Cal Swim: Ryan Murphy Leads Four Bears into Final of 200 Backstroke at Olympic Trials

Olympic gold medalist Ryan Murphy led a charge of four Cal swimmers into Friday night’s final of the 200-meter backstroke at the U.S. Olympic trials at Omaha, Nebraska.

Murphy, who already locked up an Olympic bid with a victory in the 100 back, will be joined in the final by Bryce Mefford, Destin Lasco and Daniel Carr.

The Golden Bears had an entry in just one of four finals held Thursday night. Rachel Klinker was in third place at the halfway mark of the 200 butterfly but faded to last place.

Abbey Weitzel won her semifinal heat of the 100 freestyle and qualified third overall into the Friday night final.

Two Cal men advanced to the Friday final of the 200 individual medley, with Andrew Seliskar qualifying seventh and Trenton Julian eighth.

The men’s 200 back final will be a Cal reunion, with Bears occupying four of the eight lanes.

Murphy, 25, was in fourth place at the 150-meter mark then blitzed the final 50 in 28.5 seconds to easily win his heat in 1:55.60, fastest of the evening.

Bryce Mefford, a senior on the Bears’ team this spring, was second in the first heat and qualified third overall at 1:56.57, and rising sophomore Destin Lasco had the fourth-fastest mark with a personal best of 1:56.81. Daniel Carr, also a 2021 senior, touched in 1:57.73, qualifying seventh.

Times of Cal swimmers in the morning heats of the 200 back: Lasco was first (1:56.88), Bryce Mefford was second (1:57.71), Murphy was fifth (1:57.95), Carr was seventh (1:59.09), Gabriel Jett was 22nd (2:01.46) and Colby Mefford was 28th (2:02.18).

Klinker, who just finished her sophomore year at Cal, swam the first 100 of the 200 butterfly final in 1:01.22 to hold third place. But she closed in 1:09.87 over the final 100 and finished eighth in 2:11.09 — two seconds slower than she swam in the semifinals.

In the women’s 100 free, defending trials champ Weitzeil took a big step toward a return trip to the Olympics with a win in her semifinal heat in a time of 53.66, third-fastest overall. Weitzeil, 24, qualified for both the 50 and 100 free at the Rio Games and won a silver medal in the 400 free relay.

Olivia Smoliga and Natalie Hinds tied for first in the second heat at 53.55.

Cal grad Katie McLaughlin, who clinched a spot on the Olympic 800 free relay tam on Wednesday night, was sidelined in the 100 after posting the 11th-best time in the semifinals at 54.31.

The big surprise was American record-holder and 2016 Rio Olympics gold medalist Simone Manuel missing out on a spot in the final by 0.02 seconds.

In the morning heats of the 100 free, Weitzeil had the fastest qualifying time (53.52) while McLaughlin was 10th (54.72), Isabel Ivey 18th (55.30) and Ayla Spitz tied for 58th (56.87).

In the men’s 200 IM, Seliskar advanced with a seventh-place finish in the semifinals (1:58.92), just ahead of Julian (1:59.21). Cal’s Jason Louser was 15th overall (2:01.10).

Cal’s performances in the morning 200 IM heats: Seliskar seventh (1:59,36), Julian 13th (2:00.73), Louser 16th (2:01.26), Sean Grieshop 17th (2:01.31), and Chris Jhong 32nd (2:03.14).

The Bears had no swimmers in the men’s 800 free final, men’s 100 free final or men’s 200 breaststroke final.

Cover photo of Ryan Murphy by Rob Schumacher, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo

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