There seems to be no end to the dual-meet dominance of the Bears. The Cal men’s swim team followed last week’s 149-104 rout of Pacific with an even larger margin of victory over the Hoosiers, winning 173-122. The Bears have won their last nine dual-meet competitions.
Of the 14 swimming events Friday afternoon, Cal participated in the 200-yard IM and 400-yard IM as exhibitions and captured 11 of the remaining 12 events. Friday’s meet also included a couple of diving events, with Cal junior Tommy Selby placing third in the one-meter board and second in the three-meter board. Selby also set a school record of 391.50 in the latter event, edging out Sam Helvie’s mark from 2007.
Just as in last week’s meet against Pacific, sophomore Tyler Messerschmidt and senior Jeremy Bagshaw led the Cal squad with two victories apiece. Freshman swimmer Ryan Murphy also won two events Friday, the 100 and 200 backstroke. Other wins for Cal came from freshman Long Gutierrez in the 200 fly, sophomore Trent Williams in the 200 free and senior Marcin Tarczynski in the 100 fly.
Some of the loudest cheers of the afternoon were in support of sophomore Josh Prenot, who won the 200 breaststroke, then seemed to find another gear for the exhibition 200 IM. After the meet, Cal coach David Durden highlighted some of the best performances of the afternoon.
“Jeremy’s just keeping up the good work he started from last summer,” Durden said. “It’s a nice continuation of what he’s been doing, so that’s exciting to see. Ryan had a great meet as well.”
Though he may not have won any individual events, Cal junior Seth Stubblefield was Friday’s standout on sheer workload alone. Stubblefield authored one of the most taxing schedules of the afternoon, swimming the 200 free, the 100 fly and the 100 free, in addition to the final exhibition relay.
“Seth raced hard today, and he didn’t have an easy schedule,” Durden said. “That was a pretty good load for that young man, and he did a good job with that.”
As experienced swimmers such as Stubblefield adjust to more difficult schedules, freshmen are still adjusting to the competitive dual-meet setting. Durden spoke extensively about his freshman swimmers, who have their second dual-meet competition under their belts. For some, it was the first time this season swimming in their primary races.
It is all part of the transition to swimming at Cal. Prior to the Indiana meet, senior Shayne Fleming had noted the importance of teammates helping one another, especially the freshmen — a sentiment Durden echoed Friday afternoon.
“I think our guys are doing a better job of helping each other,” Durden said. “As long as we continue to do that and improve upon that idea, we’re going to be in a better spot three weeks from now.”
Three weeks means the arrival of Wisconsin, against which the Bears will try to continue their streak of dual-meet prowess. Despite Cal’s dominant victory, the Hoosiers brought good performances and had a swimmer finish in the top three in every event except the 50- and 100-yard free. Cal will hope for even better showings come November, when the Badgers come to town.
Michelle Lee covers men’s swim. Contact her at [email protected].