Fall Finale In Twin Cities

MSWIM12/2/2019 12:06 PM | By: Cal Athletics

Fall Finale In Twin Cities

Bears To Face Top Competition At Minnesota Invitational

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BERKELEY – California will conclude its 2019 fall competition slate against some of the nation's top swimming and diving programs at the Minnesota Invitational at Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center in Minneapolis, Minn. on Dec. 4-7.
 
Action begins at 4 p.m. (PT) on Wednesday with the 200 medley relay and 800 freestyle relay races. On Thursday through Saturday, preliminaries will start at 8 a.m. (PT) while diving events are scheduled for 10 a.m. (PT). Event finals will start at 4 p.m. (PT) each day.
 
The many premier programs joining Cal in the Twin Cities include Texas, Arizona, Michigan, Harvard, Iowa and host Minnesota, among others. The Bears will remain in Minneapolis for a long-course time trial on Sunday morning following the four-day invitational.
 
MEET OUTLOOK LAST TIME OUT
Cal continued its steady progress through the fall season with five overall wins and a sweep of two relays against Stanford in the annual Triple Distance Meet at Spieker Aquatics Complex on Nov. 8. Three Bears – Zheng Wen Quah, Bryce Mefford and Reece Whitley – won all three of their respective events to highlight the afternoon.
 
Quah cruised to wins in the butterfly events, taking the 50 in 20.81, the 100 in 45.98 and the 200 in 1:43.47 for a total time of 2:50.26, more than eight seconds ahead of Stanford's Will Macmillan. In the backstroke, Mefford tallied wins in all three events (21.98 in the 50, 47.26 in the 100 and 1:44.68 in the 200) and posted a total time of 2:53.92 to beat out teammate Daniel Carr (2:55.87).  Whitley dominated all three breaststroke races (24.59 in the 50, 52.93 in the 100 and 1:53.49 in the 200) and finished with an overall time of 3:11.01.
 
Michael Jensen edged a trio, including teammate Ryan Hoffer, for the overall freestyle victory thanks to an impressive showing in the 200 free event. The senior swam the 200 free in 1:37.77 to come from behind and beat out the Stanford duo and Hoffer, the latter of which entered the final event as the leader with wins in the 50 (19.57) and 100 (43.88).
 
Hugo Gonzalez and Chris Jhong traded blows in the individual medley with Gonzalez winning the 100 (49.46) and Jhong taking the 200 (1:49.25). It was Gonzalez who took the overall victory, however, thanks to a 3:48.90 finish in the 400.
 
Cal closed out the day with wins in both relay events. Carr, Whitley, Pawel Sendyk and Nate Biondi won the 200 medley relay in 1:27.02, besting Stanford by 1.43 seconds. The quartet of Hoffer, Jensen, Quah and Mefford then wrapped up the afternoon with a winning time of 1:19.70 in the 200 free relay.
 
Meanwhile, freshman diver Nick Hart made his collegiate debut at the three-day Trojan Diving Invitational at USC in Los Angeles. He finished third, fifth and sixth in the 3-meter, platform and 1-meter events, respectively. His 3-meter performance on Friday earned him 584 total points, with 297.40 coming in prelims. Hart then tallied 515.60 points on the platform (256.65 in prelims) on Saturday and 528.45 points on the 1-meter (258.85 in prelims) on Sunday.
 
ADRIAN WINS GOLDEN GOGGLE PERSEVERANCE AWARD
Cal great and eight-time Olympic medalist Nathan Adrian earned the 2019 USA Swimming Golden Goggle Perseverance Award on Nov. 24. Just seven months after being diagnosed with testicular cancer, Adrian anchored the 4x100m free relay at the FINA World Championships to a championship record and a gold medal. He earned another world championships gold medal by swimming in the prelims of the mixed 4x100m free relay and later anchored the 4x100m medley relay to secure silver for Team USA. Just a couple of weeks later, Adrian made his Pan American Games debut in Lima, Peru where he would win five medals (two gold and three silver) – more than any American man.
 
TEN BEARS NAMED TO USA SWIMMING NATIONAL TEAM
Cal was well-represented when USA Swimming announced its 2019-20 U.S. National Team roster in early September. Ten Bears were included on the 115-individual roster, which is made up of the nation's top six swimmers in each Olympic event. The Bears who made the roster are the following:
  CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON IN REVIEW
Cal captured the 2019 national title for the sixth time in school history last spring with five NCAA event titles along the way, including three by former Bear Andrew Seliskar in the 200 IM, 200 breast and 200 free. Hoffer captured the 50 free and the Bears won the 200 free relay featuring Sendyk, Hoffer, Jensen and Seliskar.
 
Cal won its second consecutive Pac-12 Championship en route to the NCAA title as Seliskar was named the league's Swimmer of the Meet and tallied his record-tying 11th-career Pac-12 individual title. Head coach David Durden was named the Pac-12 Coach of the Year for the third consecutive year and ninth time overall. Seliskar was the Pac-12 Swimmer of the Year and Whitley earned Pac-12 Swimming Freshman of the Year accolades.
 
NEXT TIME
Cal's next competition will be the UCLA Diving Invitational in Los Angeles on Jan. 17-19. The following week, the Bears will gear up for a pair of dual meets against Arizona (Jan. 24) and Arizona State (Jan. 25) at Spieker Aquatics Complex and Legends Aquatic Center.
 
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