AUSTIN, Texas – California rewrote much of its record book at the NCAA Championships Thursday, with the Golden Bears winning three events – two in American-record times and a third breaking a school record.
 
Junior Abbey Weitzeil was the star of the evening with a hand in all three of the titles. First, she anchored the 200-yard free relay to an American and U.S. Open-record of 1:24.55. Then, she broke her own American and an U.S. Open mark in the 50 free, touching in 21.02, before swimming the final leg on Cal's victorious and school-record 400 medley relay, which finished in 3:25.24.
 
As a result, the Bears are in a virtual dead heat with Stanford in the race for the team crown. Stanford leads with 173.5 points, and Cal has 173 with two more days of racing remaining. Michigan is third with 129 points.
 
In the opening event of the night, Cal burst off the blocks in the 200 free relay. Junior Maddie Murphy completed the opening 50 in 21.82, her fastest time in two years, and Katie McLaughlin followed to keep the Bears in the hunt. Amy Bilquist then posted a 20.87 split to hand Cal the lead, and Weitzeil took over from there. Her 20.49 for the final 50 yards was the second-fastest relay split ever.
 
The Bears' winning time of 1:24.55 was nearly a second ahead of the previous American and U.S. Open mark of 1:25.43 set by Stanford last March. The victory gave Cal is fourth win in the relay in the past five years.
 
Weitzeil then came back a short while later for her specialty, the 50 free. She immediately sprinted to the lead and hit the wall in 21.02, lowering her American record of 21.12 from 2016 before she enrolled at Cal. Her victory is the fourth all-time for the Bears in the event and first since Liv Jensen claimed national titles in 2010 and 2012.
 
Weitzeil wasn't the only Bear in the 50 free final, as Bilquist came through in her own PR with a time of 21.52 for sixth place, making her the fourth-fastest in school history. In addition, Murphy came out of lane 1 in the B final for the win in 21.91.
 
In the 200 individual medley, freshman Isabel Ivey lowered her lifetime best to 1:53.87, dropping more than a second from her qualifying heat, and captured the B final for ninth place overall. Junior Keaton Blovad also swam a PR and touched in 1:55.46 for 11th overall.
 
Senior Phoebe LaMay posted her best result ever in 1-meter diving, finishing 15th with a score of 282.45. She becomes the first Golden Bear to score in diving since Kahley Rowell on platform in 2014 and the first on springboard since Melissa Graviss 25 years ago.
 
Cal closed out the session with the 400 medley relay. After opening legs by Bilquist and freshman Ema Rajic in the backstroke and breaststroke, respectively, McLaughlin's butterfly handed the Bears the lead and Weitzeil brought it home with her final 100 free. The time of 3:25.24 was a quarter of a second below the previous school mark.
 
The championships continue Friday, with qualifying heats at 7 a.m. PT. The finals session begins at 3 p.m. PT and will be televised by ESPNU.