2013 Cal Poly Invitational: Ryan Murphy Wins King of the Pool Crown

Freshman superstar Ryan Murphy was crowned “King of the Pool” earlier today down in San Luis Obispo, as the California Golden Bears kicked off their 2013-2014 NCAA swim season at the fourth annual Cal Poly Invitational.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the meet setup: each swimmer competes in five short course 100’s (one of each stroke, plus the 100 IM).  Whoever has the lowest total time after five events wins the pentathlon, and is named King (or Queen, for the women’s meet) of the Pool.  Senior Marcin Tarczynski had won the previous three titles, and was looking to make it a clean sweep over his four years.  Murphy and sophomore Josh Prenot got the better of Tarczynski, however, finishing in total times of 4:13.11, 4:14.72, and 4:15.71, respectively.  Will Hamilton, who finished second a year ago, was notably absent from the meet.

Seth Stubblefield, who has become better known for his sprint freestyle since arriving at Cal, started off the meet red hot, winning the 100 fly in 48.38.  Tarczynski was second, posting a 48.90 to give himself nearly a 1.5 second cushion over Murphy (sixth – 50.23).

Murphy, the National High School record holder in this event, was expected to close that cap in the 100 back.  We don’t think, however, anyone expected him to wreck the field by over 2 seconds.  Murphy touched in 47.43, well ahead of NCAA All-American backstrokers Jacob Pebley (49.61) and Tarczynski (49.63), building a 0.87 overall lead over the field.

Prenot, the only elite breaststroker on Cal’s roster, ran away with the 100 breast, touching in 56.03 to take over the lead from Murphy.  While the Bears are loaded in just about every other discipline, their breaststroke group (typically their strongest stroke) is suddenly very thin.  With the graduation of NCAA top-three-finisher Trevor Hoyt, Prenot at this point is the only option for Cal’s medley relays this season.  Tarczynski jumped Murphy again, touching in 58.55 for third place in the event (Murphy, 59.65, was eighth).  Notably, Cal Poly junior Jimmy Deiparine was second in the breaststroke, touching in 57.26.

Tyler Messerschmidt, who didn’t compete for the Bears a year ago, let everyone on the deck know that he’s back after handily winning the 100 free in 44.52.  While he was never really in contention for the King of the Pool title, putting up a sub-45 split in his first day of racing for the Bears again has to be a major confidence boost for Messerschmidt.  Relaymate Seth Stubblefield was second in 45.33, while Murphy touched in 45.66 to regain the lead over Tarczynski and Prenot.  Tarczynski finished in 46.44, putting him 0.55 behind Murphy overall going into the final event, with Prenot (who finished in 47.65) in third, just 0.27 behind Tarczynski.

Tarczynski, the 2012 NCAA champion in the 200 IM, couldn’t close the gap on Murphy in the 100 IM.  The true freshman stormed home in 50.14, nearly a second faster than the next best finisher (Prenot, 50.93).  Tarczynski finished in just 52.19, pushing him back behind Prenot to finish third overall.

Thanks to a very fast 100 free and a solid 51.90 in the 100 IM, Messerschmidt ended up in fourth place overall, finishing with a combined time of 4:19.67. Long Gutierrez, another true freshman looking to make an immediate impact for the Bears, was fifth with a time of 4:20.53.

A table of the top eight overall finishers (all Cal swimmers) is below.  Once results from the women’s meet are up, we will post a recap of that, as well.