Though its reputation may precede it, the Cal men’s swim team did not disappoint in opening its season.
The Bears began their 2013-14 dual-meet campaign by turning in a resounding 149-104 victory over Pacific on Thursday afternoon at Spieker Aquatics Complex.
For the second year in a row, the Bears welcomed the Tigers to open their season. Led by strong individual performances, the squad continued its dual-meet dominance from last season to begin the year 1-0.
Senior Jeremy Bagshaw won multiple events, the 200 free (1:40.01) and 500 free (4:29.89); sophomore Tyler Messerschmidt also captured two races, the 50 free (20.16) and 100 free (44.55). Metterschmidt also anchored the Bears’ victory in the 200-yard medley relay, swimming the freestyle leg.
Out of 14 events in today’s dual meet, Cal swam the final three races (100 butterfly, 200 individual medley and 400 free) as exhibitions. Of the remaining 11 events, the Tigers managed to capture only two of them, with junior Cameron Franke winning the 100 breaststroke and freshman Curtis Klein beating out Cal junior Jeremie DeZwirek in the 200 backstroke with times of 1:50.53 to 1:50.90.
Other Cal victors included freshman swimmer Janardan Burns for the 1000 free (9:38.27) and senior Marcin Tarczynski for the 100 backstroke (48.84). Freshman Long Gutierrez beat out fellow teammate sophomore Josh Prenot in the 200 yard butterfly with a time of 1:49.51 to Prenot’s 1:49.63. Prenot, however, did emerge victorious in the 200 breaststroke. Cal swimmers also placed first, second and third in six of the 10 individual events in Thursday’s meet.
Even after a successful meet, room for improvement is always there. Prior to the season opener, Cal coach David Durden emphasized certain aspects of the meet that he looked forward to — especially watching how his swimmers worked as a group and how new swimmers assimilated into the team.
“It was good to see our freshmen race and to see Dane Stassi and Henry Chung, who came in as transfers,” Durden said after the meet. “It was nice to see our new guys move around a little bit.”
As the season progresses, it will become critical for the team to understand how to train both in and out of the pool. For a long season of grueling meets, endurance becomes nearly as important to the outcomes as speed.
“We’re trying to do some things from a strength perspective outside the water and then train at a high level in the water,” Durden said. “We should start to see better performances.”
A dominant victory over a talented, albeit young, team helped the Bears start their 2013-14 season on the right foot, as they hope to repeat their recent successes of the past few years. Cal enters the year with high expectations and with hopes of taking home another NCAA title after finishing second in last year’s championships. Friday’s home dual meet against Indiana could prove to be much more of a challenge, however, as the Bears face a hungry team of Hoosiers, which Durden sees as a very gifted and hardworking squad.
“They’re not coming out to California for the sunshine and weather,” he said.
Michelle Lee covers men’s swim. Contact her at [email protected].