In the Cal men’s swimming team’s meet with Cal Poly this weekend, the rules dictated that neither team was to be declared winner.
In spite of the rules, it was obvious which team left the pool with the more talented swimmers.
The Bears finished with the top 15 overall times and sophomore Marcin Tarczynski finished with the lowest combined time from five events, being named “King of the Pool” for the second consecutive year.
Tarczynski finished with an overall time of 4:16.18 in Friday’s pentathlon. The sophomore finished second in the 100 fly and 100 back, and third in the 100 individual medley at the Anderson Aquatic Center in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
But the pentathlon was more a testament to the depth of coach David Durden’s squad than any one individual. Of the 26 Cal swimmers competing, 20 finished with the top 22 overall times. Although Tarczynski won, junior Tom Shields recorded the meet’s top times in four of the five events – the 100 fly (48.42), 100 back (48.91), 100 free (45.21) and 100 individual medley (50.40).
Senior Martin Liivamagi won the 100 breast stroke with a time of 55.79.
Durden was impressed with Shields’ performance. The junior bested his times from last year’s event in three races, including an improvement in 100 individual medley by over a full second.
“He was a little more improved at this time this year than he was last year in backstroke, and his freestyle was really good,” Durden said. “He’s feeling more comfortable this season and coming into more of a leadership role.”
Cal’s top four swimmers finished in the same order as last year’s pentathlon. After Tarczynski, Liivamagi (4:17.50) and Shields (4:17.79) finished second and third overall for the Bears, respectively. Seniors Mathias Gydesen (4:18.00) and Nolan Koon (4:19.35) rounded out the top five. Sophomore Joseph Wasko had the best overall time for Cal Poly, finishing 16th with a time of 4:37.28.
The Bears swept the leaderboard in each individual race. The squad took the top 11 overall times in the 100 fly and 100 back, the top seven times in the 100 breast stroke, the top 12 times in the 100 free and the top 13 times in the 100 individual medley.
Cal swept all four of Saturday’s co-ed relays, combining with the women’s swimming team to win two 200 medley relays and two 200 freestyle relays.
Comment Policy
Comments should remain on topic, concerning the article or blog post to which they are connected. Brevity is encouraged. Posting under a pseudonym is discouraged, but permitted. The Daily Cal encourages readers to voice their opinions respectfully in regard to the readers, writers and contributors of The Daily Californian. Comments are not pre-moderated, but may be removed if deemed to be in violation of this policy. Click here to read the full comment policy.