Andrew Seliskar Leads Cal to Victory Over USC with Winning Triple

CAL VS. USC

• Results
• Friday, February 3rd
• Hosted by Cal
• 25 yards
• Dual meet format

FINAL TEAM SCORES

• CAL- 177
• USC- 109

All-American sophomore Andrew Seliskar threw down a winning triple for the Cal bears as they defeated USC at home this Friday. His first win came in the 200 fly, as he clocked a 1:44.14 to finish ahead of teammate Mike Thomas (1:45.02). He then stepped up to the plate in the 200 breast, turning in a winning time of 1:57.19 to outpace USC’s Steven Stumph (1:58.39). Seliskar completed the triple in the 200 IM, taking his final 1st place finish in a time of 1:45.90.

Also winning multiple individual races for Cal were senior Ryan Murphy and junior Justin Lynch. American Record holder Murphy took on his signature backstroke races, as he powered to a 46.31 victory in the 100 back and a 1:41.95 win in the 200 back.

Lynch, on the other hand, won a tight battle with USC All-American Santo Condorelli in the 50 free. Hu out-touched Condorelli by a nail at the finish, winning with a 20.21 to Condorelli’s 20.23. In his next event, the 100 fly, he battled with new teammate Matt Josa. At the halfway point, Josa held the lead by hundredths with a 21.83, but Lynch made his move on the back half to win in 46.95 to Josa’s 47.49.

You can check out some of the video highlights of the meet here.

PRESS RELEASE – CAL

BERKELEY – With the Pac-12 and NCAA Championships looming just a few weeks down the road, the Cal men’s swimming and diving team knows that what happens from here on out might hinge on what kind of group effort the Bears put forward each time they take the blocks to compete.

On Friday, no amount of wind, rain or cold was going to stand in the way of making progress in that respect as Cal swam to wins in all but one race and brought home a victory in diving to beat USC 177-109 at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

Even with Mother Nature playing its part in the proceedings, Cal showed a good energy level right from the first swim of the day. A strong leadoff leg by senior Ryan Murphy got the Bears rolling in the 200-yard medley relay and Connor Hoppe, Justin Lynch and Pawel Sendyk kept that advantage steady to finish in 1:25.61 and beat second-place USC by 17-hundreths of a second.

The energy of a dramatic relay win carried into the 1,000 freestyle and helped the Bears pick up another win. Sophomore Nick Norman and junior Ryan Kao established themselves as the men to beat early and Norman pulled away late, finishing in a season-best time of 9:11.11 for the win. Kao also recorded a sason-best time of 9:15.03.

Another Cal duel broke out in the 200 free as senior Long Gutierrez and freshman Michael Jensen jumped ahead by the 100-yard mark. Gutierrez only got stronger as he went along and set his own season-best in the event, finishing in 1:35.00 and earning the win.

Murphy cruised to familiar results in the 100 and 200 backstroke, winning both races by a comfortable margin. USC picked up its lone swimming victory of the day with a win by Carsten Vissering in the 100 breaststroke but with Cal swimmers in second, third and fourth, the Bears nearly offset the points that the Trojans earned for finishing first and fifth.

Sophomore Andrew Seliskar continued his torrid start to 2017, beginning with a dominant performance to win the 200 butterfly in 1:44.14. Cal’s depth in the event showed as well, with Mike Thomas and Jack Xie staging their own battle to finish second and third, respectively.

Lynch got back into the action with a win in the 50 freestyle, swimming to a time of 20.21 that put him two-hundreths better than USC Olympian Santo Condorelli. That was only the beginning of a memorable day for Cal’s sprint freestylers though as the Bears went an incredible 1-2-3-4 in the 100 free, led by senior Dillon Williams who finished in 44.68 to earn a win that drew raucous cheers from not only the crowd but also Cal’s bench.

“To a man, I think everyone would say that was the race of the meet for us. It is so inspiring to everybody else to see that,” Cal head coach David Durden said of Williams’ performance. “You saw the reaction; that was probably the biggest reaction we had to a swim. Especially with the lineup that we put up there and the athletes that were in that race, it was pretty inspiring for all of our guys to see that.”

Seliskar earned his second win of the day with a season-best time of 1:57.19 in the 200 breaststroke and Kao followed with a win of his own in the 500 free. Lynch led a 1-2 Cal finish in the 100 butterfly with Matthew Josa placing second and Seliskar brought the individual events to a close with a win in the 200 individual medley. Xie capped a strong day with a second-place finish in the event as well. The Bears wrapped up their day with another relay win as the team of Sendyk, Murphy, Jensen and Josa swam to a time of 1:19.95 to take the 200 free relay.

“This is a very competitive group of guys,” Murphy said. “I think out of my four years here, this is the most we’ve embraced competition of any team I’ve been on so that leads to a really good atmosphere at practice and a really good atmosphere at meets. Having a good team like USC come in heightens that competitiveness, too. We’re not racing against some scrubs here, these are some of the best guys in the country and we want to prove to ourselves and to each other that we should be one of the best, if not the best, team in the country come March.”

Cal’s success wasn’t confined to the action Spieker. The Bears got a huge boost from just down the street at Legends Aquatic Center as well as freshman Connor Callahan earned a score of 321.08 to win the 1-meter diving competition. Callahan was nearly as strong on the 3-meter board, placing second with a score of 350.85 to edge out defending Pac-12 champion Dashiell Enos of USC and contribute a valuable 13 points towards Cal’s team score.

“Especially when we get to this time of year, we’re gearing up as a team into Pac-12 or NCAA competition and we really do have to do it as a unit and as a group,” Durden said. “That was a big point of emphasis for us and I think our guys did it well throughout most of the meet. There were some areas where we fell off just a little bit but throughout most of the meet, we did a good job with it.”

Cal returns to action on Feb. 18 to bring the 2016-17 dual meet season to a close against Stanford. The meet, which will begin at noon, will also represent Senior Day for the Bears’ five upperclassmen. Hunter Cobleigh, Jonathan Fiepke, Gutierrez, Murphy and Williams will all be honored before the meet begins.

PRESS RELEASE – USC

Sophomore Carsten Vissering won the 100y breast and freshman Henry Fusaro captured the 3-meter springboard to pace No. 13 USC, which fell at No. 2 California on Friday, 177-109.

Vissering took first in the 100y breast in 53.52, posting a win by 0.56. Fusaro won 3-meter going away with 390.53. Junior Dashiell Enos was second on 1-meter with a 305.78.

Junior Santo Condorelli just missed a win in the 50y free, turning in a 20.23, 0.02 back of Cal’s Justin Lynch. Junior Ralf Tribuntsov posted a second in the 100y back in 47.11.

Sophomore Patrick Mulcare was second in the 200y back with a 1:44.18 while Cal Olympian gold medalist Ryan Murphy, who also took the 100y back, won in 1:41.95.

Senior Steven Stumph turned in a second-place finish with a 1:58.39 in the 200y breast, while senior Reed Malone finished second in the 500y free by a second, 4:28.27.

USC takes on Stanford on Saturday at noon in a meet streamed live at Pac-12.com.