Cal’s Whitley Snaps Cordes Pool Record, Gonzalez Breaks Chitwood Record vs. ASU

CAL vs. ARIZONA STATE

• Jan. 25, 2020
• Hosted by Cal
• Short Course Yards
• Full Results (men)

TEAM SCORES

MEN

1. Cal 160
2. Arizona State 119

The reigning NCAA Champion Cal men set 4 Spieker Pool Records on Saturday as they beat Pac-12 rival Arizona State. On the men’s side, the Bears took down the Pool Record mark in the 200 medley relay. Daniel Carr (back- 21.79), Reece Whitley (breast- 23.85), Pawel Sendyk (fly- 20.02), and Michael Jensen (free- 19.48) combined for a 1:25.14. Notably, Ryan Hoffer had the fastest anchor split with an 18.98 from the B relay. That was the first of 3 records for Whitley.

In the 100 breast, Whitley swam a season dual meet best of 52.77. With that, he took down the Pool Record set by Olympic medalist Kevin Cordes back in 2014. Whitley broke a 15-year-old Pool Record in the 200 breast, scorching a 1:53.65 to erase Gary Marshall’s former mark.

Teammate Hugo Gonzalez set the final Pool Record for the men in the 400 IM, an event in which he owns an SEC Championship title. He blew it away by 4 seconds, touching in 3:44.51 to take down the 2012 record set by Cory Chitwood. That was also a season best by 4 seconds. Gonzalez, a redshirt sophomore, is in his first season with Cal after transferring from Auburn.

All-American Hoffer swept the sprints for the Bears. He was just off his season best from the previous day with a 19.52 in the 50 free. Hoffer’s 43.19 in the 100 free was a season dual meet best by well over half a second. It’s also the fastest in-season time of his career (excluding midseason invites). Fellow All-American Carr took on the backstrokes, completing a sweep with a 46.44 in the 100 and 1:43.27 in the 200. His swims were also career in-season bests.

Zheng Quah and Trenton Julian added to the list of multiple event winners. Quah swept the butterflies with a 46.03 in the 100 fly and a 1:42.54 in the 200 fly. Julian took on the distance freestyles for a sweep with a 4:20.85 500 free and a 9:03.65 1000 free.

PRESS RELEASE – CAL MEN

BERKELEY – California set four pool records in the 200-yard medley relay, 100 breaststroke, 200 breaststroke and 400 individual medley on the way to a 160-119 dual meet victory over Arizona State on Senior Day at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

Sophomore Reece Whitley stole the show by breaking the 100 breast (52.77) and 200 breast (1:53.65) pool records in addition to swimming a 23.85 split on the second leg of the Bears’ pool record swim in the 200 medley relay (1:25.14). Junior Daniel Carr and seniors Pawel Sendyk and Michael Jensen joined Whitley on the 200-medley relay.

Redshirt sophomore Hugo Gonzalez recorded Cal’s fourth pool record of the afternoon with a 3:44.51 finish in the 400 IM. With Cal having already clinched the dual meet victory at the time of the 400 IM, Gonzalez swam the event as an exhibition.

“I love each and every one of our nine seniors,” Whitley said after the meet. “Coach Durden told us to push for our best performances so we could send our seniors out the right way, and that’s really what I wanted to do. We are coming off a long camp at [the United States Olympic Training Center] and haven’t really slowed down since returning to Berkeley, but we still collectively had some really good times this weekend.’

No. 2 (CSCAA) Cal improved to 3-0 in dual meets this season and has won nine consecutive dual meets since Oct. 3, 2018.

Cal’s new 200 medley relay pool record broke the previous low of 1:25.61, held by two different quartets of Ryan Murphy, Connor Hoppe, Matthew Josa and Sendyk (Feb. 18, 2017) and Murphy, Hoppe, Justin Lynch and Sendyk (Feb. 3, 2017).

Whitley shaved 15 tenths of a second off the previous 100 breast pool record (52.92), held by Arizona’s Kevin Cordes since 2014. Whitley then smashed the previous 200 breast pool record of 1:56.22, which was set by Stanford’s Gary Marshall in 2005. Gonzalez lowered the 400 IM pool record by more than four seconds (3:48.74); it was previously held by Arizona’s Cory Chitwood dating back to 2012.

“The good thing about this weekend – especially swimming on back-to-back days against two well-coached teams – was that we got to see a bunch of guys in some different races,” said Cal head coach David Durden. “Maybe just a couple guys swam the same events between Friday and Saturday but for the most part we got to see four, six, seven different swims.

“The last two days were important, but really our last two weeks have been more important. Our guys have done a great job transitioning from training at the OTC in Colorado Springs to coming back to Berkeley and swimming at sea level again.”

In the final home meet of his career, senior diver Connor Callahan excelled on the boards with an NCAA Zone Championship-qualifying score of 324.75 in the 3-meter. He added a 309.00 score in the 1-meter, which marked a season-best.

Other standout performances included two wins apiece for Trenton Julian (9:03.65 in the 1000 free; 4:20.85 in the 500 free), Ryan Hoffer (19.52 in the 50 free; 43.19 in the 100 free) and Daniel Carr (46.44 in the 100 back; 1:43.27 in the 200 back). Zheng Wen Quah added a 1:42.54 win in the 200 fly and Bryce Mefford touched first in the 200 free (1:36.70).

Prior to the meet’s swimming events, Cal recognized its nine seniors – Karl Arvidsson, Callahan, Shane Forker, Jensen, Quah, Sendyk, Andy Song, Jack Xie and Ethan Young – during a honorary ceremony, alongside the women’s team’s six seniors.

NEXT TIME
Cal’s next jump into the pool will be at the UC San Diego Invitational (Feb. 7-8) in San Diego and a Pac-12 dual meet at USC (Feb. 7) in Los Angeles.

STAY POSTED
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PRESS RELEASE – ARIZONA STATE

BERKELEY, Calif. – No. 13/NR Sun Devil men’s and women’s swimming and diving finished up their Bay Area road trip today, falling to No. 2/2 Cal Saturday afternoon at the Spieker Aquatics Complex in Berkeley. The men fell to the Bears 160-119 while the women fell 192.5-97.5.

The men got off to a solid start in the first few events, with Cody Bybee, Carter Swift and Liam Bresette going 2-3-4 in the 200 freestyle. Zach Poti followed with a second-place finish in the 100 back while Aaron Beauchamp notched another podium finish at third in the 100 breaststroke. Jack Edgemond (200 fly) and Evan Carlson (50 free) each took third to head into the first break.

The distance women also got off to a hot start, with the duo of Cierra Runge and Emma Nordin going 1-2 in the 1000 free to kick off individual events. Erica Laning followed with a third-place finish in the 200 free and Chloe Isleta put up a podium finish of her own in the 100 back.

Silja Kansakoski lit up the pool in the 100 breast, going 1:01.98 to beat second place by over a full second. Freshman Jade Foelske took home second in the 200 fly shortly after while Cam Curry continued her sprint dominance as she tied for second place in the 50 free to head into the first break.

Diver Youssef Selim performed well against the Bears today, taking wins in both the one-meter and three-meter springboard events this afternoon. With today’s sweep, the Egyptian has now achieved the feat three times this season.

Isleta followed her runner up place in the 100 back with a first place finish in the 200 back, touching the wall at 1:58.36 to do so. Both Kansakoski and Nora Deleske podiumed in the 200 breast while the Sun Devils again showcased their stamina, going 1-2-3 in the 500 free in part by Nordin, Runge, Dawson, respectively. Foelske finished up the second part of action with her second podium finish in the 100 fly to lead the women into their second break.

Swift (100 free), Poti (200 back) and Bresette (500 free) all accomplished podium finishes to bring ASU within two events of finished out their meet against the No. 2 team in the nation for both genders.

The men finished with a win in the 200 free relay while the women placed third to round out the meet in Berkeley.

ASU will finished out the remainder of the season at home, welcoming the No. 1/10 Texas Longhorns to Tempe on Jan. 31. Fans can keep up with the action all season-long by following @ASUSwimDive on Twitter.