Payne, Murphy Lift Cal's Medal Count To Nine

TOKYO – With a gold medal and a silver medal on Thursday, Cal increased its Olympic count to nine. Sydney Payne helped the Canadian women's eight capture gold, while Ryan Murphy picked up his second medal of the Games with silver in the 200-meter backstroke.
 
Payne, in the No. 7 seat, and her teammates crossed the finish line in 5:59.13, less than a second ahead of the Netherlands. Payne rowed for the Bears from 2016-19 and helped the Golden Bear varsity eight to an NCAA championship in 2018.
 
Murphy completed his 200 back race in 1:54.15 to place just behind Evgeny Rylov (ROC), who was timed in 1:53.27. Murphy earned a bronze medal in the 100 back earlier in the competition and now has five career medals over the past two Olympic Games. The 2017 Cal alumnus is now one of three Golden Bears to win five or more career Olympic men's swimming medals, joining Matt Biondi (11) and Nathan Adrian (9).
 
Overall, Golden Bears have captured two gold, three silver and four bronze medals to date.
 
Men's Golf
Collin Morikawa shot a 1-under par 70 in the second round of the Olympic tournament and stands a 3-under and tied for 25th halfway through the competition. While the second round was interrupted due to weather with several golfers still on the course, Morikawa is eight shots behind current leader Xander Schauffele (USA), who finished his two rounds at 11-under par.
 
Men's Rowing
Three Golden Bears competed in the A final in the men's eight, with the top finisher being the United States, which placed fourth with Julian Venonsky as coxswain. The Americans finished in 5:26.75, less than a second behind Great Britain and a bronze medal. In addition, the Netherlands (with Maarten Hurkmans in the No. 5 seat) took fifth and Australia (with Angus Dawson in the No. 7 seat) was sixth.
 
In the men's single sculls, incoming freshman Gennaro di Mauro of Italy placed second in the men's single sculls B final, three seconds behind winner Oliver Zeidler of Germany
 
Women's Rowing
In addition to Payne, Kara Kohler (USA) took third in the women's single sculls B final in 7:29.72.
 
Women's Soccer
Alex Morgan helped the United States reach the semifinals in a dramatic win over the Netherlands. Tied 2-2 after regulation and overtime, the game went to penalty kicks. Morgan scored the second PK for the U.S. to give the Americans a 2-1 advantage. The United States went on to win the shootout, 4-2. Morgan played 63 minutes during the match, coming off the bench to replace Carli Lloyd in the 57th minute. The United States will play Canada in the semifinals.
 
Men's Swimming
Bryce Mefford (USA), swimming with Murphy in the 200 back final, finished just out of a medal when he took fourth in 1:55.49. Tom Shields (USA) earned a semifinal berth in the 100 butterfly, where he was 15th in 51.99.
 
In early Friday morning qualifying (Pacific Time), Shields swam the butterfly leg for the U.S. 400 medley relay, helping the team qualify for the final. Björn Seeliger of Sweden placed 23rd in the 50 freestyle heats in 22.19 but did not advance.
 
Women's Swimming
Swimming in the 100-meter freestyle final, Abbey Weitzeil (USA) placed eighth in 53.23 seconds. She later earned the seventh-fastest time of the 50 free qualifying with a time of 24.37 and will race in the semifinals Friday night PT. In addition, Farida Osman (Egypt) was 24th in the 50 free (25.13) with Ema Rajic (Croatia) tying for 45th (26.49). Camille Cheng also anchored Hong Kong's 400 medley relay to a 13th-place finish in the qualifying heats.
 
Women's Water Polo
Three Golden Bears went undefeated in women's water polo, starting with Kitty Lynn Joustra helping the Netherlands improve to 2-1 in pool play with a 33-1 victory over South Africa. Joustra had two goals in 16 minutes of action.
 
Anna Illes (21 minutes) did not score in Hungary's 17-13 win over Japan, while Roser Tarrago had a pair of shots for Spain in a 15-9 victory over Australia to complete pool play at 3-1.
 
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