The chase for the team title became just that on the second evening of the NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving Championships at the A&M Student Rec Center Natatorium.

Arizona led going into the Friday evening session, but opened the door for California and Georgia after being disqualified in the preliminaries of the 200-yard medley relay.

During the evening all three teams led at one point, including Arizona after dropping to third when it received no points in an event that is worth 40 to the winner.

"[Our] girls love Arizona and they, I feel, felt so sorry for them, and I'm like 'Get over it,'" Cal coach Teri McKeever said. "I can honestly say it wasn't a boost, it was 'ah,' because we have a lot of respect for Arizona. Arizona has made us better and the girls are close."

Who would leave as the second-day leader came down to the 800 freestyle relay, the final event, with California, Arizona and Georgia all within four points.

"We changed up our order a little bit and maybe 30 minutes before I didn't know who the fourth person was going to be," McKeever said. "There has been a lot of good competition for that relay and their are a lot of people that think I have a reputation for being a sprint coach, but I think when you win the 800 relay you can look somebody in the eye and say you have a dang good program."

Stanford had a slight lead after the first leg, but Cal came back to tie Georgia after the second 200 and slowly extended the lead until Dana Vollmer completed a very successful evening.

Sara Isakovic, Hannah Wilson, Liv Jensen and Vollmer set a meet record with in 6 minutes, 52.69 seconds, more than 2 seconds better than Georgia, which touched second. Arizona was seventh.

"We always talk about helping each other to get clear water and it definitely helps motivate each of us knowing we are helping the person going behind us," McKeever said. "They got the job done"

Cal, the Pac 10 champion, holds the lead at 302 points, 6 1/2 better than Georgia and 19 1/2 in front of defending champion Arizona.

"We've never been leading in this situation and to be honest, we're not going to talk about it," McKeever said "Whoever comes out victorious 24 hours from now has been in a battle and I think that is great for the sport."

The three are well clear of the rest of the field, with Stanford fourth at 213.5 and Auburn at 195.

Texas is sixth at 169 and Texas A&M seventh with 144.

Georgia took advantage with the defending champs in the medley relay out of the competition, winning the event to open the evening session in front of 1,926 fans.

The Bulldogs (Kristen Shickora, Kelly McNichols, Lisa Caprioglio and Anne-Marie Botek) won in a time of 1:36.45 to grab the team lead for the moment, while Cal moved into second with a fifth-place finish.

The Aggies placed seventh, moving up a spot to sixth in the overall competition. A&M's foursome included Megan Latone (backstroke), Alia Atkinson (breaststroke), Triin Aljand (butterfly) and Maria Sommer (freestyle).

Cal used a 1-3-4 finish in the 100-yard butterfly to change the order atop the standings for the third straight event.

Amanda Sims won the race in 51.28. Stanford's Elaine Breeden kept the Bears from sweeping, finishing second. Hannah Wilson and Dana Vollmer took third and fourth, respectively, and Erin Campbell was fifth in the consolation race to give the Bears 56 points in the event.

The Aggies had hoped for some points in the 100 fly, but Aljand just missed qualifying for the evening session.

Vollmer, who had just finished the 100 fly 15 minutes earlier, then went out and won the 200 freestyle with a meet record 1:42.01.

"It's definitely mental and I told my coach I was going to go into the 100 fly as warmup and just think of it that way," Vollmer said. "I wanted to swim as fast as I could in the 100 fly without killing my legs, because I needed those for the 200 free. It always surprises me that it is harder than I expect it to be, but the last 50 was there for sure."

Vollmer came into the race with the NCAA record and the pool record, but not the meet record. She took care of that on Friday.

"I think it definitely helps to have tested out the pool, the locker room, to get as many of the unknowns out of way," said the Granbury native, who had been to many meets here before. "We've done so many of little things it just takes away little stressers."

Vollmer held off the Georgia pair of Morgan Scroggy and Allison Schmitt, which helped the Bears hold on to the overall lead for one more race.

The Bulldogs regained the team lead in the 100 breaststroke, placing seventh, eighth, 10th and 13th. Cal had one swimmer finish 16th.

Rebecca Soni of Southern Cal defended her title in a meet-record 58.36, but had to do so with a strong second 50.

A&M's second-best individual finish came in the 100 breaststroke, with Alia Atkinson setting the school mark in 59.43. Atkinson, who was leading after the first length, finished seventh last year.

"Everyone who I've spoken to said that on the last 25 [yards] I came up somewhat even, so that I touched fifth means something happened between that last 12 1/2 and the wall," Atkinson said. "I'm glad I got fifth, which is better than last year, and I did improve my time."

A&M's Christine Marshall won her final individual race as an Aggie. The American Olympian won the consolation 200 easily with a school-record 1:43.85.

"She did a great job tonight. This morning [prelims] she overkicked the first 50 and didn't do the time that we wanted in the morning, but she got it right tonight," A&M coach Steve Bultman said. "This morning she went out not much faster but harder, and pace is so important in 200 races."

Marshall sped away from the field in the final two laps, winning by almost a second to give A&M nine points.

Florida's Gemma Spofforth then matched Soni by defending her title in the 100 backstroke. She finished in 50.45, better than her time last year but short of the meet record held by Olympian Natalie Coughlin.

Houston's Anastasia Pozdniakova fell just short of winning her second diving title in as many nights. Indiana's Christina Loukas won comfortably with a 437.75, 51 points better than Pozdniakova, who won the prelims in the morning.

The final day of the competition begins Saturday with prelims at 11 a.m., and finishes with the finals at 7 p.m.