Great swimmer + Beauty + Brains = Amy!!! :acclaim: #myfavorite
[COLOR="#006699"]Haha, tedbear, somehow had a feeling that you would be more than a wee bit psyched by Amy's GPA when I was in the process of posting this news :p
At any rate, congrats to all our fab student-athletes for their accomplished achievements in both the classroom and in the pool! :bravo
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In other news, looks like Noemie's sitting [U]2017 Worlds[/U] out since she isn't listed in the Canadian Swimming Trials psych sheet here:[/COLOR]
Abbey: I'm here in London and taking over the @olympicchannel Instagram today! Stay tuned for updates while they do tests and filming for the anatomy of a swimmer! ����*♀️
[COLOR="#000066"][SIZE=5]BAKER NOMINATED FOR HONDA AWARD[/SIZE]
[COLOR="#808080"] [SIZE=3]3/30/2017 8:27 AM | By: Cal Athletics[/SIZE][/COLOR] [/COLOR]
[COLOR="#696969"]Kathleen Baker captured three individual events and was on a winning relay at the 2017 NCAA Championships (Tim Binning).[/COLOR]
BERKELEY Cal sophomore Kathleen Baker, who captured three individual events at the NCAA Championships, has been nominated for the [U]Honda Sport Award for women's swimming & diving[/U], Chris Voelz, Executive Director of THE Collegiate Women Sports Awards (CWSA), announced Thursday.
At the NCAA meet earlier this month, Baker captured the 200-yard individual medley and 100 and 200 backstrokes, setting a school record in the IM. She also helped the 200 medley relay to a national title and NCAA meet record, and she broke Natalie Coughlin's 15-year-old school mark in the 100 back leading off the 400 medley relay. In addition, Baker was part of a school record-setting 400 free relay. As a result, she was named the CSCAA National Swimmer of the Year at the NCAA meet.
A Golden Bear swimmer has won the Honda Sports Award seven previous times Mary T. Meagher (1985, '87), Coughlin (2002, '03), Dana Vollmer (2009), Caitlin Leverenz (2012) and Missy Franklin (2015). Both Meagher in 1987 and Franklin in 2015 went on to claim the Honda Cup as the top female student-athlete in all of college athletics.
The Honda Sport Award has been presented annually by the CWSA for the past 41 years to the top women athletes in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports and signifies "the best of the best in collegiate athletics." The winner of the sport award becomes a finalist for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year and the prestigious 2017 Honda Cup, which will be presented on a live telecast on CBS Sports Network on Monday, June 26, 2017, in Los, Angeles.
In addition to Baker, the other nominees are Lilly King of Indiana University, and Katie Ledecky and Simone Manuel from Stanford
The nominees were chosen by a panel of coaches representing the Collegiate Swimming Coaches Association of American (CSCAA). The Honda Sport Award winner for swimming & diving will be announced next week after voting by administrators from over 1,000 NCAA member schools. Each NCAA member institution has a vote.
[COLOR="#000080"][SIZE=5]REVISITING NCAA RECRUIT RANKINGS: WOMEN'S HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 2013[/SIZE][/COLOR]
[COLOR="#000080"]In her two seasons, Missy Franklin lived up to her billing as the top recruit in the class of 2013 with seven NCAA titles and 113 individual points. How many of her classmates did the same? Archive Photo via Tim Binning/TheSwimPictures.com[/COLOR]
2017 offers us our first chance to look backwards at the first class we ever ranked and see how they stacked up over four years of college swimming.
Since our annual recruit rankings only take into account domestic recruits, the following analysis won't include international swimmers.
[COLOR="#DAA520"]Missy Franklin[/COLOR] was always the big fish of this class. In her two years of collegiate swimming, she scored more points (at least from our research) than all but three other swimmers in the class. She was also a relay weapon and was a massive game-changer during her two seasons, and probably could have scored more individually had Cal not asked her to swim the 100 and 500 frees as a freshman.
Cal pulled two more from the top 10. [COLOR="#DAA520"]Kristen Vredeveld[/COLOR] had a slow start but eventually became a key relay player who even won a national title on a 200 free relay. [COLOR="#DAA520"]Celina Li[/COLOR] kind of went the opposite direction, coming in extremely NCAA-ready but dropping off in points over each of her four years.
[COLOR="#006699"](gratuitous [COLOR="#B22222"]furdette[/COLOR] mention here :p)[/COLOR] It's hard to overstate what [COLOR="#B22222"]Lia Neal[/COLOR] meant to Stanford. She racked up 30+ points individually every year, but was also a 4-relay swimmer pretty much her entire career. And listening to her coaches and teammates talk at NCAAs a few weeks ago, her leadership appears highly regarded. Much like [COLOR="#DAA520"]Franklin[/COLOR], Neal also seemed to be key in setting up a recruiting explosion in the following years for both programs. Neal also led all swimmers in this class with 9 NCAA titles, all of them from relays.
NCAA TITLES (RELAY & INDIVIDUAL) AMONG TOP CLASS OF 2013 RECRUITS:
[U]SWIMMER | NCAA TITLES[/U] (IND OR REL) [COLOR="#DAA520"]Missy Franklin | 7[/COLOR] [COLOR="#B22222"]Lia Neal[/COLOR] | 9 Emily Cameron | 0 [COLOR="#DAA520"]Kristen Vredeveld | 1[/COLOR] Olivia Smoliga | 3 Chelsea Chenault | 1 [COLOR="#DAA520"]Celina Li | 0[/COLOR] Rachel Zilinskas | 0 Leah Smith | 4 Kaitlyn Jones | 0
Teri's Bears were dominant in college swimming in 2012: had won two consecutive titles, landed two top five recruits (Missy & KV), a top ten recruit (Celina), and hosted three other top ten recruits (Lia, Smith, and Chenault). Emily Cameron wanted to swim for the Bay Area duopoly, but both dropped her early. Teri was all in on Missy, so she didn't recruit Smoliga.
Reasonable chance that Manuel and Ledecky may have followed Neal to Cal and Bears conceivably could have won three more titles...
Teri's Bears were dominant in college swimming in 2012: had won two consecutive titles, landed two top five recruits (Missy & KV), a top ten recruit (Celina), and hosted three other top ten recruits (Lia, Smith, and Chenault). Emily Cameron wanted to swim for the Bay Area duopoly, but both dropped her early. Teri was all in on Missy, so she didn't recruit Smoliga.
Reasonable chance that Manuel and Ledecky may have followed Neal to Cal and Bears conceivably could have won three more titles...
[COLOR="#006699"]Everyone's talking bout the absolute dominance of the furdette juggernaut these days, but it would have completely paled in comparison to what Bears could have brought to the table if your scenario had worked out (Neal, Manuel, Ledecky -> Cal)!
Throw Missy in for 4 years of eligibility, sprinkle in the Dream Team...wow wow wow!!!! Of course just a pure fantasy, and who knows where to find the scholly funds for all of these studs lol
btw Celina was rated #5 in her class by collegeswimming at the time (KV #11 although SwimSwam had ranked her in the #4 spot, Farida #12, not sure what Marina's rating was but had to be up there based on her LCM times back then) - so all five of Teri's recruits were in the Top 20![/COLOR]
[COLOR="#006699"] btw Celina was rated #5 in her class by collegeswimming at the time (KV #11 although SwimSwam had ranked her in the #4 spot, Farida #12, not sure what Marina's rating was but had to be up there based on her LCM times back then) - so all five of Teri's recruits were in the Top 20![/COLOR]
Celina was #5? Wow! Did anyone ever have any insight as to what happened to her at NCAAs? Injury? Sickness?
Celina was #5? Wow! Did anyone ever have any insight as to what happened to her at NCAAs? Injury? Sickness?
[COLOR="#006699"]Haven't heard of any health issues with Celina @ NCs - but then again I don't have an inside track on the team lol. Could be other things involved, or simply just that some swimmers hit their peaks in HS. Li did show a lot of promise in her frosh year, but somehow hadn't developed quite as expected in subsequent seasons, at least in the pool. Reminds me of another mystery surrounding Jazz whilst we're on the subject...
Anyhow, here's SwimSwam's original report on Celina's recruitment by Teri - note that there are over 100 comments in response to that article, an unusually high volume for those early days of the website, especially when the subject matter isn't Olympics, Worlds or NCAA finals related![/COLOR]
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[COLOR="#000080"][SIZE=5]OLYMPIC TRIALS FINALIST CELINA LI COMMITS TO CAL[/SIZE][/COLOR]
Swimming is an incredibly tough (physically, mentally, and emotionally) even without academic stress. Really tough to be a peak performer for four years.
Teri gets bashed bigly on SwimSwam for blemishes on high profile recruits, but rarely gets praised for elevating lower profile recruits (Bing, Farida, Chenoa), resetting expectations (Naze, KV-both Cal Captains), or jumpstarting swimmers others had written off (Marina, Maija).
Props to Marina for breaking a minute in the 100 Breast after bailing on the Olympics or Maija for breaking 1:01 after her dad died. Shows character, hard work, trust, and good coaching.
Swimming is an incredibly tough (physically, mentally, and emotionally) even without academic stress. Really tough to be a peak performer for four years.
Teri gets bashed bigly on SwimSwam for blemishes on high profile recruits, but rarely gets praised for elevating lower profile recruits (Bing, Farida, Chenoa), resetting expectations (Naze, KV-both Cal Captains), or jumpstarting swimmers others had written off (Marina, Maija).
Props to Marina for breaking a minute in the 100 Breast after bailing on the Olympics or Maija for breaking 1:01 after her dad died. Shows character, hard work, trust, and good coaching.
[COLOR="#DAA520"][SIZE=4]1. Cal Golden Bears[/SIZE][/COLOR]
Headline additions: Missy Franklin, Celina Li, Kristen Vredeveld, Farida Osman (Egypt), Sophia Batchelor (New Zealand), Marina Garcia (Spain) Rest of the class: Taylor Young, Abi Speers
[INDENT] [U]NCAA Finishes Over 4 Years[/U]: #3, #1, #3, #2 [U]Number of NCAA Scorers In Class[/U]: 6/8 (Franklin, Li, Vredeveld, Osman, Batchelor, Garcia)[/INDENT]
Missy Franklin was the queen of the class, and even though she only stayed two years, it appeared Cal knew that was the deal all along. This group was the core of 2015's NCAA title run and never finished outside of the top 3 at NCAAs during their careers.
Marina Garcia was never quite the star breaststroker she projected as, but probably took too much flack for a steady, productive contributor if only because her long course times were so excellent. Sophia Batchelor transferred away, but did score her freshman year.
[COLOR="#000066"][SIZE=5]ROSES TO COMPETE IN MACCABIAH GAMES[/SIZE]
[COLOR="#808080"] [SIZE=3]4/19/2017 1:19 PM | By: Cal Athletics[/SIZE][/COLOR] [/COLOR]
[COLOR="#696969"]Maija Roses will swim for Team USA at the Maccabiah Games in Israel this summer.[/COLOR]
Cal junior Maija Roses has been chosen for the U.S. swim team that will compete in the 20th World Maccabiah Games July 4-18 in Israel. She'll be part of a Maccabi USA squad that will feature more than 1,100 athletes, including Golden Bear alum and Olympic gold medalist Anthony Ervin.
A breaststroke specialist for Cal, Roses ranks seventh in school history in the 100-yard breast (1:00.78) and 200-yard breast (2:11.75), with both times set at the Pac-12 Championships this past February. She finished 10th in both events at the conference meet.
The Maccabiah Games features 10,000 Jewish athletes from 80 countries participating in 43 different sports. For more information on the event, visit maccabiah.com.
Val[COLOR="#696969"]on 24 Apr 2017[/COLOR]: when your bestie throws you a princess party ��������������������#ily #onlycameforthecake #thebirthdaycake
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[COLOR="#000066"][SIZE=5]Berkeley Talks with Cal Olympians[/SIZE][/COLOR]
[COLOR="#696969"][U]Saturday, April 22, 2017[/U] 3:00-4:00 pm Memorial Glade[/COLOR]
UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks will sit down with several of Cal's Olympians--current and former student-athletes who have represented their countries on the world's biggest stage--for a wide-ranging conversation about their experiences in the Olympic games in Rio, London, and elsewhere, and what life is like for a student-athlete at an academically demanding university like Berkeley.
[COLOR="#006699"]Everyone's talking bout the absolute dominance of the furdette juggernaut these days, but it would have completely paled in comparison to what Bears could have brought to the table if your scenario had worked out (Neal, Manuel, Ledecky -> Cal)!
Throw Missy in for 4 years of eligibility, sprinkle in the Dream Team...wow wow wow!!!! Of course just a pure fantasy, and who knows where to find the scholly funds for all of these studs lol
btw Celina was rated #5 in her class by collegeswimming at the time (KV #11 although SwimSwam had ranked her in the #4 spot, Farida #12, not sure what Marina's rating was but had to be up there based on her LCM times back then) - so all five of Teri's recruits were in the Top 20![/COLOR]
UAC - while I enthusiastically follow Cal swimming, I don't know anything about the scholarship situation. I see statements posted often like yours about scholarship fund limits. Question - if a Bearbacker won the lottery and was willing and able to give Terri as much scholarship money as she wanted/needed, what difference would it make on recruiting? Is it a question of the tuition cost for foreign students vs out-of-state vs in-state? I assumed that swimming had limits on the number of scholarships like other NCAA sports and that Cal carried the maximum number of athletes on scholarship allowed like in FB and BB.
UAC - while I enthusiastically follow Cal swimming, I don't know anything about the scholarship situation. I see statements posted often like yours about scholarship fund limits. Question - if a Bearbacker won the lottery and was willing and able to give Terri as much scholarship money as she wanted/needed, what difference would it make on recruiting? Is it a question of the tuition cost for foreign students vs out-of-state vs in-state? I assumed that swimming had limits on the number of scholarships like other NCAA sports and that Cal carried the maximum number of athletes on scholarship allowed like in FB and BB.
[COLOR="#006699"]I'm hoping that the "pros" & NCAA gurus here will wade in with some pertinent details as I'd like to learn more about the fiscal aspects of things too, being mostly in the dark on this topic ... even if I do like to liberally throw out catch phrases such as "scholly slots/funds" in my recruiting related posts haha.
My admittedly basic and somewhat dodgy understanding is that there is a max limit of 14 scholarships allocated per women's swimming & diving programme at the NCAA Division I level (9.9 for the men). Coaches can split each award into partials in order to distribute the funds more fairly amongst the team members (S&D = "equivalency" sports, unlike a "head count" sports such as BB). Taking into account that the scoring format of NCAA championships typically rewards top end depth over just a few cream-of-the-crop talent...
[U]Full rides[/U] are probably performance-based and few & far in between, I'd imagine that for an elite swim college like ours they would generally be offered to an incoming recruit who already has achieved times that are close to NCAA Top 8 (i.e. A final) and could contribute on relays...or strongly projected to do so...or who looks to fulfill a major swim need/area...or is an international. Would be surprised if more than 4 or 5 Bears are on full rides in any given season, but I could be wrong there!
Partial rides and book money are more the norm I'd reckon (walk-ons prob. rare @ Cal), with a 40% to 60% scholarship perhaps considered as generally favourable for a recruit who's potentially a multi-event NCAA qualifier? There were 26 women on the roster (includes divers) for 2016-2017, so if divided up equally (not the case I'm sure in real life :p), everyone would be enjoying a 53.85% equivalent scholarship. Would naturally depend on what's freed up by those graduating seniors for any particular year. Have read somewhere that the average scholarship award nationwide is around $19,000 for Women's NCAA Div I S&D, spread out over the 4 years of college - don't know how applicable that is to our Bears tho...
Yeah wish we were all billionaires so that we'd donate millions in scholly funds to Teri and the team (and to all the other programmes) Actually not sure how much of that is allowed by the NCAA powers-that-be or in what form - can someone help out with explaining the in-and-outs of this, pretty please? I know there were some posts previously about the Furd & $C having an advantage over us...endowments or something to that effect? [/COLOR]
Split scholarships favor California, Texas, and Florida public universities: huge states, great swimming talent, and in-state tuition.
LSJU and 'SC counter with more generous financial aid packages. Though both claim not to comingle regular financial aid and athletic scholarships, a talented middle class swimmer may get a more generous financial aid package based on family income from a private school than what they'd receive based purely on athletic ability alone.
Georgia has great coaching and facilities, but they supplement that via Hope scholarships-statewide academic scholarships. Thanks to an academic scandal involving their coach, UGa's recruiting has fallen off and they can't compete with the Bay Area duopoly for high end swim/academic talent.
Foreign swimmers aren't eligible for US government backed financial aid, so international swimmers are more expensive and carry additional risk. PAC and B1G have issued recent scholly reforms, which allow scholly amounts to be adjusted upward, but not lowered.
Not sure about internal Cal accounting for in-state vs international recruits, but both women's and men's program are fully funded (i.e. can offer max scholly $s). Read recently that both programs were running operational deficits. Theoretical billionaire swim benefactor could cover operational deficits and endow coaching salaries.
Aquabears swim mafia worked around Cal to get the new facility built: raised the funds themselves, built the facility, and leased it back to Cal. That's a page from the Arrillaga playbook on the farm. Spieker family wanted to keep the current facility for competitions. If a hoops practice facility ever gets done, donors would be advised to follow the swim mafia model.
Split scholarships favor California, Texas, and Florida public universities: huge states, great swimming talent, and in-state tuition.
LSJU and 'SC counter with more generous financial aid packages. Though both claim not to comingle regular financial aid and athletic scholarships, a talented middle class swimmer may get a more generous financial aid package based on family income from a private school than what they'd receive based purely on athletic ability alone.
Georgia has great coaching and facilities, but they supplement that via Hope scholarships-statewide academic scholarships. Thanks to an academic scandal involving their coach, UGa's recruiting has fallen off and they can't compete with the Bay Area duopoly for high end swim/academic talent.
Foreign swimmers aren't eligible for US government backed financial aid, so international swimmers are more expensive and carry additional risk. PAC and B1G have issued recent scholly reforms, which allow scholly amounts to be adjusted upward, but not lowered.
Not sure about internal Cal accounting for in-state vs international recruits, but both women's and men's program are fully funded (i.e. can offer max scholly $s). Read recently that both programs were running operational deficits. Theoretical billionaire swim benefactor could cover operational deficits and endow coaching salaries.
Aquabears swim mafia worked around Cal to get the new facility built: raised the funds themselves, built the facility, and leased it back to Cal. That's a page from the Arrillaga playbook on the farm. Spieker family wanted to keep the current facility for competitions. If a hoops practice facility ever gets done, donors would be advised to follow the swim mafia model.
Thanks for the info UAC and BD. It sounds like there is no issue with inadequate funds for scholarships to offer any swimmers Terri wants. Of course we can always use more money for coaches, facilities, equipment, travel, etc.
"Aquabears swim mafia worked around Cal to get the new facility built: raised the funds themselves, built the facility, and [U]leased[/U] it back to Cal. "
"Aquabears swim mafia worked around Cal to get the new facility built: raised the funds themselves, built the facility, and [U]leased[/U] it back to Cal. "
Leased? It wasn't donated in full to Cal?
Thanks for the correction. Donated is what I meant to say.
Getting back to ICB's post-scholly funding isn't really the issue. Pre-Meehan, LSJU was still getting good recruits (Julia Smit, Felicia Lee, Maya DiRado), but the team and most individuals never improved. Teri filled the void for women who wanted to maximize their swimming and academic talent. Lia Neal kinda broke the log jam. Had she gone to Cal, Manuel and Ledecky might have followed. The class after Lia's, current rising seniors Hu and Howe has been outstanding.
Bears likely take another second next season, but things get interesting again after that. LSJU never replaced Sarah Haase and Lia, and doesn't have replacements for Hu, Howe, Manuel, and Ledecky in the pipeline. Lots of really good complementary swimmers, but no killer whales. That's why the 2018 recruiting class is so important for Teri along with the timing of Manuel and Ledecky going pro.
[COLOR="#808080"] [SIZE=3]4/23/2017 2:53 PM | By: Cal Athletics[/SIZE][/COLOR] [/COLOR]
[COLOR="#696969"]Cal's NCAA team and All-Americans pose during the Bears' annual end-of-the-season banquet.[/COLOR]
BERKELEY Sophomore Kathleen Baker, who won three individual titles and helped a relay capture another at the NCAA Championships last month, was named California's MVP at the women's swimming & diving team's annual banquet Sunday afternoon.
The honor adds to a remarkable year for Baker, who earned two medals for Team USA at the Rio Olympics in August silver in the 100-meter backstroke and gold on the 4x100-meter medley relay.
In February, Baker won the 200-yard back at the Pac-12 Championships, which set the stage for her big national meet. In consecutive nights, she won the 200 individual medley, 200 back and 100 back, in addition to swimming the lead-off leg on Cal's victorious 200 medley relay. Baker also swam a leg on the 400 free relay that set a school record. As a result, she was named the CSCAA National Swimmer of the Year.
Other awards at the banquet went to:
[INDENT][U]Warren Hellman Scholastic Award[/U] Kristen Vredeveld [U]Kathie Wickstrand Leadership Award[/U] Kristen Vredeveld [U]Most Improved Swimmer[/U] Chenoa Devine [U]Golden Bear Award[/U] Kristen Vredeveld [U]Coaches Award[/U] (Diving) Hayden Tavoda [U]Karen Moe Humphreys Coaches Award[/U] (Swimming) Farida Osman[/INDENT]
Vredeveld, a senior history, has the highest GPA on the team over the past two semesters (spring 2016, fall 2017) 3.950 and she has been accepted into the Teach for America program and will begin work this summer in Atlanta. In the pool, Vredeveld was a member of Cal's NCAA runner-up 800 free relay and she placed 15th in the 100 free.
Devine, a freshman distance freestyler, consistently improved her times over the course of the season. She was 19th in the 1650 free at NCAA's with a PR 16:04.34, which ranks as the No. 3 time in school history and was a six-second drop from her Pac-12 Championships race just three weeks earlier.
Tavoda set personal bests on both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards during her senior year. Her score of 282.53 on 1-meter ranks in school history, while her 314.55 on 3-meter is fourth on the Cal list.
Osman completed her senior year in style, winning her first individual national title with a victory in the 100 butterfly. She also anchored both the 200 free relay and the 200 medley relay to first-place finishes at the NCAA meet. The two-time Egyptian Olympian is the Cal record-holder in the 50 free (21.32) and is second all-time in the 100 fly (50.05).
As a team, the Bears finished second in the country at the 2017 NCAA Championships the ninth year in a row they have placed among the top three.
[COLOR="#000080"][SIZE=5]CAL WOMEN ANNOUNCE 2016-2017 TEAM AWARD WINNERS[/SIZE][/COLOR]
[COLOR="#696969"]Kathleen Baker took home the 2016-2017 Cal Women's MVP Award. Current Photo via Tim Binning/TheSwimPictures.com[/COLOR]
The University of California, Berkeley Women's Swimming and Diving Team announced their team awards via the Cal Athletics website yesterday. They gave out seven total awards highlighted by 2017 NCAA championships Swimmer of the Meet Kathleen Baker and senior Kristen Vredeveld.
The 2017 Most Improved Award went to freshman Chenoa Devine. Devine finished 19th in the 1650 at the 2017 NCAA Championships in Indianapolis. She did so by dropping over four seconds off of her previous personal best. Over the course of this season, she moved up to third on Cal's all time list in the 1650.
Senior Kristen Vredeveld won a trio of awards for the Cal Bears. She won the Golden Bear award, Warren Hellman Scholastic Award and Kathie Wickstrand Leadership Award. Vredeveld posted the team's highest GPA at 3.95 and finished 15th individually in the 100 freestyle at NCAAs.
Sophomore Kathleen Baker took home the team MVP award. Baker was named the NCAA Championships Swimmer of the Meet in 2017 after winning three individual events in Indianapolis. She was also named the CSCAA National Swimmer of the Year.
In diving, Hayden Tavoda was given the Coaches Award. Tavoda solidified herself as a great Cal diver, ranking highly in both the 1 meter and 3 meter events. She set personal bests in both events this year.
National Champion Farida Osman was given the swimming Karen Moe Humphreys Coaches Award. Osman won her first individual title at NCAAs this year in the 100 butterfly event. She also holds the Cal team records in the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly.
The Cal Women finished second in the team race at this year's NCAA Championships behind Stanford. With experienced swimmers like Baker and Devine returning, they will surely look to make a run at the 2018 team title.
[COLOR="#006699"] Haven't seen this reported elsewhere as yet, but several members of the women's team will be competing in their first [U]long course[/U] meet of this season at the 2017 MVN Swim Meet of Champions (SMOC) down in SoCal this week.
Good timing as Dead Week won't be until next week. Will make for some solid training to get their 1st LCM racing session in motion with an eye towards qualifying for the Worlds team to rep Team USA @ Budapest this summer!
One of our 2017 signees (Lexa) + several 2018 prospects will be there as well (notably Eva). Plus Alexis Margett & Katie Glavinovich who made official trips to campus but committed to Michigan & the furdettes respectively.
Nathan & Tom also entered on the men's side. Also a sizeable contingent from NZ's National Team (no Lauren Boyle tho).
Here are some of the entries from a quick scan of the psych sheet, sorted in order of event and seeding in each category: [/COLOR]
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[SIZE=3]* Day 1 * (Thurs 4/27)[/SIZE]
[U]800m Free[/U]
Recruits - Sam Shelton
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[SIZE=3]* Day 2 * (Fri 4/28)[/SIZE]
[U]100m Free[/U]
Bears - Abbey, Amy, Maddie, Keaton, Aislinn Baby Bears - Alexa Skorus-Neely Recruits - Sam Shelton, Eva Merrell
[U]200m Fly[/U]
Bears - Katie, Jenna, Maddie Recruits - Eva Merrell
[U]200m Back[/U]
Bears - Amy, Thleen, Keaton, Katie, Courtney, Aislinn Baby Bears - Alexa Skorus-Neely Recruits - Eva Merrell, Sam Shelton
[COLOR="#006699"][SIZE=3][COLOR="#8B4513"]MIA[/COLOR][/SIZE]: Farida, Marina, Noemie, Celina, KV, Val, Maija, Jaz, Chenoa, Anina... also Thleen (at least thus far, on Day 2)[/COLOR]
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Val @ [COLOR="#696969"]Lake Tahoe[/COLOR]: may have turned in to literal human ice cubes, but the Tahoe sunrise was well worth it #nug #AskSiri
calwswimanddive [COLOR="#696969"]@ Salt Creek (Orange County):[/COLOR] A great evening with the Bears after Day 2 finals in Irvine, with a bonus photo bomb courtesy of the grill master himself, Mr. McLaughlin! #GoBears #TheGrillMaster PC @nogueiradouglas
[COLOR="#000066"][SIZE=3]Cal Women's Swimming & Diving[/SIZE] - [COLOR="#696969"]1 May 2017[/COLOR]
Congratulations to our two award winners at today's Academic Honors Luncheon.
Farida Osman took home the Tom Hansen Conference Medal as the top senior female student-athlete for all sports at Cal, while Amy Bilquist collected the Golden Bear Award for having the highest GPA on the team. [/COLOR]
[COLOR="#000066"][SIZE=3]Cal Women's Swimming & Diving[/SIZE] - [COLOR="#696969"]1 May 2017[/COLOR]
Congratulations to our two award winners at today's Academic Honors Luncheon.
Farida Osman took home the Tom Hansen Conference Medal as the top senior female student-athlete for all sports at Cal, while Amy Bilquist collected the Golden Bear Award for having the highest GPA on the team. [/COLOR]
[COLOR="#006699"] Guess nuthin much at all happening "racing in the pool"-wise post-NCAAs and as Dead Week transitions into finals, so reckon these social media photos will just have to suffice in lieu of the usual swim-related updates on the team...does illustrate how nicely elite student-athletes can clean up when removed from their natural habitat... :p [/COLOR] ------
Abbey: Can we get a #GoBears for room 804: A place where spoons are lost �� Naps are treasured �� our great vocals are tested �� FRIENDS and The Office rule ��and fish have funerals �� #legendsofnorton4ev
calwswimanddive: A great evening with this group at the annual Cal/Stanford Senior Dinner hosted by the Olympic Club. Sharing stories and lots of laughs! #GoBears #SeniorDinner
calwswim [COLOR="#808080"]@ Manuel's Mexican Restaurant[/COLOR]: Dinner with the Bears in Aptos! A great first day of training and a delicious meal to end the evening. Morning beach swim to start Day 2 tomorrow! #Aptos #SummerBears #GoBears
calwswim [COLOR="#808080"]@ Seacliff State Beach[/COLOR]: Group shot from this morning's ocean session! #BeachBears #SeacliffBeach #PeaceSignSwag #GoBears ��
calwswim [COLOR="#808080"]@ Seacliff State Beach[/COLOR]: That's a wrap! The Bears got some great training in and had some fun along the way. Back to Berkeley!
calwswim [COLOR="#808080"]@ Manuel's Mexican Restaurant[/COLOR]: Dinner with the Bears in Aptos! A great first day of training and a delicious meal to end the evening. Morning beach swim to start Day 2 tomorrow! #Aptos #SummerBears #GoBears
[COLOR="#336699"][SIZE=5]Cal Stars Highlight 2017 Novaquatics Speedo Grand Challenge[/SIZE][/COLOR]
The Friday prelims pysch sheets were released for the 2017 Novaquatics Speedo Grand Challenge this week, which start this Friday, May 26th in Irvine and runs through Sunday, May 28th at the William Woollett Jr. Aquatic Center.
The field will be highlighted with plenty of NCAA stars from Cal Berkeley who haven't had the opportunity to get a lot of long course racing in since NCAA's wrapped up in March. Among those swimmers will be Olympian and rising Cal sophomore Abbey Weitzeil, who is the top seed in the 50 free on Friday. She will be joined by Cal teammate Farida Osman, who is coming off her senior NCAA season, as well as teammates Amy Bilquist and Maddie Murphy.
Other names to watch from Cal will be rising junior Katie McLaughlin, who is back after spending much of last year rebounding from injury, and men's team members Andrew Seliskar and Connor Hoppe.
[COLOR="#000080"][SIZE=4]2017 Novaquatics Speedo Grand Challenge[/SIZE][/COLOR] [INDENT][U]May 26-28, 2017[/U] Irvine, CA William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center[/INDENT]
[COLOR="#336699"][SIZE=5]Dylan Carter, Abbey Weitzeil Post Top Times on First Morning of Speedo Grand Challenge[/SIZE][/COLOR]
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The first morning of the Speedo Grand Challenge from Irvine went off with plenty of fast in-season swimming. Dylan Carter put up a solid swim in the [U]200 free[/U] prelims along with good swims from the Cal swimmers Katie McLaughlin and Abbey Weitzeil.
The morning started with Riley Scott of USC topping the [U]200 IM[/U] prelims with a 2:17.64 to lead Keaton Blovad, Ayla Spitz and Zoe Thatcher. The A-Final will only feature four swimmers in each event.Blovad out-split Scott in every stroke expect breaststroke where there was a six second difference so the final will be interesting between those two.
The women's [U]100 breast[/U] final will be a tight one as the top four were separated by a little over a second from this morning's prelims. Texas A&M's Jorie Caneta leads the qualifiers with a 1:09.44 ahead of Cal's Marina Garcia (1:09.64) and USC's Riley Scott (1:10.59). 17-year-old Ali Harrison will also swim in the A-final.
The men's version will be equally exciting as Cal's Connor Hoppe and New York Athletic Club's Mike Alexandrov swam 1:03.31 and 1:03.51 respectively. Hoppe and Alexandrov will be joined by Cal's Carson Sand and Matt Whittle. Alexandrov is the only non-Cal swimmer in the 100 breast top four and is the oldest swimmer by 11 years.
The women's [U]50 free[/U] will be another tight race with Abbey Weitzeil [COLOR="#006699"](25.45)[/COLOR] leading the way ahead of USC's Kendyl Stewart, Cal's Farida Osman, Canyon's Amanda Kendall and Cal's Amy Bilquist. Stewart and Osman were tied for second at 25.88 and Kendall and Bilquist tied for fourth at 25.90, the final spot pending a swim-off for the final.
[COLOR="#006699"][U]Note[/U]: According to Meet Mobile, Amy threw down a dominating 25.49 to win her swim-off over Amanda's 25.77, yay! :beer:[/COLOR]
The final four person final for tonight was the women's [U]400 free[/U] where Cal's Katie McLaughlin topped the prelims with a 4:16.36. Sandpiper's Erica Sullivan [COLOR="#006699"](2017 recruit, a promising distance prospect)[/COLOR] is second with a pair of Auburn swimmers Ashley Neidigh and Zoe Thatcher rounding out the final.
[COLOR="#000080"][SIZE=5]WEITZEIL TOPS 50 FREE FIELD ON DAY 1 OF SPEEDO GRAND CHALLENGE[/SIZE][/COLOR]
U.S. Olympian Abbey Weitzeil went head-to-head with fellow Cal All-Americans Farida Osman and Amy Bilquist in the [U]50 free[/U]. Weitzeil out-touched her teammates in a very tight finish, winning in 25.35 ahead of Osman (25.49) and Bilquist (25.50). Following closely for 4th was Trojan Swim Club's Kendyl Stewart (25.71).
USC All-American Riley Scott won a pair of golds on day 1. Scott got the ball rolling in the [U]200 IM[/U], where she cranked out a 2:15.33 to finish 2 seconds ahead of the field. She returned shortly after that for the [U]100 breast[/U], putting up a 1:08.80 to out-touch Texas A&M's Jorie Caneta (1:09.03) and Cal's Marina Garcia (1:09.08).
[COLOR="#000080"][SIZE=5]MOROZOV ROCKS 21.9 TO WIN 50 FREE ON DAY 2 OF SPEEDO GRAND CHALLENGE[/SIZE][/COLOR]
The Cal Golden Bears also brought in a pair of wins on night 2. After winning the 400 free last night, Katie McLaughlin completed her middle distance free sweep tonight, putting up a 1:59.63 in the 200 free to beat teammate Amy Bilquist (2:00.52). Later in the session, Bilquist bounced back, giving the Bears another win with her 2:12.56 in the 200 back.
[COLOR="#000080"][SIZE=5]BILQUIST DOWNS 100 BACK MEET RECORD ON DAY 3 OF SPEEDO GRAND CHALLENGE[/SIZE][/COLOR]
Completing the sprint free sweep on the women's side was Cal's Abbey Weitzeil, who put up a 55.21 to win tonight's 100 free. Teammates Amy Bilquist and Marina Garcia also impressed for the Bears. Bilquist set a Meet Record, winning the 100 back with a 1:01.13 to clear the former mark of 1:01.69 done by Presley Bard in 2010. [U]Garcia blasted a 2:25.08 to win the 200 breast, moving up to 14th in the world ahead of fellow Spaniard Jessica Vall (2:25.17)[/U].
Trojan Swim Club's Maddie Wright had a breakthrough swim in the women's 200 fly. Wright, who had a stellar freshman season with USC, looks to be translating her success into the long course pool well. Since 2013, she hadn't beaten her personal best time of 2:11.18, but tonight she finally broke that barrier to win the race in 2:10.50 after using her back-half speed to push ahead of U.S. National Teamer Katie McLaughlin (2:11.77) of Cal.
There are so many key swimmers entered for Santa Clara that the meet will serve as a little preview for World Trials. Along with all of the Americans, there are some international swimmers entered too, including some of Canada's World Championship squad.
Below are just some of the notable names entered at the meet, which will take place from June 1-4:
MEN
Nathan Adrian Ryan Murphy Tom Shields Josh Prenot Jacob Pebley Anthony Ervin
Women
Abbey Weitzeil Katie McLaughlin Kathleen Baker Farida Osman
Cal W Swim Team(sizeable contingent) + alums Farida & Marina + Camille, Yvette & Stephanie(HK :bear Cal M Swim Team(sizeable contingent) + alums Sarah Darcel(2017 signee) Sophie Krivokapic-Zhou(2017 signee) Amalie Fackenthal(2018 prospect) Zoe Bartel(2018 prospect, possibly a furdette lean tho?! :cry Hallie Kinsey(2018 prospect) Izzi Henig(2018 prospect) Ema Rajic(2018 prospect) Vivian Wang(2018 prospect) Isabel Ivey(2019 prospect) Regan Smith(2020 prospect)
One interesting observation - top 2 seeds in the [U]100m Breast[/U] are Cal alumna (Yvette & Marina), as are the top seed (Marina) & #6 seed (baby :bear: Sarah) in the [U]200m Breast[/U]. Reckon LCM can be quite a different beast from SCY perhaps... :p [/COLOR]
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[COLOR="#000080"][SIZE=5]No 400, 800 Frees For Ledecky At Santa Clara Pro Swim Series (LINKS)[/SIZE][/COLOR]
[COLOR="#000080"][SIZE=5]2017 SANTA CLARA PSS PREVIEW: MURPHY, PEBLEY TO BATTLE IN BACKSTROKES[/SIZE][/COLOR]
[SIZE=3]WOMEN'S 100 BACK[/SIZE]:
Rio Olympic medalists Kylie Masse (Canada) and Kathleen Baker (USA) will battle in their signature 100 back. Masse is currently the fastest woman in the world this year after putting up a 58.21 at Canadian Trials. Fellow Canadian and Olympic basktroke medalist Hilary Caldwell will be in the mix, as will Cal backstroke standout Amy Bilquist and fast-rising age group star [U]Regan Smith[/U]. At just 15 years of age, Smith has already broken the 1:00 barrier in this event.
[COLOR="#006699"] Just a wee note to congrat Chenoa on busting out a lifetime best of 16:38.30 in the [U]1500m Free[/U] down in Santa Clara last night! :bravo
Chenoa placed 6th, finishing just behind furdettes Leah Stevens (16:36.13) & Megan Byrnes (16:36.31). Devine's prev PB was a 16:46.67 done @ 2014 Junior Nationals, with her 2016 best back at 16:57.35. [/COLOR] ------
USA Swimming: Top times in 2017 from the #ArenaProSwim in the women's 1500 free and men's 800 free. A lot of fast swimming!
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[COLOR="#006699"] Needless to say, Katie Ledecky was just being... Katie Ledecky lol
Steamrolled over the field (what's new, eh!), Ledecky's 15:35.65 was over 37 sec faster than, or a full 50 metres ahead of, runner-up Kristel Kobrich from Chile (with this 16:12.89 swim, Kristel now has the 5th fastest 2017 time in the world). Even if last night's performance was "only" Ledecky's 5th fastest lifetime, and she has gone 10+ sec faster back @ 2015 Worlds in Kazan, this time of hers still tops the next best global time for the year by almost 30 secs (Hungarian Boglrka Kaps' 16:04.19)! [/COLOR] ------
USA Swimming: All-Time Top 10 performances in the women's 1500 Free.
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[SIZE=5]Katie Ledecky goes fast unless your name is Katie Ledecky[/SIZE]
Actually not sure how much of that is allowed by the NCAA powers-that-be or in what form - can someone help out with explaining the in-and-outs of this, pretty please? I know there were some posts previously about the Furd & $C having an advantage over us...endowments or something to that effect?
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