California vs. USC

LOS ANGELES, California, February 8. THE No. 11-ranked California men's swimming and diving team improved its dual meet record to 5-1 overall and 3-1 in the Pac-10 with a 132-102 victory over USC Friday at McDonald's Swim Stadium in Los Angeles. The Golden Bears captured seven individual events, highlighted by junior diver Sam Helvie winning both the one-meter and three-meter competitions. Senior Joe Whittington, senior Jernej Godec and junior David Russell also paced Cal by being members of the victorious 200 medley relay, and winning the 50 free, 100 fly and 100 back, respectively.

The Bears' 200 medley relay of Russell, freshman Damir Dugonjic, Godec and Whittington got Cal off to a strong start, winning in an NCAA B standard time of 1:27.36. Senior Michael Jafari next won the 1000 free with a season-best time of 9:32.62. The Bears went on to win the 50 free behind Whittington's NCAA B Standard time of 20.13, the 100 fly behind Godec's NCAA B Stanford time of 48.15, and the 100 back behind Russell's NCAA B Standard time of 48.20.

Cal actually finished 1-2-3 in the 100 back with freshman Graeme Moore and senior Louis Vayo swimming times of 50.74 and 50.83. Sophomore Aaron Casey was the winner in the 500 free (4:34.24) for the Bears. Diver Helvie, earlier this week named the January Pac-10 Diver of the Month, continued his outstanding performances with marks of 349.05 on the one-meter board, and 375.07 on the three-meter board. Cal swam the final two events of the meet, the 100 breast and 200 free relay, as exhibitions.

The Bears will next compete at No. 3-ranked Stanford on Saturday, Feb. 23 at 1 p.m. at the Avery Aquatic Complex on the Stanford campus.

Special thanks to California for contributing this report.

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use