Florida and California both win relay events on Day 1 of the men's swimming and diving championships

INDIANAPOLIS — Florida won the first event of the NCAA men’s swimming and diving championships on Wednesday night, and the Gators are tied with California for the first-day lead in the team standings.

The Gators opened the meet by capturing the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:20.15 — to set a program and NCAA record. The Golden Bears finished fourth with a program-record time of 1:21.08, topping the mark set with the same lineup at last year’s championships.

Cal won the only other final of the day, the 800-yard freestyle relay with a time of 6:02.26 to set the NCAA and US Open records. It was the first time since 1986 that Cal won the event at the national championship.

Florida and Cal both finished the day with 70 points, followed by Arizona State with 68 and Indiana at 52.

There are four swimming finals and a diving final on Thursday at the IU Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI.