BERKELEY - The Cal men's swimming and diving team returns to action this week as it hosts the second of four fall dual meets when Utah comes to Spieker Aquatics Complex on Thursday at 5 p.m. for a Pac-12 showdown under the setting sun in Berkeley.
Thursday's meet will utilize the double dual format in which the Cal women will also compete against Utah. It will also be the last home meet in October for the men, who will next race at Spieker on Nov. 4 when Stanford visits for the annual Triple Distance Meet.
Cal returns to action after a successful debut last week against Pacific. The Bears scored a 142-106 victory over the Tigers with several swimmers claiming multiple race wins. Leading that charge was junior Ryan Murphy, who impressed in his signature backstroke events with wins in both the 100 and 200-yard races. Murphy also swam well as part of the 400 medley relay team that kicked off the meet with a victory.
Senior Josh Prenot got his final season in Berkeley off to a good start, winning both the 100 and 200 breaststroke while sophomore Justin Lynch also captured event wins in the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly. Other individual winners included Trent Williams (100 freestyle), Long Gutierrez (200 freestyle), Ryan Kao (500 freestyle), Nick Norman (1,000 freestyle) and Andrew Seliskar (200 butterfly).
Utah comes to Berkeley for its first dual meet of the season but head coach Joe Dykstra's squad does have a bit of competition already under its belt after competing in a relay meet against BYU and hosting an alumni meet in Salt Lake City. The Utes finished sixth at the 2015 Pac-12 Championships but did qualify three swimmers and a diver for the NCAA Championships. Distance freestyler Bence Kiraly and diver Jacob Crayne both return for their senior seasons this year and will look to lead Utah throughout the season.
The Bears hit the road for their next meet as they head to Stockton next Friday (Oct. 23) to take part in the Pacific Invitational. That meet is set for a 7 p.m. start at Chris Kjeldsen Pool. Cal returns on Nov. 4 to host Stanford, then wraps up the home portion of the fall schedule on Nov. 6 with a dual meet against North Carolina State.
