Ten Cal seniors ended their college careers undefeated in dual meets the past three years as the Golden Bears defeated Bay Area rival Stanford, 184.5-115.5, Saturday in a season-ending dual meet at Spieker Aquatics Complex. The Golden Bears were paced by sophomore Josh Pernot’s victories in the 200 butterfly (1:45.03) and 200 IM (1:45.16), sophomore Long Gutierrez’s wins in the 200 freestyle (1:36.37) and 500 freestyle (4:27.04), and sophomore Ryan Murphy’s wins in the 100 backstroke (46.41) and 200 backstroke (1:42.54).
With the win over the Cardinal, Cal (7-0, 4-0) has now won 22 straight dual meets since the 2012-13 season.
It was a team effort for the Golden Bears as they closed out the dual meet season. The Bears opened up strong with a 1:25.85 in the 200 medley relay and never looked back. Led by senior Adam Hinshaw with a 9:15.06 in the 1000 free, Cal continued with second and third place finishes by sophomore Janardan Burns (9:15.74) and freshman Ryan Kao (9:19.14). From there the Bears collected wins in the 200 free (Gutierrez, 1:36.37), the 100 back (Murphy, 46.41), the 100 breast (Katis, 53.63), and the 200 fly (Pernot, 1:45.30) before the Cardinal captured the 50 free with a strong swim from Jack Descombes (20.15). Stanford then claimed the 100 free with senior Thomas Stephens swimming a 44.22. The rest of the meet consisted of blue and gold caps touching first with the 400 freestyle relay, consisting of seniors Seth Stubblefield and Fabio Gimondi, taking the final victory of the day (2:56.90).
Additional winners for Cal were senior Chris Leon in the 200 breast (1:58.12) and freshman Justin Lynch in the 100 fly (47.70).
“I think it was really good for our seniors to finish their last home dual meet with a win… each of them has impacted our team over the last four years in a different way so it was really good to see them go out with some good performances. Chris Leon winning his last home meet as a senior in the 200 breaststroke is pretty awesome, it’s a pretty special way to finish… Chuck Katis in the breaststroke was on point, Seth Stubblefield and Fabio finishing that last relay with a win as seniors was really cool. It was a good collective effort in honoring our seniors.”
The Bears will next be competing at the Pac-12 Diving Championships, Feb. 26-28, in Federal Way, Wash., and then the Pac-12 Swimming Championships, March 4-7, in Federal Way, Wash. Cal has won the past two Pac-12 championships and three of the last four NCAA crowns, winning national titles in 2011, 2012 and 2014.
Stanford closed its regular season Saturday while facing rival Cal at the Spieker Aquatics Complex, with the men’s swimming and diving team dropping a 184.5-115.5 decision.
Seventh-ranked Cal improved to 7-0 on the season with No. 12 Stanford dipping to 5-2.
The two programs will meet again in the Pac-12 Conference Championships in Federal Way, Washington. The diving portion will take place Feb. 26-28 with the swimming competition spanning from March 4-7.
Jack DesCombes won the 50-yard freestyle in 20.15 and Thomas Stephens (44.22) added a victory in the 100-yard freestyle. DesCombes displayed his versatility with a 47.99 for second in the 100-yard butterfly.
The Cardinal dominated the boards, with Kristian Ipsen winning the 3-meter edition with 456.08 points. Bradley Christensen (340.43) was second and Tarek Abdelghany (338.25) took third. Ipsen completed the daily-double with 421.88 points to win the 1-meter event.
Stanford (1:26.98) was over a second behind Cal (1:25.86) in the meet-opening 200-yard medley relay, and the Bears went 1-2-3 in the 1,000-yard freestyle in front of Danny Thomson (9:26.45) and Liam Egan (9:29.41). Egan’s 4:27.65 in the 500-yard freestyle went down in the books for a bronze-worthy finish.
David Nolan was second in 1:36.38 during the 200-yard freestyle and notched the same finish with a 1:46.90 in the 200-yard individual medley.
Andrew Liang led the Cardinal with a 48.60 in the 100-yard backstroke. The 200-yard version featured a fourth-place swim by Patrick Conaton (1:46.92).
The 100-yard breaststroke saw Christian Brown go 55.27. Daniel Le was third in the 200-yard breaststroke with a 1:59.97.
Tom Kremer’s 1:47.48 and Gray Umbach’s 1:47.61 went down for third and fourth, respectively, in the 200-yard butterfly. Kremer (44.41) later took second in the 100 free.
The Cardinal was second with a 2:57.05 to close the meet in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
