Cal Men Top Hawaii, Pacific

The Cal men's swimming and diving team opened the 2009-10 campaign with a 156-139 dual meet victory over Hawaii Friday, Oct. 9 at Spieker Aquatics Complex. The Golden Bears won eight of the meets 16 events and had seven different individual winners, including freshman Tom Shields in the 200 free (1:40.46) and freshman Andre Blythe in the 200 fly (1:48.60). Cal also captured the 200 medley relay (1:30.38, Mathias Gydesen, Damir Dugonjic, Shields, Graeme Moore).

Other individual winners for the Bears were junior Guy Barnea in the 100 back (49.63), junior Graeme Moore in the 50 free (20.34) and sophomore Martin Liivamagi in the 200 IM (1:51.53). Cal finished one-two in the 200 breast behind sophomore Nolan Koon (2:05.12) and Liivamagi (2:05.98), and swept the 100 breast with junior Damir Dugonjic (56.08), junior Nick Ferrif (57.55) and junior Martti Aljand (57.88) as well.

Dugonjic was last years NCAA champion in the 100 breast, clocking a time of 50.86 last March in College Station, Texas.

In diving competition, the Bearsjunior Tom Henninger placed second to the Rainbows Doogie Cohen in both the one-meter (294.00-265.72) and three-meter (309.90-281.62) competition.



The California men's swimming team won its second dual meet in as many days with a 143-107 dual meet victory over Pacific Saturday, Oct. 10 at Spieker Aquatics Complex. On Friday, the Golden Bears had topped Hawaii, 156-139.

Against the Tigers Saturday, Cal won the meets first 11 events before swimming exhibition for the final three races. Junior Guy Barnea captured two events, the 50 free (20.82) and the 200 back (1:50.67), and was a member of the Bearswinning 200 medley relay (1:31.42, Barnea, Nolan Koon, Mathias Gydesen, Josh Daniels).

Freshman Tom Shields was also a double winner for Cal, placing first in the 200 fly (1:51.85) and the 500 free (4:39.41). Cal placed 1-2-3 in four events as well. Junior Graeme Moore won the 200 free (1:43.27), followed by freshman Nick Trowbridge (1:43.63) and senior Peter Davis (1:45.26). Freshman Austin Brown captured the 100 back (52.26) with sophomore Martin Liivamagi (52.36) and junior Daniel Smith (52.61) placing second and third.

Besides Shields' victory in the 200 fly, sophomores Robert Sullivan (1:52.54) and Mark Prior (1:57.85) were second and third. Finally, juniors Josh Daniels and Damir Dugonjic were second and third, respectively, in the 50 free with times of 20.97 and 21.75.

Other individual winners for the Bears were freshman Ben Hinshaw in the 1000 free (9:39.73), sophomore Nolan Koon in the 100 breast (57.02), junior Alex Cushing in the 100 free (46.36) and junior Andrew Godbe in the 200 breast (2:06.21).

Cal mens swimming will next compete at the Pacific Invitational, Saturday, Oct. 17 at 12 p.m. in Stockton. The Bears will then host Stanford in an exhibition triple-distance meet on Wednesday, Nov. 11 at 2 p.m. at Spieker Aquatics Complex.


In the first swim meet of the season the Pacific Men's swim team lost to UC Berkeley, 143-107. With the loss the Tigers fall to 0-1 on the year.
 
Freshman Kevin Schirmer (Danville, Calif.), Jonathan Alves (Davenport, Iowa), junior David Hernandez (Chico, Calif.) and freshman Clay Christy (San Diego, Calif.) combined for first place finish in the 400 Free Relay with a time of 3:27.40.
In the 1000 Free, freshmen Zach Zlotoff (San Jose, Calif.) finished third with a time of 10:14.16, behind California’s Ben Hinshaw who took first place with a time of 9:39.73. Rounding out the top five for Pacific were freshman Bart Platow (Westport, Conn.) with a time of 10:18.17and Sean Dunnigan (Bel Air, Md.) with a time of 10:25.92.

In the 100 Breast, freshman Jonathan Alves (Davenport, Iowa) touched the wall at 57.96 for the third place finish behind California’s Nolan Koon and Andrew Godbe. Alves also placed second in the 200 Breast with a time of 2:17.87.

Junior Kyle Accornero (Livermore, Calif.) placed second in the 100 Free (50.88) behind California’s Alex Cushing. In the 200 Back junior transfer Tyler Hannis (Santa Rosa, Calif.) touched the wall with a time of 2:00.94 for a second place finish behind California’s Guy Barnea.

For the second time of the day, Zlotoff and Platow finished back-to-back with times of 5:02.71 and 5:08.27 respectively for the second and third place finishes in the 500 Free.

Freshmen Taylor Martinez (Concord, Calif.) and Jonathan Kim(Bakersfield, Calif.) took the top two spots in the 100 Butterfly with times of 56.92 and 56.94 respectively.

Pacific hosts the Pacific Invitational Oct. 16-17 at Chris Kjeldsen Pool. Events are set to begin at 2 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 16, and 12 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17.