FEDERAL WAY, Wash. – Cal is making a nice habit of enjoying the opening night of the Pac-12 Championships. For the second year in a row, the Golden Bears swept the first two events, winning the 200-yard medley and the 800-yard free relay Wednesday.
 
As a result, Cal owns the first-day lead at the four-day meet, with action continuing through Saturday at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center.
 
In the 200 medley relay, the Bears started with a pair of freshmen as Isabel Ivey and Ema Rajic handled the first two legs, with junior Maddie Murphy taking care the butterfly. When junior Abbey Weitzeil hit the water, Cal stood in fourth place and trailed leader Stanford by over half a second.
 

Not to be denied, Weitzeil turned in the fastest anchor split in school history – and second fastest ever – blazing to a 20.57 in the freestyle over the final 50 yards, as the Bears pulled out the win in 1:35.21 to Stanford's 1:35.51.
 
In the second and final race of the night, Ivey once again led off, and she was followed by sophomore Robin Neumann, senior Katie McLaughlin and senior Amy Bilquist. McLaughlin's 1:41.25 split was the swiftest of the session and gave the Bears the lead, and Bilquist closed out with a 1:41.59 split of her own. Cal's time is the fastest in the country this season and ranks No. 2 in school history.

"We brought a lot of energy to the pool and got off to a good start tonight," head coach Teri McKeever said. "We began with a nice job in the 200 medley relay, especially with Abbey getting her hand to the wall. I've always taken pride in the 800 free relay and had another very good effort that race. I was also happy with our B teams, which is important for our overall team performance. We're looking forward to keeping it going tomorrow."

Thursday's prelims begin at 10:30 a.m. and will feature heats in the 500 free, 200 individual medley and 50 free. The evening session, which will start at 6 p.m., will add finals in 1-meter diving and the 200 free relay.