Skimming over results, looks like Jensen (51.42 BR), Bell (51.58 BR) and Hawk (200 Free - 1:32.79) are guaranteed in after their swims yesterday. Soderlund's time from prelims (51.90 BR) is in a 3-way tie for 27th with a huge logjam of guys right at 51.8/51.9.

Hanson still needs to make it - taking out some entries from the list (C. Foster, Marchand, Cohen Groumi), and adding in Hawk and others from yesterday, he's 31st in the 200 Free. Kopp on the wrong side of the bubble at the moment (3:43.75 400 IM) in the early 30 ranks. Still need Somerset, Colby, and Chai qualified.

Hawk is ranked 28th in 200 Free, but his best event is 100 Free today, so he still has two more swims to get an NC invite.
Hanson's best event is 200 Free, so his chance is pretty slim at the moment.

Schroeder71 said:

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swan-what does it mean when a score doesn't count with an X in front of it? I noticed on Friday's prelims that Cal had a couple swimmers that didn't count that swam times that would have been at the top of the B heats. Bears could obviously use all the points that they can muster. GO BEARS!

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S71,

Pac 12 allows teams to bring a scoring roster of 24 athletes with divers counting as half. So Cal entered 23 swimmers and one diver. But schools are allowed to have non-scoring swims for others and their swims have the X designation.

No major surprises in who the staff elected to place on the scoring roster, although I was a bit surprised not to see Evan Petty competing since he has had a pretty successful sophomore season.
And I am slightly disappointed that Jacques Laeuffer has never broken out as a 200 breaststroker.

Henveaux and Chai lead the early mile heats, 14:48.84 and 14:55.65. Meehan swimming tonight with the fastest heat

Chai is now on the bubble, albeit the wrong side (32nd)

While Cal could not repeat as conference champs, the Bears accomplished their main task of preparing for the national championships to be contested in Minneapolis in two weeks.

Notable final day results:

Recent addition Lucas Henveaux"s third place 1650 time of 14:48.84 is currently the 16th fastest time this season to date.His better event remains the 500 Free, but hopefully he can score in both distant free events.

The Pac 12 rules the 200 Back. Colby Mefford's consolation winning time of 1:38.83 is only behind teammates Lasco, Gonzalez and Indiana's Burns. ASU finished third and fourth with top eight times in the country as well

Bjorn and Alexy both had impressive times in the 100 free sporting impressive facial hair. Matt Jensen's fast time also presaged his role in the 400 Free Relay.

Gabriel Jett reaffirmed his status as favorite in the 200 Fly in winning the event in a nation's best 1:39.27

A newly formed 400 Free Relay team of Hawk, Seeliger, Jensen and Alexy blazed to a nation's leading 2:45,67. Lasco and Hugo remain as viable options, but the conference champs look pretty solid.

The NCAA roster is lead by potential multi-event scorers Lasco, Seeliger, Gonzalez, Jett, Whitley, Louser, Rose, Henveaux and Bell. Callan, Jensen and Mefford are also likely NCAA scorers. Hawk, Somerset and Hanson are on the bubble and may require a "last-chance" time to achieve an individual invite.

Would not be surprised to see multiple Bears time-trialing today. Kopp (400 IM), Hanson (200 Free), Rodarte (100 Breast) and Chai (mile) are on the wrong side of the bubble. Not sure if it's worth it for Chai to swim the mile again though.

I have a feeling yesterday's final swims pushed Somerset either on the line or on the wrong side in the 200 back. Soderlund (51.90 BR) and Hawk (1:32.79 200 Free) are also cutting it close.

Bears had an unbelievable final day and cut substantially into ASU's winning margin by 25 points. If one adds back the 34 points lost on the 1st event DQ, Cal would have lost by 44.5 points. It is still a loss but a much more respectable one. Stanford finished third, trailing Cal by 203.5 points.

GO BEARS!

Is Cal out of the running for Diehl ?

3Cats4CAL said:

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Is Cal out of the running for Diehl ?

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I believe Cal lacks the scholarship money to lure Diehl to Berkeley. The verbal commitment from Pieter Coetze closed that door IMHO.

Just curious but how has NIL impacted the swimming world if at all? Given many college swimmers are also world class swimmers NIL could keep them from "going pro" early. Wonder if this is an area where we need to be proactive to stay on top.

PalyBear said:

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Just curious but how has NIL impacted the swimming world if at all? Given many college swimmers are also world class swimmers NIL could keep them from "going pro" early. Wonder if this is an area where we need to be proactive to stay on top.

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Interesting question. I have linked a Swimming World article that discusses the issue, but offers little factual data.

IMHO college swimming has such a limited audience, and is not a profit center at any college program, most schools are unlikely to build war chests that appear to be common in supporting recruiting efforts in football and basketball. But that also means the programs that can offer well-compensated NIL opportunities will have less competition. Since Cal has numerous financially successful aquatics supporters this issue should be raised with our aquatics staff.

https://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/a-look-at-how-nil-has-impacted-college-swimming/#:~:text=Originally%20passed%20and%20approved%20on,previous%20NCAA%20rules%20was%20not

swimmer19 said:

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Would not be surprised to see multiple Bears time-trialing today. Kopp (400 IM), Hanson (200 Free), Rodarte (100 Breast) and Chai (mile) are on the wrong side of the bubble. Not sure if it's worth it for Chai to swim the mile again though.

I have a feeling yesterday's final swims pushed Somerset either on the line or on the wrong side in the 200 back. Soderlund (51.90 BR) and Hawk (1:32.79 200 Free) are also cutting it close.

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Any update on time trials?

No results yet, from what I've seen posted. However, most if not all of the last chance meets (Ohio State, UNC etc) have been input into SwimCloud. Pac-12 results aren't uploaded yet, but I think this gives a more up-to-date reflection of event rankings.

I think the Bears should have 16 invites (max is 18), assuming USA swimming has up-to-date data (They've been correcting it thru out the day). This coming week, we'll have diving qualifications.

Alexy, John
Bell, Liam
Callan, Patrick
Gonzalez, Hugo
Hawk, Dylan
Henveaux, Lucas
Jensen, Matthew
Jett, Gabriel
Lasco, Destin
Louser, Jason
Mefford, Colby
Rose, Dare
Seeliger, Bjorn
Soderlund, Jacob
Somerset, Sebastian
Whitley, Reece

SwimCloud has updated with Pac-12 and time trial results. Only Rodarte and Frazier swam the 100 breast in an attempt to qualify. Unfortunately, neither will be joining the team in Minneapolis.

Solobear's list should be the official roster. Looks like Hawk's 200 free was just enough to secure an invite at 28th. Somerset is tied at 28th in the 200 back, which should also get him in. Soderlund is in a 3 way tie for 28th- that makes things a bit more complicated but fingers crossed the tiebreaker works in his favor.

I'm shocked that Robin Hanson did not make the team. He must have just missed it. GO BEARS!

PROJECTING THE CUT LINE: 2023 MEN'S NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

This year's meet is insanely fast. Meet is capped at 6 swimmers into row 30, compared to last year halfway into row 31.

Hanson is projected to be an alternate, but it's unlikely there will be enough scratches for him to make it in. 16 swimmers are qualified, so he could be taken as relay-only, but coaches may also elect to use Dylan Hawk in his place.

I think Joshua Thai (diving) just qualified for NC. Congrats to the freshman.

Is Cal the NCAA Championship favorite...?

DWM81 said:

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Is Cal the NCAA Championship favorite...?

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SwimSwam has Cal as the favorite, which I agree with, although I expect it will come down to the final day of racing. Florida and ASU are likely the the toughest competition, with Texas outside looking in. During Durden's tenure as head coach, Cal as a general rule has peaked at NCAAs with many swimmers posting season best times. If that holds in 2023, especially with Jason Louser, Hugo Gonzalez, Jack Alexy and Liam Bell, the Bears should win.
I have more confidence in Seeliger, Lasco Rose and Jett in achieving season best times. As always, relays are critical. We are very unlikely to survive a DQ in a relay.

solobear said:

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I think Joshua Thai (diving) just qualified for NC. Congrats to the freshman.

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If Thai is selected for the NCAA roster, one of the 16 swimmers who qualified will have to stay home, unless brought along as a relay only competitor.

swan said:

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solobear said:

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I think Joshua Thai (diving) just qualified for NC. Congrats to the freshman.

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If Thai is selected for the NCAA roster, one of the 16 swimmers who qualified will have to stay home, unless brought along as a relay only competitor.

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..but I thought you can have up to 18 swimmers and divers count as .5 only

Got a chuckle reading SwimSwam listing of qualifying swimmers from each school. It had a column next to each name with an "M" in it. Puzzled by this, I scrolled up my cell phone screen which revealed the column identified the "Gender" of the qualifying men swimmers. Seemed like fodder for a George Carlin or Chris Rock riff….

Bears look strong and Coach Darden always seems to taper and peak the team great for NCAAs. Love to see our young diver make it!

Correct re: divers being 0.5 athlete. Also looks like Thai has added platform to his 3m springboard qualification from earlier in the week. Would be an added bonus if he could contribute a point or two from the consol rounds, but his improvement is encouraging for the future of the program. Congrats to both Josh and coach Pei Lin.

Yikes, my mistake. 18 roster spots available, so Josh is in and the rest of the 16 member swim squad is set for Minneapolis. Only NC State with their battalion of sprinters qualified more than 18 swimmers. After several years of over-qualifying, Texas is "only" sending 15, but will likely have multiple divers.

From Cal page, Jacob Soderlund is staying home. This's probably the first time Durden would leave a qualified swimmer at home.

https://calbears.com/news/2023/3/20/mens-swimming-diving-bears-seek-eighth-ncaa-championship.aspx

Ncaa's psychsheet and result page still have him.
https://swimmeetresults.tech/NCAA-Division-I-Men-2023/

MeetMobile is showing that Soderlund is still entered in both breaststroke events, and Hanson is a relay-only swimmer for Cal per his appearance in the Cal entries.

solobear said:

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From Cal page, Jacob Soderlund is staying home. This's probably the first time Durden would leave a qualified swimmer at home.

https://calbears.com/news/2023/3/20/mens-swimming-diving-bears-seek-eighth-ncaa-championship.aspx

Ncaa's psychsheet and result page still have him.
https://swimmeetresults.tech/NCAA-Division-I-Men-2023/

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For what it's worth (aka, some entertainment value), the Cal article also has "Kevin Callman", who I assume is Patrick Callan. Bummer, I didn't realize Bell was only swimming the 1BR individually. Team will miss the points he scored in the 2BR last year (in addition to the 100).

Is Cal still considered the favorite...?

The article listed only events that Bears were invited, but most including Bell (50 F, 1 & 2 BR) are qualified to swim 3 individual events if they choose to.

Bell's entered in both breaststrokes and the 50 free. Albeit, he's the last entry in the 200 breast so it'll be interesting to see how his time will hold up when swimming in the first heat.

Bears open the meet with Seeliger (20.29), Bell (22.99), Rose (19.85) and Alexy (18.11) for 4th overall and 1:21.24 - school record!

Huge split for Alexy, looking good for the rest of the weekend.

Bears once again! Jett (1:31.35), Henveaux (1:31.90), Callan (1:33.63), and Lasco (1:29.53) for 3rd in a 6:06.41, yet another school record.

Jett with a PB - a little over a second cut off, Callan a bit slow, Henveaux looks like he could be a 3 event scorer, and I'm a bit scared of what kind of times Lasco puts up this weekend.

Going into day 2, Bears are 3rd with 62 points, behind ASU (68) and NC State (66)

Great start for Cal to repeat as national champions. Is there such a thing as a fast pool, LOL? Many teams obliterated their previous fastest times (including Cal). Tomorrow likely will prove to be a good day for the Bears, too. GO BEARS!

Schroeder71 said:

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Great start for Cal to repeat as national champions. Is there such a thing as a fast pool, LOL? Many teams obliterated their previous fastest times (including Cal). Tomorrow likely will prove to be a good day for the Bears, too. GO BEARS!

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Is it a hard or soft water pool?