Quah Clocks 45.8 100 FL, Whitley Posts 1:52.7 200 BR as Cal Beats Stanford

CAL VS. STANFORD

• February 22, 2020
• Hosted by Stanford
• Short Course Yards
• Full Results

TEAM SCORES

• CAL: 198
• STANFORD: 98

The Cal Bears and Stanford Cardinal gathered in Palo Alto for one last dual meet of the season ahead of the Pac-12 Championships. The reigning NCAA Champion Bears brought home another win by 100 points. They’ll meet again at the Pac-12 meet coming up in less than 2 weeks.

Breaststroke ace Reece Whitley put together another sweep for the Bears. Whitley started his day with a 24.19 breast split on the 200 medley relay, the fastest of the field. In the 100 breast, he was the only man sub-53 as he won in 52.97. Whitley then dominated the 200 breast in 1:52.72. That’s his fastest ever in-season time by over half a second.

Whitley also swam the 200 IM, where he battled with teammate Hugo Gonzalez. Through the back leg, Gonzalez got out to a slight lead in 50.02 to Whitley’s 50.37. Whitley then took advantage of the breast leg to take a 3-tenth lead going into the free. Gonzalez fought back on the closing 50, out-touching Whitley 1:46.02 to 1:46.15. That was Whitley’s fastest dual meet time by 2 seconds.

Gonzalez, who is in his first Pac-12 season after transferring from Auburn, put up a 1:37.59 to take 3rd in the 200 free. That event was won by All-American teammate Zheng Quah, who posted his 3rd fastest performance ever in 1:35.10. He went on to take a winning double with a 45.87 in the 100 fly, clipping his career in-season best by a tenth. On the 400 free relay leadoff, Quah was a tenth shy of a best in 43.51.

NCAA Champion Ryan Hoffer also had a couple of standout swims for Cal. First up was his 18.86 anchor split on the 200 medley relay. Hoffer went on to sweep the sprints, clocking a 19.25 in the 50 free and a 42.99 in the 100 free.

Stanford distance star Grant Shoults, a Pac-12 Champion, had a big swim in the 1000 free. Shoults put up an 8:55.10 to outpace Cal’s Sean Grieshop (8:59.53). That was his 2nd fastest swim ever and his fastest since he set his lifetime best 8:48.03 in 2015. Likewise, Grieshop’s time was his 3rd fastest ever and his best since 2015. Shoults went on to sweep the distance events with a 4:22.24 in the 500 free.

PRESS RELEASE – CAL

STANFORD, Calif. – California men’s swimming and diving earned a convincing 198-98 dual meet victory over rival Stanford on Saturday afternoon at Avery Aquatic Center.

The dominant afternoon was a start-to-finish affair for the Bears, who swept the relays and won 10 of 12 individual swimming events en route to their 12th consecutive dual meet victory dating back to Oct. 3, 2018. It was Cal’s second straight dual meet win against the Cardinal. Ryan Hoffer, Zheng Wen Quah and Reece Whitley won two individual events apiece.

A 1:24.91 first-place finish by Bryce Mefford, Karl Arvidsson, Pawel Sendyk and Hoffer in the 200 medley relay kicked off the afternoon. After Stanford won the 1000 free, the Bears reeled off five straight individual wins in the 200 free (Quah, 1:35.10), 100 back (Daniel Carr, 46.08), 100 breast (Whitley, 52.94), 200 fly (Trenton Julian, 1:44.57) and 50 free (Hoffer, 19.25) before the first diving break.

Following the break, Hoffer claimed the 100 free in 42.99, Mefford touched first in the 100 back (1:42.06) and Whitley won his second breast event, the 200, in 1:52.72. Quah and Hugo Gonzalez then capped the afternoon’s individual events with wins in the 100 fly and 200 IM, respectively.

With victory already in hand, Quah, Hoffer, Sendyk and Michael Jensen ended the meet with a 2:53.25 win in the 400 free relay.

In the diving events, Connor Callahan earned seven total points with a second-place 318.80 in the 1-meter and a third-place 305.25 in the 3-meter.

NEXT TIME
All focus will shift to the Pac-12 Championships, held in Federal Way, Wash., on Feb. 26-29 (diving) and March 4-7 (swimming). Senior diver Connor Callahan will represent the Bears at the diving championships before the swimmers travel north the following week. All events will be aired live on the Pac-12 Network from the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center.

STAY POSTED
For complete coverage of Cal men’s swimming and diving, please follow the Bears on Twitter (@CalMenSwim), Instagram (@CalMenSwim) and Facebook (Facebook.com/CalMensSwimmingandDiving).

PRESS RELEASE – STANFORD

STANFORD, Calif. – No. 16 Stanford suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday afternoon, falling to No. 2 California 198-98 at Avery Aquatic Center.

Competing in its final dual before Pac-12 Championships get underway in two weeks, Stanford (4-1, 3-1 Pac-12) won four event titles overall, with Grant Shoults and Connor Casey accounting for two apiece.

In the second event of the day, Shoults clocked in at 8:55.10 in the 1,000-yard freestyle, finishing ahead of four Golden Bear swimmers.

Shoults later added a title in the 500-yard freestyle, producing a time of 4:22.24 to lead the pack while James Murphy placed third at 4:31.11 as the Cardinal’s other top-five finisher.

Casey dominated both diving events, totaling a 431.70 in the 1-meter competition and 444.53 in the 3-meter event.

Stanford recorded three runner-up finishes: Hank Poppe (53.51) in the 100-yard breaststroke, Alex Liang (1:46.40) in the 200-yard butterfly and Daniel Roy (1:56.91) in the 200-yard breaststroke.

California (6-0, 4-0 Pac-12) displayed its depth throughout the meet, winning 12 events overall.

Saturday’s Senior Day meet also recognized seniors Benjamin Ho, William Macmillan, Murphy and Poppe. During their time on The Farm, the Cardinal senior class captured a Pac-12 title in 2017 while producing two top-10 finishes at NCAA Championships.