AUSTIN -- Bolstered by national titles in the 200 free and 400 medley relays, California sits only point behind host Texas 146-145 after the first day of the 2014 NCAA men's swimming and diving championships.
After winning Day One's opening event, the 200 free relay, Cal captured the evening's final event, the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:02.66 from backstroker Murphy, junior breaststroker Chuck Katis, senior butterflyer Marcin Tarczynski and junior freestyler Stubblefield.
"To be honest with you, we just kind of put our heads down and just said,'you know what, we're not supposed to be here. We're not supposed to be in that final.' And we're just like 'you know what, let's go win it' and we just wanted to swim our race and just let everybody else catch up." Messerschmidt said on his mindset during the 200 free relay win.
Other top performances for the Bears were sophomore Josh Prenot placing fifth (1:41.97) and Murphy finishing eighth in the 200 IM. Stubblefield was fifth in the 50 free (18.09), while Cox was 11th (19.28) and Messerschmidt 12th (19.33) in the sprint free.
In the 500 free, senior Jeremy Bagshaw was the B Final champion with a school record 4:13.40, topping the former Cal record of 4:15.04 set by Bear teammate Will Hamilton in 2012.
