Bears Defeat No. 6 Devils On Senior Day
BERKELEY – The second-ranked California men's swimming & diving team used another strong day to take down No. 6 Arizona State, 176-117, in a Pac-12 dual meet victory on senior day Saturday at Spieker Aquatics Complex.
Prior to the meet, Cal recognized nine senior student-athletes who competed at Spieker Aquatics Complex for the final time in their collegiate careers. The group included fifth-year seniors, Daniel Carr, Sean Grieshop, Trenton Julian, Bryce Mefford, seniors Hugo González, Kyle Millis, Chris Jhong and Reece Whitley and graduate student Will Roberts.
It was the 18th-straight dual meet win for Cal, dating back to Oct. 3, 2018. The Bears won 11 of 15 events against the Sun Devils and ASU was awarded an automatic 30 points for Cal not competing in the diving competition.
One of the best races of the day took place in the final event. Cal and ASU were neck-and-neck through the first three legs of the 200-yard freestyle relay with Björn Seeliger, Carr and Jack Alexy giving the Bears a slight advantage. Destin Lasco was the anchor and held off ASU down the stretch after the final turn for a win in 1:18.34.
Gabriel Jett continued his dominant weekend after he picked up three wins on Friday against Arizona. Jett opened in the 200 free and trailed before the final turn, but he swam past ASU's Grant House in the final 25 yards to take the victory in 1:34.13. He closed the weekend with a dominant win in the 500 free, coasting to the wall in 4:19.51.
Wrapping up the freestyle races, Cal took a sweep in the 1,000 behind Grieshop (9:06.64), Roberts (9:06.92) and Jack Meehan (9:07.16). Seeliger coasted to a time of 19.43 and a win in the 50.
Tokyo Olympian Bryce Mefford made his season debut for the Bears and didn't disappoint as he swam an NCAA B cut time of 1:44.04 in his first action in the 200 backstroke. In the 100 back, Cal swept the podium with Carr touching the wall in 46.42 and Mefford (47.44) and González (47.64) close behind.
Julian won the 100 butterfly in 47.27 and the 200 fly in 1:42.72. Whitley took the title in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 52.87.
UP NEXT
The Bears hit the road next weekend for a split-squad weekend in SoCal. Cal will send swimmers to both dual meets at USC and UC San Diego on Friday, Feb. 4. Both meets start simultaneously at 2 p.m. PT. The weekend will conclude with the UC San Diego-hosted Triton Invitational at 10 a.m. PT Saturday, Feb. 5.
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