Cal Extends Undefeated Dual Meet Streak: Tops USC and UCSD

• February 4, 2022
• Uytengsu Aquatics Center, Los Angeles, California
• Canyonview Aquatic Center, La Jolla, California
• SCY dual meet
• Meet results
  • Cal vs USC
  • Cal vs UCSD
• Team scores
  • Cal 198.5-USC 94.5
  • Cal 145-UCSD 111

#2 Cal Golden Bears Def. #20 USC Trojans and UCSD Triton (Men Only)

On Friday, Cal competed in a split dual meet against USC and UCSD. Most of Cal’s top swimmers competed against USC, while the others had a solid showing against UCSD. The meet against USC was held in Los Angeles, and the meet against UCSD took place in La Jolla.

Cal vs USC

Since October 3, 2018, Cal has been undefeated in dual meets posting 20 consecutive wins, including six this season. Cal won all 14 events against the Trojans on Friday and 10 of the 14 events against the Tritons. This was the Trojan’s fist dual meet loss this season. 

The last time USC beat Cal in a dual meet was in 2016, which was the first time that the Trojans came out on top since 2000. 

In the 200 medley relay Daniel Carr (21.51), Reece Whitley (23.9), Trenton Julian (21.13), Bjorn Seeliger (18.80) touched 1st in 1:25.34, ahead of USC (1:26.16). The Trojan’s team featured Nikola Milijenic (22.56), Trent Pellini (23.64), Alexei Sancov (20.72) and Artem Selin (19.24).

In the 1,000 freestyle, USC’s Daniel Matheson clocked a season’s best 9:11.90 seconds to take 3rd behind Will Roberts (9:08.40) and Sean Grieshop (9:09.53). His previous best from this season was 9:19.20 seconds, which came from the Trojan Invite in October 2021. Matheson’s lifetime best is 9:02.33 seconds from the Arizona Senior Challenge in December, 2020.

Cal had many double winners against USC. Seeliger won the 50 (19.38) and 100 freestyle (43.42). Destin Lasco won the 100 (47.33) and 200 backstroke (1:43.97). Whitley swept the 100 breaststroke (52.48) and 200 breaststroke (1:54.34), and Julian posted the top times in the 100 butterfly (47.18) and 200 butterfly (1:43.30). 

In the 100 breaststroke, Cal’s Hugo Gonzalez posted a lifetime best (54.30) to take 3rd behind his teammate Whitley and USC’s Pellini. Gonzalez’s previous best time (54.55) came from Cal’s dual meet against Arizona in January 2020. Gonzalez is an NCAA contender in the 400 IM, so while he won’t swim the 100 breaststroke at that meet, improvements in the event are a good sign ahead of March’s championships.

Cal’s Jason Louser went a best time in the 200 butterfly (1:47.16) to place 3rd. His previous best time (1:47.31) was from Cal’s dual meet against Virginia in October 2021. He was part of a Cal 1-2-3 sweep in the event which was led by Julian (1:43.30), followed by Dare Rose (1:46.29), and Louser. 

Cal vs UCSD

Against UC San Diego, Cal won the 200 medley relay by .21 seconds. Kai Crews (22.61), Forrest Fraizer (25.04), Matthew Jensen (21.48), and Marcos Rico Peng (20.00) touched at 1:29.13 seconds. UC San Diego finished 2nd at 1:29.34 seconds with Tyler James (23.15), Luke Pusateri (25.33), Spencer Daily (20.77), and Nathaniel Cunnan (20.09).

In the 200 freestyle, Cal’s Matthew Petrides won in an NCAA-B cut (1:35.96), which was 2.5 seconds ahead of 2nd place finisher Ivan Kurakin (1:38.36) of UCSD. 

Jack Meehan added to the list of Golden Bears winning two individual events as he touched 1st in the 1,000 freestyle (9:08.41) and the 500 freestyle (4:28.39), which was a season best. At Cal’s meet against Arizona State in January, Meehan went 4:28.86, which was his previous season best. At the Minnesota Invitational, Meehan was 4:31.39 in the 500 freestyle. His lifetime best stands at 4:24.12 from the 2021 Pac-12 Championships. 

USC will compete against Stanford on Saturday at 12:00pm PT. Also on Saturday, UC San Diego and Cal are competing in the is competing in the Triton Invitational.

Cal’s final dual meet of the season is against Stanford on February 19 at Avery Aquatic Center. The last time Stanford beat Cal was in February 2018 with a final score of 151-149.