Washington vs. Cal-Berkeley

BERKELEY, California, November 2. LED by senior Dominik Meichtry capturing the 200 and 500 free, plus a win in the 400 medley relay and eight other individual victories, the California men's swimming team defeated Washington, 153.50-106.50, at Spieker Aquatics Complex. The Golden Bears, under the direction of first-year coach David Durden, improved their dual meet record to 2-0 overall and 1-0 against Pac-10 competition.

Meichtry, last year's NCAA runner-up in the 200 free, won the Friday's 200 free in a time of 1:38.44, and placed first in the 500 free with a mark of 4:29.85.

Cal had eight other athletes win races against the Huskies, who are coach by the Bears' former women's assistant Whitney Hite. Freshman Damir Dugonjic won the 100 breast in 56.66 and also swam the breaststroke leg of the Bears' victorious 400 medley relay. Cal's 400 medley relay team posted a time of 3:17.64 with junior David Russell swimming the backstroke leg, senior Jernej Godec swimming the butterfly leg and senior William Copeland swimming the freestyle leg.

Russell, the 2007 Pac-10 champion in the 100 back, won Friday's 200 back (1:49.51), while Copeland was the winner in the 50 free (20.66). Other individual event winners for the Bears were senior Mark Eckert in the 100 back (50.36), senior Joe Whittington in the 100 free (45.25), sophomore Sean Mahoney in the 200 breast (2:03.80), senior Dominic Cathey in the 100 fly (49.29) and senior Louis Vayo in the 200 IM (1:50.48).

"We are definitely happy to win the meet," said Durden. "We had some guys swim very well, and others need to step-up their performances a little bit. We would like to win every event, but Washington is an up-and-coming program and gave us a good fight."

As for the women, the Cal Golden Bear's swimming team opened its conference slate with a 155-107 dual meet win over Washington at the Spieker Aquatics Complex on Friday afternoon. With the victory, Cal moved to 2-0 in dual meet action (1-0 in the Pac-10).

Washington barely edged out Cal in the 400 Medley Relay to begin the day, as Ari Kukors, Maryann Boosalis, Erin Campbell and Emilee Jennings touched the wall at 3:46.25, outlasting Lauren Rogers, Alexandra Ellis, Tara Thomas and Madison Kennedy, who reached the wall with a time of 3:46.83.

In the fifth event of the afternoon, Emily Silver captured first place in the 200 free with a time of 1:49.28, just .37 seconds better than teammate Lauren Boyle who came in second with a time of 1:49.65.

Cal had little trouble in the 200 fly as Amanda Sims (2:00.31), Rachel Ridgeway (2:01.10) and Courtney Eronemo (2:04.74) finished 1-2-3 respectively.

Madison Kennedy continued to improve her 50 free time after she posted a first-place finish 23.11, followed by Thomas who touched the wall at 23.48.

Freshman Kelsey Hoff helped boost Cal's total points after she captured the 200 back with a time of 2:05.37.

Boyle shaved nearly six seconds off of her previous personal-best in the 500 free with a first place time of 4:51.99

Special thanks to The University of California-Berkeley for contributing this report.

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