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Cal Closes Night With Back-To-Back Pac-12 Titles

Mar 3, 2022
Björn Seeliger won the 50-yard freestyle Thursday, giving Cal its sixth win in a row in the event dating back to Pawel Sendyk in 2017.

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. – Cal closed out the second night of the Pac-12 Championships Thursday with back-to-back trips to the top of the podium as Bjorn Seeliger captured the 50-yard freestyle and the Golden Bears won the conference title in 200 free relay in a meet-record time.
 
In the 50 free, Seeliger beat the field with a time of 18.84, matching his runner-up time from 2021 when he was second to teammate Ryan Hoffer. The result gave Cal its sixth win in a row in the event dating back to Pawel Sendyk in 2017
 
A short time later, the Bears kept rolling with their win in the 200 free relay. Seeliger led off and improved upon his winning 50 free time when he completed the opening leg in 18.73 seconds. Jack Alexy and Daniel Carr followed, and Marcos Rico Peng brought Cal home in 1:15.00, more than a half second faster than the old meet mark of 1:15.54 set by the Bears in 2020.
 
Through two of four days at the meet, Stanford leads with 363.5 points. Arizona State is second (261.5), Arizona is third (233.5) and Cal, which did not compete in diving, is fourth (221.5).
 
In the opening event of the night session, Sean Grieshop led the Bears in the 500 free. He competed in his 13th career Pac-12 final and finished in 4:15.21 to capture sixth place. Cal also had three swimmers in the B final with Trenton Julian taking 10th overall in 4:14.10, Will Roberts 12th (4:17.30) and Tyler Kopp 14th (4:20.41).
 
In the 200 IM, three Bears qualified for the A final, with Destin Lasco the first to the wall, placing fourth in 1:41.70. Jason Louser was right behind in fifth (1:41.76), with Hugh Gonzalez seventh (1:43.14).
 
Cal had five swimmers in addition to Seeliger in the 50 free. Alexy was sixth in a season-best 19.35, and the Bears earned spots in the B final – Rico Peng (10th, 19.43), Carr (13th, 19.51), Robin Hanson (14, 19.59) and Matthew Jensen (15th, 19.79).
 
UP NEXT
The Pac-12 Championships continue Friday with competition in six events – 400 IM, 100 butterfly, 200 free, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke and the 400 medley relay. Prelims for the individual events start at 11 a.m., followed by finals at 6 p.m. The finals will be streamed live on Pac-12.com and the Pac-12 Now app.

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