Franklin and Pelton Triple, Prenot Doubles Up in Cal Victory over ASU

FULL RESULTS here (under the related links box).

The tied-for-first Cal women and third ranked Cal men looked dominant in their victories over Pac-12 opponents Arizona State in their dual meet today in Tempe, AZ.

“We’ve been in a training mode for about the last five weeks, and I thought we did a nice job getting back into racing,” head coach Teri McKeever said. “We’re going to have to continue to get better tomorrow and through the rest of the month. It was good to have the men present, as well, and see the camaraderie it brings.”

WOMEN’S MEET

The Cal women took 1st and 3rd in the first event of the meet, the 200 medley relay, although ASU looked incredibly sharp as they were edged out in the end by the Cal back half, made up of Farida Osman and Kaylin Bing. ASU had the lead going into the fly leg, and they had Jorie Caneta to thank for that. Coming off of a fantastic summer, where she represented the United States at the Junior Pan Pacs, Caneta sprinted past Cal’s Marina Garcia with a very quick 28.15 breaststroke split to put ASU in the lead. Osman had other ideas for Cal, as she dug into the Sun Devils’ lead with a great fly leg (23.84), and Bing (22.80) held off a charging Melanie Busch (22.93) for a Golden Bear victory (1:41.27) over ASU (1:41.36).

While Cal’s top breaststroker, Garcia, had an excellent showing at the recent Arena Pro Swim Series in Austin, TX, finishing 2nd in the 200m breaststroke (2:26.43) and 6th in the 100m breast (1:09.38/1:09.17p), she was only 29.41 in that relay. Celina Li, out of the B relay, out-split her with a 29.30. The Bears may be #1, but that doesn’t mean they have a flawless lineup. They have had some issues finding a sprint breaststroker that can also put together an equally strong 100 breast since the departure of Caitlin Leverenz. Nonetheless, Garcia has certainly been swimming well this year after failing to final in the breaststrokes last year, as well as being switched out of the Cal 400 medley relay in finals for Li.

After that incredibly close medley, the Cal women began to distance themselves from the Sun Devils with three straight wins, starting with Cierra Runge in the 1000 (9:54.64). While a certain Missy Franklin swam the 1000 at many meets for the Bears last year, Runge has taken over nicely, providing a distance rock for Cal to depend on at every meet. She was the only swimmer under 10:00. The freshman jumped right back in for the 200 free, although she could only muster a fifth place finish (1:51.01) after her 1000. While two ASU swimmers, Juanita Barreto and Kat Simonivic, did battle with Caroline Piehl, one of Cal’s many national team members Elizabeth Pelton sprinted ahead for the victory in a commanding 1:48.50, over two seconds ahead of Simonovic, who would place 2nd (1:50.54). Piehl and Barreto followed closely, in 1:50.76 and 1:50.89, respectively.

Franklin looked smooth in the 100 back, touching first in 54.30 and cruising right under the NCAA ‘B’ cut. This was a fantastic swim for her, especially after an unimpressive 26.15 lead off split on Cal’s B medley relay, and marked Cal’s third straight individual event win. Franklin also took top honors in the 500 free (4:52.38) over Runge (4:53.08). The 2nd ranked 200 IMer in the nation then took that event in a swift 2:01.76, just off of the B cut, beating teammate Rachel Bootsma (2:03.65) by almost two seconds. Bootsma won the 50 free earlier on in the meet (23.47).

The other triple winner for Cal was Pelton, who racked up wins in the 200 backstroke (1:56.15) and the 100 fly (54.30) in dominant (and B cut) fashion. She beat out 2nd place Melanie Klaren (2:00.30) by over four seconds in the backstroke, and was the only swimmer to break 55.00 in the fly. Freshman Jasmine Mau would touch 2nd in the fly in 55.18 for the Bears.

While the Bears looked smooth for most of the meet, also notching victories in the 200 fly with Li (2:01.26) and Camille Cheng in the 100 free (50.66), the Sun Devils owned the breaststroke events. Caneta was back in the 100 breast, sailing past Cal’s Garcia 1:02.75 to 1:03.75 for the win. Also in the mix was ASU’s Tory Houston (1:03.94), who almost caught Garcia for 2nd. Houston had her revenge in the 200 breast, where she touched at 2:16.81 with the best back-half of the field for the win. Caneta was not far behind (2:17.52), while Li placed third (2:20.83) as Garcia did not swim this event.

ASU wasn’t done with their victories, as diver Hailey Casper took both 1 and 3 meter diving events in scores of 313.80 and 349.05, respectively. Cal finished up the meet with a win in the 400 free relay (3:23.89), although ASU’s Busch outsplit Cal anchor Bootsma 50.79 to 50.95 to put them right behind Cal at 3:24.22. The Golden Bears came out on top, 197.5 to 102.5. They will stay in Arizona for a dual meet tomorrow against the #14 Arizona Wildcats, which will be televised live (!) on the Pac-12 Networks, beginning at 11:00am PT.

MEN’S MEET

The Cal men remained undefeated in their win over ASU, highlighted by Josh Prenot‘s double win. The junior, coming off of a fantastic Arena Pro Swim Series, in which he had stellar wins in the 400m IM as well as the 200m breaststroke, was the victor of the 100 breast (55.32) as well as the 200 back (1:46.59). He slipped under the 100 breast B cut, while having one heck of a final 50 in his 200 back, out-splitting 2nd place finisher Barkley Perry of ASU 25.72 to 28.05 to steal back the lead and then the win. Prenot, who is best known as an IMer and breaststroker, really put together a solid 200 back swim.

The Bears’ first event win was in the 200 medley, where the squad of Ryan Murphy (21.77), Chuck Katis (24.69), Justin Lynch (21.36) and Tyler Messerschmidt (19.85) was untouchable, combining for a time of 1:27.67. Note that Prenot was a 21.48 on Cal’s B relay fly leg, which is very quick for a mid-distance-based IMer and breaststroker. Murphy looked very good today, notching a win in the 200 IM as well (1:47.10), sailing 1.99 seconds under the B cut in his only other event.

The Golden Bears rolled on, with Lynch taking the 200 fly (1:49.17), sophomore Long Gutierrez winning the 1000 free (9:24.38) and senior Will Hamilton (1:39.18) edging backstroker Jacob Pebley (1:39.26) for the 200 free win. Freshman Kyle Gornay slipped by Messerschmidt for the 100 back win, 49.60 to 49.73, after Messerschmidt hit the wall at the 50 turn just ahead of Gornay, and Adam Hinshaw took top honors in the 500 free (4:30.11).

The Sun Devils didn’t go out quietly, however. Cal did not put forth their best lineup, but ASU grabbed a few wins of their own. In Katis’ absence in the 200 breast, Christian Lorenz threw down a 2:01.54, knocking off Cal’s Hunter Cobleigh (2:03.41) for the win. Messerschmidt was not in the sprint free events, and the Sun Devils made the Bears pay, winning both the 50 and 100 free. In the 50, Tadas Duskinas was the only swimmer to break 21.00 (20.97), as Cal’s Sven Campbell (21.00) touched just behind. Thomaz Martins edged Gornay in the 100 free, 45.91 to 45.94, the same margin by which Duskinas won in the 50 free.

Duskinas was actually a double winner, taking the 100 fly (48.84) in an eerily similar margin of .03 over Gutierrez (48.87). The other double winner for the Sun Devils was freshman David Hoffer, who posted personal bests in both the 1 and 3 meter diving events. He scored 331.80 to win the 1 meter and 393.30 to win the 3 meter. ASU won the 400 relay (3:02.16), although Cal posted the fastest time in exhibition (3:01.34). Cal took the meet, 163-130.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Both of Cal’s men’s and women’s squads will stay in Arizona for a big dual meet tomorrow against the #14 men and women of Arizona, which will be televised live (!) on the Pac-12 Networks, beginning at 11:00am PT.

ASU will have their hands full tomorrow, as they host the third ranked Stanford women and 10th ranked Stanford men at noon PT.