California Men Cruise By Pacific

KNOXVILLE, TN - December 5, 2013 - Ryan Murphy competes in the 200 Yard IM during the USA Swimming AT&T Winter National Championships at the Allan Jones Aquatic Center in Knoxville, Tennessee

Photo Courtesy: Tia Patron/Tennessee Athletics

STOCKTON, California, October 8. The University of California men’s swimming and diving team extended its dual meet win streak to 16 this afternoon, cruising by the University of the Pacific, 173-81. Long Gutierrez and Hunter Cobleigh led the way with two wins apiece for the Bears.

California Press Release

Led by a pair of victories each sophomores Long Gutierrez and Hunter Cobleigh, the Cal men’s swimming team cruised to a 173-81 dual meet win over Pacific Wednesday in Stockton. The Golden Bears, the 2014 NCAA team champions, have now won 16 consecutive dual meets carrying over from the 2011-12 season.

Gutierrez, from Cottonwood, Utah, placed first in both the 100 fly (49.82) and the 1000 free (9:24.73), while Cobleigh from Thousand Oaks, captured the 100 (57.27) and 200 breast (2:04.86).

Other individual winners for David Durden’s squad were junior Jacob Pebley in the 200 free (1:40.30), freshman Justin Lynch in the 200 fly (1:47.99), senior Seth Stubblefield in the 50 free (20.59), sophomore Ryan Murphy in the 100 free (45.01) and junior Trent Williams in the 500 free (4:35.86).

Additionally, the Bears won the opening event, the 200 medley relay, behind the swims of junior Josh Prenot, senior Will Hamilton, freshman Kyle Gornay and junior Tyler Messerschmidt (1:28.00).

Cal will have two more fall non-conference dual meets – Friday, Oct. 17 at 1 p.m. at Spieker Aquatics Complex versus Hawaii, and Friday, Nov. 7 at 1 p.m. at Spieker Aquatics versus Wisconsin. In between those two dual meets, the Bears will be competing in a triple-distance exhibition meet at Stanford on Wednesday, Nov. 5 at 2 p.m. at Avery Aquatics Complex.

The Bears will again vie for an NCAA crown in 2015 after winning national championships in 2011, 2012 and 2014 under Durden. Besides returning defending national champion (100 and 200 backstroke) Murphy, Cal returns NCAA relay champions Stubblefield, Messerschmidt, and senior breaststroker Chuck Katis, among several others who have shined during Pac-12 and NCAA championship competition. The Bears also feature a stellar 2014-15 freshman class.

Pacific Press Release

Taking on the defending national champions, the Tiger men’s swim team came up short in a 173-81 loss to the Cal Golden Bears on Wednesday, Oct. 8. The meeting was the third-straight season opening contest between the two sides.

Swimming against the best team in the country, the Tigers jumped in the pool looking to test themselves against the Bears to see where they stacked up on the national stage. Facing off against All-Americans and potential national team swimmers at every turn, the Tigers held their own for the first meet of the year, getting their feet wet for a long season ahead.

Sophomore Curtis Klein had an outstanding showing on the day for the Tigers as the second-year swimmer got Pacific its first event win early in the day as he took the win in the 100 Back. By a hair, Klein outtouched Cal’s Kyle Gornay by 1/10th of a second as Klein finished with a time of 50:30 while Gorney came in at 50:40. The sophomore would get Pacific’s its second win of the day just four events later when he posted the top time in the 200 Back. Again, Klein was just a touch faster than the fastest Bear in the pool as he touched the wall at 1:49.31, nearly a full second ahead of Cal’s Connor Green.

Klein won the 200 Back last season against the Bears as a freshman as he made his mark on the collegiate stage early in Berkeley.

Klein’s two event victories were the top finishes for the Tigers on the day as the Bears came out ahead throughout most of the day to take the overall meet victory. The Tigers just missed on a few other event wins on the day as freshman Stewart Harrison and sophomore Jared Vu both came up just short of a win in the 100 Fly as the Harrison was out touched by under 5/10ths of a second while Vu missed by 8/10ths. To start the day, Pacific’s top 200 Medley Relay team of Vu, Matthew Um, Harrison, and Taylor Moore, came up just three second short of the top spot held by Cal which finished at 1:28.00 in the event.

The Tigers will be back in the pool on Oct. 18-19 as they host the Pacific Invitational at Chris Kjeldsen Pool. Both the men and the women will be in the pool as the Tigers swim for the first time at home beginning at 1:00 pm on the 18th.

Results: California vs. Pacific

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