MINNEAPOLIS – The No. 4 California men's swimming & diving team had a terrific start to the Minnesota Invitational on Wednesday, winning both relays and recording a pair of NCAA A qualifying times.
 
In the opening event of the meet, the 200-yard medley relay, the Golden Bears had the top two finishers. Cal's B lineup of Destin Lasco, Matthew Jensen, Dare Rose, and Colby Hatton finished with a time of 1:23.33 – which would have been good enough for an NCAA A cut time, and would have been the sixth-fastest time of the season in the NCAA.
 
However, in the very next heat, the quartet of Björn Seeliger, Liam Bell, Roman Jones, and Jack Alexy finished with a time of 1:22.87 – which matches N.C. State for the third fastest time in the nation this season. Jones and Alexy flew down the stretch to catch Cal's B lineup, which had the fastest time after the first two heats.
 
In the final event of the evening, the 800 freestyle relay, Cal once again had two of the top-three finishes. Cal's A relay finished with an NCAA A-cut time of 6:13.62. The lineup of Robin Hanson (1:33.50), Lasco (1:33.06), Aaron Shackell (1:34.17), and Gabriel Jett (1:32.89) pulled away in the second half of the race to defeat runner-up Arizona by almost two seconds. The Bears' time is good enough for the third-fastest time in the country this season.
 
Cal's B lineup of Keaton Jones (1:33.45), Colby Mefford (1:35.71), Trent Frandson (1:35.03), and Dylan Hawk (1:34.94) finished with a time of 6:19.13 – just outside of the NCAA B-cut.
 
The meet resumes Thursday at 8 a.m. PT with the prelims of the 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard individual medley, and 50 free. Diving gets underway at 11 a.m. PT with the 3-meter dive. Day two wraps up with the finals, which begin at 4 p.m. PT.
 
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