third in Cal history.

A large Cal contingent took the pool for the 100 fly and the trio of Hoffer, Lynch and Matthew Josa swam to sixth, seventh and eighth to score big points for the Bears. Hoffer's time of 44.93 ranks second behind only Tom Shields (44.59) in Cal history. Lynch's time of 45.02 ranks just behind Hoffer in third and Josa is now fifth with a time of 45.11.

Cal sent two swimmers to the night session in the 100 breast and Hoppe led the charge at his final NCAA Championships. The senior from Merced, Calif. placed second in the championship final with a time of 51.16, the third-fastest mark in Cal history. And, Hoppe wasn't the only Cal swimmer in the event as Carson Sand brought big cheers from the Cal bench by swimming to a time of 52.32 to place second in the B final.

After a big morning swim got him to the A final of the 200 freestyle, freshman Bryce Mefford picked up important points with a time of 1:33.13 and an eighth-place finish. Fellow freshman Carr earned a spot in the B final of the 100 back and clocked a time of 45.24 that was good for third on the night and third in Cal history.

For the second day in a row, Cal put itself in good position to make an impact at night with a quality morning session. The first big push came from Seliskar, who set a then-pool record in the 400 IM to take the No. 1 seed for the evening. Lynch, Josa and Hoffer drew a roar from the Cal faithful, qualifying for the 100 fly A final out of three separate heats. And, Mefford turned an outside lane into a spot in the A final of the 200 free, bringing another vocal response from the Cal bench and crowd.

Connor Callahan continued Cal's efforts on the boards, competing in the 3-meter to wrap up his second trip to the NCAA Championships. The sophomore finished prelims with a score of 317.65 that was over 13 points higher than his mark in 2017.

The final morning session of the 2018 NCAA Championships comes Saturday with swimmers competing in the 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly and 400 free relay. Freshman Johnny Robinson gets his chance on the boards with Platform competition and the distance swimmers take center stage in the late afternoon with the 1,650 free. The evening session begins with the final heat of the 1,650 and then swimmers will bring the curtain down with the last set of finals for the week.

"We're looking forward to a good morning session tomorrow," Durden said. "We've gotten better every session and we're looking forward to that last one because really, for a lot of our guys, their best event is in on that last day."