Bears have their dual meet kickoff tomorrow against Utah tmrw at Spieker, 1pm PST.

The past several weeks have consisted of the team combining with the men to attend the Cal/Cal Poly King/Queen of the Pool and the Chick fil A invite.

At Cal Poly, Junior Isabelle Stadden won the pentathlon by 1.5 seconds over senior Ayla Spitz. Stadden had the fastest 100 Back (52.82) and 100 IM time (55.74), while sophomore Alicia Henry had the fastest 100 breast time (1:02.34). Another sophomore, McKenna Stone, took the top 100 fly time (54.75) and senior Eloise Riley swam a 50.09 for the fastest 100 free. Results

This past weekend, a number of Bears were faster than they were at this point last season. Standout swims included Spitz's 500 free (4:49), sophomore Mia Kragh's 100 fly (53.11), and junior Emily Gantriis' runner up effort in the 50 free (22.79, over 6/10 faster than last year). Friday AM results // Friday PM results

Expect the Bears to begin swimming their stroke-specific and focus events at tomorrow's meet. Look forward to watching the meet via live stream on the Cal Athletics' website.

Hey I've never attended a swim/dive meet before, my friend is on the dive team. Is there a usual order that they stick to? Any idea when the dive events would be?

Not sure when the diving events would be as they're not listed on results sheets, but I assume they are running simultaneous to the swim meet.

CAL ALL-AMERICAN & BRITISH OLYMPIAN ALICIA WILSON ENTERS NCAA TRANSFER PORTAL

Joins Izzy in the transfer portal. As noted, current seniors Ayla Spitz and Emma Davidson also in to explore grad school options.

This explains more why Ivey & Wilson are not swimming for Cal this season. Spitz is an important point scorer while Davidson is not. Based upon the swim meet vs Utah today, the only significant loss would be attributable to a Spitz departure. One could see that the women's team had much less depth than the men vs Utah today. I doubt that the Bear women will be able to finish second this year.

swimmer19 said:

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CAL ALL-AMERICAN & BRITISH OLYMPIAN ALICIA WILSON ENTERS NCAA TRANSFER PORTAL

Joins Izzy in the transfer portal. As noted, current seniors Ayla Spitz and Emma Davidson also in to explore grad school options.

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Both Avia Spitz and Emma Davidson both swam against Utah. Does this mean they are committed to CAL this year?

Schroeder71 said:

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One could see that the women's team had much less depth than the men vs Utah today. I doubt that the Bear women will be able to finish second this year.

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Second in the Pac-9's or NCAA's? Obviously you must be talking Pac-9 ..cause Cal's women was only 8th in last years NCAA 'ship and without Ivey & Wilson no doubt they will most likely drop even more.

Both Spitz and Davidson are slated to compete this full season. Both ladies have been swimming well this season and Emma stepped up big time last season on our NCAA relays, so I look forward to her continued progress for a potential individual invite this year.

Cal women have had 3 dual meets this season so far against Utah (results), WSU (results), and most recently UCSD yesterday (results).

Overall, the team has been swimming well while more importantly fostering a positive and welcoming culture. The elite core of this year's team is focused with Isabelle Stadden, Emily Gantriis, Eloise Riley, Ayla Spitz and Rachel Klinker, with plenty of up-and-comers waiting in the wings.

All 5 swimmers have impressed in their races this semester, along with team swimming the bulk of the meets tired and under heavy training under a new-look coaching staff.

More data points to come at the Minnesota Mid-season Invite shortly after thanksgiving, allowing the athletes some time off to rest and recover.

Looks like Isabel Ivey has elected to go home and will be swimming for the Florida Gators! Drats

https://swimswam.com/isabel-ivey-transferring-from-cal-to-florida-for-fifth-year-in-2023-24/

Very glad that David Marsh agreed to coach the Bears this past year. Not only they swam well, but they also improved from last year. Stadden is swimming better and better, especially the 100 back.

Jade Neser's splits of 26.85 sec (against USC) and 26.98 (against Furd) are surprisingly good. For comparison, Abbey Weitzeil splits 26.68 sec at NCAA Final, so getting under 27 on a breaststroke leg in season for Cal is unheard of.

This gives hopes that the team will recover quickly although it won't be easy. A decade ago after Jack Bauerle (an exceptional coach) made a mistake academically, and the #1 team of Geogia would eventually fall out of top 10 and appear to stay that way.

Isabel Ivey transfers to Florida really hurts. HC McKeever has been out all season and has now been banished from the Cal swim program. I'm old school (loyalty to your alma mater) and this bothers me big time. I need to realize that times have changed and money & winning seems to be of paramount importance these days.

Izzy Ivey is returning home to Gainesville to swim for her hometown school. I'll try to swallow that line of reasoning...
GO BEARS!

Great night to start off Pac-12s

Bears win the 200 Medley Relay with Isabelle Stadden (24.06), Jade Neser (26.54), Mia Kragh (22.86) and McKenna Stone (21.94) combining for a time of 1:35.40, 0.02 ahead of Stanford.

• B relay of Annika McEnroe (24.70), Alicia Henry (27.86), Emily Gantriis (23.43), and Sydney Griscavage (22.28) swam a 1:38.27
• C relay of Jessica Davis (25.60), Abby Herscu (28.17), Reed Broaders (24.03), and Isabella Riley (23.44) combined for a 1:41.24

Bears also claimed the runner-ups in the 800 Free Relay with Mia Motekaitis (1:43.92), Ayla Spitz (1:44.28), Leah Polonsky (1:44.61), and Rachel Klinker (1:45.81) for a 6:58.62, breaking 7:00 for the first time this season.

Looking forward to individual events starting tomorrow. Go Bears!

Sprinters look real good. Most of the top-end and mid-distance swimmers locked up NCAA invites at midseason, but very solid showings overall this morning with 2 top seeds.

50 Free finalists: Stephanie Akakabota - 6th, 22.33 makes her first Pac-12 A final, Emily Gantriis is tied for 8th in 22.41 with a swimoff to decide A or B final.
Ella Mazurek - 10th, 22.46, Emma Davidson - 12th, 22.55, and McKenna Stone 16th, 22.69 are in the B-final Eloise Riley - 17th, 22.70 and Sydney Griscavage - 18th, 22.79 lead the C final.

• Mazurek, Akakabota, and Griscavage all went PBs this morning with Griscavage breaking 23 for the first time.

500 free finalist: Ayla Spitz - 1st, 4:40.93), with Mia Motekaitis 4th at 4:41.11.
Rachel Klinker - 10th, 4:44.13, Sarah DiMeco - 13th, 4:46.24 and Fanni Fabian - 16th, 4:48.87 are in the B final
Ashlyn Fiorilli - 22nd, 4:51.61 earns a second swim in the C final.

200 IM finalists: Isabelle Stadden - 1st, 1:56.08 and Leah Polonsky - 4th, 1:57.05
Annika McEnroe - 10th, 1:58.56 and Lizzy Cook - 22nd, 2:01.09 are in the B and C finals

After 2 days, Cal swimmers appear to be putting out maximum effort. I wasn't sure that they would because of the McKeever situation and departures of top personnel like Izzy Ivey & Alicia Wilson. They look set on finishing second behind Stanford. GO BEARS!

A remarkable first 2 days for the Bears.

Real good stuff by the Bears this morning to carry the momentum from last night.

400 IM finalists - Polonsky - 7th, 4:12.07 in the A final
DiMeco - 11th, 4:15.86 and Fabian - 14th, 4:17.07 in the B final
Fiorilli - 20th, 4:20.43 in the C final

• Season bests for DiMeco and Fiorilli. Fabian and Polonsky are seeded in the outside lanes (lane 1) for tonight, right next to the Bears' seating on deck.

100 Fly finalists - Mia Kragh - 51.92, 4th and Cook - 52.48, 6th swim in the A final tonight
Stone - 12th, 52.95 and Klinker - 14th, 53.13 are B finalists for the second night
Reed Broaders - 18th, 54.20 for a C final swim in her meet debut

• Cook and Stone with PBs this morning, Broaders with a season best

200 Free finalists - Motekaitis - 3rd, 1:44.58 and Spitz - 6th, 1:45.00 in the A final
Davidson - 10th, 1:46.21 in the B final for the second night

• Gantriis (49.12), Eloise Riley (49.27) and Mazurek (49.30) went for 100 times, coaches probably working on filling the relay.
• Spitz and Davidson with season bests, Motekaitis right off her PB she swam Wednesday night leading off the 800 Free relay.

100 Breast finalists - Jade Neser - 4th, 1:00.37 in the A final
Alicia Henry - 9th, 1:01.25 in the B final
Abby Herscu - 22nd, 1:02.39 in the C final at her first Pac-12s

• Neser went a season best, but will need to drop a decent amount to make NCAAs

100 Back finalists - Stadden - 2nd, 51.24 and McEnroe - 3rd, 51.97 in the A final
Broaders - 12th, 53.87 and Isabella Riley - 14th, 53.97 in the B final
Jessica Davis - 21st, 54.77 in the C final

• Broaders' second swim of the session, will be swimming the same double tonight
• McEnroe and Riley with huge best times, Annika having been 53.14 and securing her NCAA invite with her swim this morning and Isabella's previous best at 55.31

These results have got to bode well for recruiting by the "new" coaching staff! Super exciting to see the investments by the women who stayed on paying off...Go Bears!

Based on Pac12 results, Bears should have nine individual invites to NCAA meet.
Davidson, Emma
Cook, Lizzy
McEnroe, Annika
Klinker, Rachel
Kragh, Mia
Motekaitis, Mia
Polonsky, Leah
Spitz, Ayla
Stadden, Isabelle

3 relay swimmers at Pac that didn't qualify individually.
Neser, Jade
Riley, Eloise
Stone, Mckenna

Thanks for the tidbit.

Relays look solid, especially when considering the flexibility of bringing 3 relay-only swimmers. Davidson stepped up big time with 47 splits last night and tonight.

Both Mias, Polonsky, Klinker, Spitz, and Stadden were qualified prior to Pacs by virtue of midseason. Hopefully McEnroe and Cook were on partial tapers to qualify as they both have potential to score second swims at night in a couple weeks.

Time trials tmrw - possibility for Akakabota, Gantriis, Eloise Riley, and Mazurek to get another shot at the sprint events. DiMeco and Fabian are on the wrong side of the line in the distance events as well - DiMeco was safely qualified in the mile prior to conferences the last two weeks and Fabian is currently on the bubble in the 400 IM.

NCAA's start tonight in Knoxville. 9 individual qualifiers + 4 relay swimmers will represent the Bears. Here's an interview with Durden at the start of the week, talking about meet preparation and his thoughts on the Bears' performance over the course of the season: interview link

Tonight's 200 medley relay will likely be Stadden-Neser-Kragh-Stone/Riley/Gantriis, while the 800 free relay lineup is Motekaitis-Spitz-Polonsky-Klinker.

Stadden (23.57), Neser (26.67), Kragh (22.77) and Davidson (21.74) combine for a 1:34.75 in the 200 medley relay, a season best to win heat 2 of 3 and place 6th overall

Cal finishes 4th in the 800 and is in third place over all.

Virginia smoked the field in both relays.

Virginia 80
Texas 64
Cal 56
Stanfurd 52

I was going to watch at 6 pm PST. Was it 6 EST?

Motekaitis (1:44.10), Spitz (1:43.84), Klinker (1:44.82) and Polonsky (1:44.32) for a 6:57.08 to finish 4th. Both relays were season bests.

This is good start. Can the Bears finish top 5?

I surveyed tomorrow's events and only Leah Polonsky (#7 seed in the 200IM) has a chance to score meaningful points. Swimmers only can score if they finish in the top 16. Isabelle Stadden is #18 in the 200IM so perhaps she can move up and score a couple of points. In the 500 free, Ayla Spitz is Cal's top hope seeded #22 in the field. In the 50 free, Cal's top entrant (Emma Davidson) is seeded #41. In the 200 free relay I believe the Bear's are seeded #14 so they could pick up some points there, too. Diving shutout.

Meet Results: 2023 NCAA DI Women's Swimming & Diving (swimmeetresults.tech)

summary: Bears will drop from 3rd place to heaven only knows how far we'll slide. The streak of top ten NCAA finishes is still in tact? It will be tough to make it this season (I think). GO BEARS!

Ayla Spitz is swimming very well. I think she's capable of making A final tomorrow.

500 free: Motekaitis with a strong swim from the early heats (4:40.80) for 15th this morning and a B-final appearance tonight. Spitz (4:41.20) and Klinker (4:41.88) both added a bit and finished 20th and 28th.

200 IM: Polonsky returns for a B-final swim in 13th (1:55.01). McEnroe 48th in 1:58.53, Stadden DQ but 1:56.70 to finish dead last in her heat, which would have her at 25th.

50 free: Davidson at 22.39 for 36th.

Thoughts when rewatching the livestream:
Mid-D group looked good. Motekaitis was very consistent throughout her race, Klinker with a very good back half, and Spitz got out more aggressively at the start compared to Pac-12s, even if it did cost her a bit on the back end.

McEnroe needs to work on her back end. She was recruited as a breaststroker, and her front end has made massive improvement with her NCAA invite in the backstrokes but it's costing her on the breast and free leg. Stadden did not look very happy after the race, slow breast which resulted in a slow last 50. Polonsky looked good, could be a bit more aggressive at the start and finish but very solid overall.

Davidson's 50 was solid, probably rested for Pac-12 but very pleased with her progress this season.

Had a bit more hope for Spitz's 500, especially given that she's placed as high as 5th before in the event, but hope she and Klinker both bounce back for their other events.

Cal Relays have the ability to keep the women in the top 10. If they keep fighting and moving up from seed like they did last night, they'll be ok. But individual swims need to be better in prelims. This morning was projected to be Cal's weakest session of the meet. Relays alone should put Cal around 7-9th in the meet. Individual swims could make the difference from there. Good news with how dominant Virginia and Texas are, they will suck up a large number of points leaving the rest of the top 10 closer.

Stanford seems to have really fallen off since Pac12s, and overall this morning's session was slow. Hoping that Cal Women can capitalize as the week moves on see some more swims moving up (like Motekatis 500 this morning).

Key swims for the rest of the meet: (Tonight - 200 Free Relay can move into top 8 from 12th seed) (Friday - Polonsky 400 IM seeded 9th, A final would be big, Kragh 100 Fly seeded 20th but only .04 off top 16, only 2 tenths separates top 13-21, Motekaitis 200 Free seeded 12th in her best event, given her 500 this morning she could sneak into the top 8, Stadden 100 Back must hold 4th seed to make top 8, don't see her winning here but A final points are big, McEnroe 100 Back again only .2 from top 16, if the meet continues to swim slow, all she needs to do is match her entry time and she should make it back. 400 Medley Relay should match or be better than the 200 MR, top 4 possible but likely 5th or 6th.) (Saturday - Stadden 200 Back is Cal's best chance at an individual title, Stanford has been off so far so Isabelle may catch Curzan from the Farm, McEnroe 200 Back again isn't seeded to score, but if she can match her entry should sneak into the B-Final, Klinker 200 Fly seeded 8th, needs to hold seed, Polonsky 200 Fly seed 17th, could move up into B, less than a second off the A-final, 400 Free Relay Cal women seem to be great at exceeding expectations on relays. )

Durden (men's) teams have built a reputation for starting slow and building momentum throughout NCAAs. Hopefully this is a trend that spreads to the women's team. Lots of opportunity. Go Bears!!

Based on this morning's prelims, Cal is expected to fall from 3rd to 7th tonight (excluding diving). Cal is seeded to only score 6 points tonight but both Polonsky and Motikaitis can move up. Again, relays are keeping the team solidly in the top 10 if the 200 FR can swim bigger than its sum of individual swimmers.

Mia gains 0.10 from her prelims swim to finish 14th tonight, 4:40.90. Leah last in the B-final, adding over a second from her morning swim (I believe 1:56.34) and more than two seconds off her seed.

On a non-Cal note, Kate Douglass smashed the 200 IM record by over a second and a half with her 1:48.37. Historic!

Maggie McNeil set a new record in the 50 freestyle. I bring it up because she was going to transfer to Cal (from Michigan) until the McKeever scandal came into the light. She opted to transfer to LSU instead.

Leah Polansky finished last in her 200IM B heat for 1 point. Her seed time (1:54.02) would have finished sixth for 13 points. She swam 2.32 seconds slower than her best time. Cal now fades to #10.