Jensen Pops 42.9 100 Free in Cal’s Win Over ASU

CALIFORNIA VS. ARIZONA STATE

• Results
• Hosted by Cal
• Friday, January 19th
• 25 Yards
• Dual Meet Format

FINAL TEAM SCORES:

• MEN: Cal 158, ASU 133
• WOMEN: Cal 172, ASU 118

The Cal men and women eached picked up a win at home last weekend against Pac-12 rival Arizona State. Andrew Seliskar pulled off a successful double for the Bears, first facing off with All-American teammate Michael Jensen in the 200 free. Jensen had the edge up front, 47.19 to 47.47, but Seliskar came back on the 3rd 50 to take over the lead and win it in 1:35.73 to Jensen’s 1:36.30. Not far behind was Arizona State standout Cameron Craig in 1:36.79.

Jensen went on to win the individual 100 free in 43.07 before leading off the winning 400 free relay in 42.99. That was just a out a half second shy of his best, which sits at a 42.47 form the 2017 UGA Fall Invite. Seliskar dominated the 400 IM at the end of the session, as he was the only swimmer to break 3:50 with a 3:49.78. Teammate Sean Grieshop (3:51.98) was just tenths behind after the backstroke leg, but Seliskar took off on the breast leg to secure the win.

Zheng Quah and Carson Sand also brought home multiple wins for Cal. Quah used his front-half speed to clip freshman teammate Daniel Carr, 47.60 to 47.75, in the 100 back. He returned for the 100 fly, this time coming from behind on the back half as he out-touched Arizona State All-American Andrew Porter 47.63 to 47.89. Sand picked up a sweep of the breaststrokes, turning in winning times of 54.09 in the 100 breast and 1:58.71 in the 200 breast.

Freshman Robin Neumann turned in a winning double for the Cal women. She set the pace early on in the 200 free, flipping in 52.12 en route to a 1:47.35 victory over All-American teammate Katie McLaughlin (1:48.89). Neumann’s next win came in the 500 free, where she touched in 4:55.74 to narrowly hold off a late charge from Arizona State’s Kendall Dawson (4:56.16). Teammates Amy Bilquist and Noemie Tjomas also won multiple races for the Bears. Thomas swept the butterflies with a 52.60 in the 100 and a 1:58.41 in the 200. Bilquist, on the other hand, pulled off the 100 back (53.38)/100 free (49.68) double.

Another notable swim came from Cal’s Abbey Weitzeil in the 50 free. Weitzeil the American Record holder in the event, turned in a 22.20 for the win.

PRESS RELEASE – CAL MEN:

BERKELEY – Just a few weeks removed from training at altitude, the Cal men’s swimming and diving team returned to competition in emphatic fashion as the Bears touched the wall first in all but one event to earn a 158-133 dual meet win over Arizona State at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

Having returned from its annual trip to Colorado Springs with the focus still on hard training each day, Cal got back into race mode Friday against an Arizona State squad very much on the rise.  A win in the first event of the day, the 400-yard medley relay, featured the team of Daniel Carr, Connor Hoppe, Justin Lynch and Ryan Hoffer as the quartet swam to a winning time of 3:11.60 to get the Bears started.

Nick Norman kept Cal in the winner’s circle in the next event, jumping out to an early lead that he would never relinquish to win the 1,000 freestyle. Norman’s time of 9:00.04 is Cal’s fastest of the season and dropped over 12 seconds from his time against Stanford in November.

The 200 freestyle featured three of the top swimmers in the Pac-12 as Cal’s Michael Jensen and Andrew Seliskar squared off with Arizona State’s Cameron Craig. Jensen established a narrow lead by the 100-yard mark but Seliskar took the lead back by the 150, swimming to a time of 1:35.73 to edge Jensen, who finished second.

Sophomore Zheng Wen Quah earned the first of two wins on the day with a time of 47.60 in the 100 back while Carson Sand followed with a mark of 54.09 and a win of his own in the 100 breast. Mike Thomas claimed the 200 fly in 1:44.36 and Justin Lynch finished the first portion of the meet with a time of 19.88 and a victory in the 50 free.

Jensen picked up in the 100 free where he left off in the 200, clocking a time of 43.07 to just beat Lynch to the wall for the win. A battle of Cal freshmen finished 1-2 in the 200 back as Bryce Mefford stopped the clock in 1:45.22 to narrowly out-touch Carr. Sand completed a sweep of the breaststroke events with a time of 1:58.71 and Quah earned his own double with a time of 47.63 in the 100 fly. Norman led Cal’s contingent in the 500 free to the wall, placing second in 4:25.17.

With temperatures beginning to drop, Cal finished strong after the final break of the day as Seliskar led a 1-2 Cal finish to the wall with a time of 3:49.78 in the 400 IM. Cal’s 400 free relay team of Jensen, Lynch, Quah and Mefford also touched first, swimming to a time of 2:55.27.

“Arizona State is a much improved team and has some really good swimmers. I thought our guys that may have been racing a primary event, secondary or third or fourth event for them, were really nice and consistent throughout the meet,” Cal head coach David Durden said. “It got a little bit colder and there was definitely that as adversity to handle and manage but they didn’t get slower as they went through the meet, which was really good to see. There’s 20 different things they could complain about throughout the course of a meet, maybe not swimming a primary event, maybe not swimming an event they’re good at but they handled that and did a really nice job.”

Cal’s divers were also in action at Legends Aquatic Center with the Bears and Sun Devils competing on both the 1 and 3-meter boards. Sophomore Connor Callahan posted a season-best mark of 349.13 to finish second in the 1-meter and followed that with another season-best in the 3-meter, scoring 359.48 to take third.

Cal’s effort Friday set the tone for a busy weekend in Berkeley. The Bears will test both their recovery skills and their depth on Saturday at noon when they line up for another Pac-12 dual meet against Arizona.

“They have worked really hard over the last three weeks as we came off of Colorado Springs and got back down from altitude and trained really hard through this week,” Durden said. “To see some of the performances was really good but I think how they got to those performances was also really good to see.”

PRESS RELEASE – CAL WOMEN:

BERKELEY – California won 14 of 16 events, with three swimmers claiming two apiece, as the Golden Bears defeated Arizona State, 172-118, in a dual meet Friday at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

Cal, which was racing in competition for the first time in nearly a month, closes out its home campaign Saturday when the Bears host Arizona at noon. The meet serves as the final home appearance for four seniors – Valerie Hull, Jasmine Mau, Maija Roses and Noemie Thomas.

“Overall, we did a nice job but I can see we need to work some cobwebs out as we get back into racing after a tough training spell,” head coach Teri McKeever said. “I think our top end performed well. We need to keep working on our depth throughout the lineup. Tomorrow will be special for our four seniors and we’re looking forward to recognizing them for all they have done for our program these past four years.”

Thomas was one of the double-winners, taking the 100-yard butterfly in 52.60 and the 200 fly in 1:58.41. In addition, junior Amy Bilquist prevailed in the 100 backstroke (53.38) and 100 freestyle (49.68), while freshman Robin Neumann won the 200 free (1:47.35) and 500 free (4:55.74).

Others to come out on top during the meet were sophomore Chenoa Devine in the 1000 free (10:01.70), freshman Ali Harrison in the 100 breast (1:02.99), sophomore Abbey Weitzeil in the 50 free (22.20), junior Kathleen Baker in the 200 back (1:57.15), junior Phoebe LaMay on the 1-meter springboard (315.45) and freshman Sarah Darcel in the 400 individual medley (4:18.14). The Bears also captured the 400 medley relay and 400 free relay.

PRESS RELEASE – ARIZONA STATE:

BERKELEY, Calif. – Facing the top-ranked men’s team in the nation and the No. 5 women’s team in the nation, the Sun Devils swam several fast times but ultimately fell, 158-133 on the men’s side and 172-118 on the women’s side.

Diver Ashley McCool impressed in the meet with a new school record in the 3-meter dive (359.48), erasing Morgan Weller’s 356.25, also set in a Cal dual in 2013.

Marlies Ross‘ 200 breast win highlighted the meet for Sun Devil women’s swim while Ben Olszewski (500 free), Andrew Porter (100 fly), Grant House (400 IM) were the top-point earners in their respective events for the No. 10 men.

Diving scored key points for the Sun Devils on both sides, as McCool won the 3-meter springboard, finishing second in the 1-meter. Youssef Selim won both men’s events with Heikki Makikallio taking second in the 3-meter and third in the 1-meter.

Makikallio’s 3-meter score was his highest of the season by 11 points while McCool’s 3-meter was her career-high.

The Sun Devils have another tough test in the Bay Area on Saturday vs. No 5/3 Stanford at 1 pm MT/12 noon PT.

Saturday’s meet will be broadcast on Stanford’s Pac-12 Plus live stream: http://pac-12.com/live/stanford-university.