Stockton, Calif. - Taking on the defending national champions, the Tiger men's swim team came up short in a 173-81 loss to the Cal Golden Bears on Wednesday, Oct. 8. The meeting was the third-straight season opening contest between the two sides.
Swimming against the best team in the country, the Tigers jumped in the pool looking to test themselves against the Bears to see where they stacked up on the national stage. Facing off against all-americans and potential national team swimmers at every turn, the Tigers held their own for the first meet of the year, getting their feet wet for a long season ahead.
Sophomore Curtis Klein had an outstanding showing on the day for the Tigers as the second-year swimmer got Pacific its first event win early in the day as he took the win in the 100 Back. By a hair, Klein outtouched Cal's Kyle Gornay by 1/10th of a second as Klein finished with a time of 50:30 while Gorney came in at 50:40. The sophomore would get Pacific's its second win of the day just four events later when he posted the top time in the 200 Back. Again, Klein was just a touch faster than the fastest Bear in the pool as he touched the wall at 1:49.31, nearly a full second ahead of Cal's Connor Green.
Klein won the 200 Back last season against the Bears as a freshman as he made his mark on the collegiate stage early in Berkeley.
Klein's two event victories were the top finishes for the Tigers on the day as the Bears came out ahead throughout most of the day to take the overall meet victory. The Tigers just missed on a few other event wins on the day as freshman Stewart Harrison and sophomore Jared Vu both came up just short of a win in the 100 Fly as the Harrison was out touched by under 5/10ths of a second while Vu missed by 8/10ths. To start the day, Pacific's top 200 Medley Relay team of Vu, Matthew Um, Harrison, and Taylor Moore, came up just three second short of the top spot held by Cal which finished at 1:28.00 in the event.
The Tigers will be back in the pool on Oct. 18-19 as they host the Pacific Invitational at Chris Kjeldsen Pool. Both the men and the women will be in the pool as the Tigers swim for the first time at home beginning at 1:00 pm on the 18th.
