So.. what class do we put Hugo Gonzales? SOPHOMORE with Reece in 2020?

HBear said:

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Love a good photo featuring the stacked sophomore class!

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2019 MEN'S NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS: TOP 10 TEAMS POINT CHANGES


The story of this year's NCAA championships was the performance of Cal's sophomores. Current photo via Jack Spitser/Spitser Photography


The story of this year's NCAA championships was the performance of Cal's sophomores. As a group they scored 178 points, more than double the already substantial 87.5 points they scored in 2018. That's a pretty broad analysis, so let's dive into the individual point change numbers a bit. The analysis below only considers swimmers that qualified for this year's meet.

Cal had three swimmers who scored at least 20 points more than they did last year. The rest of the teams that finished in the top 10 combined had 4 swimmers who picked up at least 20 points. Sean Grieshoppicked up 39 points (49 this year, 10 last year), Trenton Julian picked up 24 (36, 12), and Pavel Sendyk picked up 20 (35, 15).

The other swimmers who picked up at least that many on top 10 teams were Brendan Casey of Virginia who picked up 33 (33, 0), Dean Farris of Harvard who picked up 23 (53, 30), Paul DeLakis of Ohio State who picked up 21 (27, 6), and Ryan Harty of Texas who gained 21 (24, 3).

Cal only had two swimmers who dropped points this year (Bryce Mefford -10, and Carson Sand -6) compared to 9 who were better than last year.

By comparison, Texas had 4 swimmers drop points this year (Townley Haas -9, Austin Katz -18, Sam Pomajevich -24, and Jacob Cornish -4) compared to 5 swimmers that gained points.
In total Cal gained 140.5 individual points from returning swimmers while Texas had a net change of +4 individual points.

Junior Pawel Sendyk earned Pac-12 All-Academic First Team honors for the second straight year.

Bears Place 12 On Pac-12 All-Academic Team

Sendyk Earns First Team Honors For Second Straight Year

STANFORD MEN'S COACH TED KNAPP STEPS DOWN AFTER 35 YEARS

SWIMSWAM PULSE: 73% PICK CAL AS FAVORITES FOR 2020 NCAAS



Question: A year out, who is the favorite to win 2020 men's NCAAs?

• California - 73.0%
• Texas - 19.4%
• Someone else - 7.6%

Almost three-quarters of voters selected California as the favorites to repeat for the men's NCAA title next year.
Cal won this season's title after a dominant showing, ending a four-year run by the Texas Longhorns.

73% picked Cal compared to just 19.4% for Texas. That's a massive swing from our pre-NCAA poll less than a month ago in which 44% picked Texas to win in 2019 compared to 43% for Cal.

Some of that is the stellar showing by Cal at NCAAs. Perhaps more of it are the big points graduated by Texas (Townley Haas, Tate Jackson & John Shebat among them), plus the expected addition of Hugo Gonzalez to the Cal roster for next season.

On the other hand, 2020 NCAAs may be especially hard to predict a year out, with many potential Olympic redshirts looming.

International athletes with Olympic Trial meets close to NCAAs may either take the college season off or train through the postseason, while many swimmers of all nationalities will choose to focus more on long course racing than short course in the year leading up to the Tokyo Olympics.

Having the Olympic head coach will probably help us since the Cal returnees really have no meed to train elsewhere.

Ted Knapp quitting was inevitable yet still intriguing. Greg Meehan has shown the upside at Stanford given the right coach and by comparison the under-achievement of the mens team.

Little chance we lose our coaches but I think David Marsh coming up north could make the Cal-Furd rival on the mens side a lot more interesting.

Pure guesswork on my part.

Also curious to see who eventual successor to Knapp will be on the Farm. A commentator on the SwimSwam article floated the Marsh idea, though SS' Braden Keith speculates no, given the status (and $) of Team Elite. Feel like Marsh is pretty quiet at UCSD (known more for the pro group at Team Elite, anyhow), though I'd be curious to see how that situation works if he did come up to the Bay Area -- if his pros would follow/remain in the group, especially in light of Pebley and Thleen with their strong Cal ties.

How about this to blow your mind: what if Yuri takes the Stanford job?

Big news of the morning:

SEC CHAMPION MAXIME ROONEY ANNOUNCES HE'S LEAVING FLORIDA



Unclear whether Rooney intends to transfer, stop swimming (wouldn't be my first assumption, but SS suggestion in the article -- "He grew up swimming in California for the Pleasanton Seahawks, and is a dual citizen in the Philippines, meaning he could potentially represent the nation in the 2020 Olympics, if Monday's announcement is not the end of the road for his swim career."), or anything else.

I was employed by the City of Pleasanton for 30 years before retiring and had the Aquatic Complex as one of my programs where Maxine swam. I was disappointed when he did not go to Cal. He is now listed in the "Transfer Portal" which is going to have schools like Indiana, Michigan and who knows what all over him. Do we have any scholarship money to offer him for the one year left in his eligibility? We currently have 2 ex-Pleasanton Seahawks on our roster. Or is Cal even interested?

What better way to finish his college career than working with coach Durden, winning a national championship, and training with Cal's Olympians everyday in practice ?? Come to Cal, Maxime !!!!

longseeker said:

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I was employed by the City of Pleasanton for 30 years before retiring and had the Aquatic Complex as one of my programs where Maxine swam. I was disappointed when he did not go to Cal. He is now listed in the "Transfer Portal" which is going to have schools like Indiana, Michigan and who knows what all over him. Do we have any scholarship money to offer him for the one year left in his eligibility? We currently have 2 ex-Pleasanton Seahawks on our roster. Or is Cal even interested?

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I was also disappointed when Rooney opted to attend Florida as Cal appeared to be a natural fit and there weren't any legacy issues as is the case with Urlando. He would be a nice addition to our relay teams and has the ability to score at NCAAs in multiple events. I don't think Durden has much $ left, but perhaps financial aid and Cal resident tuition might give Cal at least a puncher's chance.
If Rooney's goals include doing well in Tokyo I think it would be hard to find a better training group than the Cal program. To me, it actually makes a lot of sense for Max to select Cal and redshirt next year to focus entirely on long course. And then swim one year for the Bears, when there may be more financial options available. A key variable in play here, is that Durden will only allow someone in his post-grad training group if they have swam for or is committed to the Bears.

Congrats to Dave!

https://instagr.am/p/Bw7dmzXgpTO
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USA Swimming Announces Coaching Staffs for International Competitions

• FINA World Championships

The World Championships coaching staff:

• Dave Durden (Cal Men's Swimming)
• Greg Meehan (Stanford Women's Swimming)
• Teri McKeever (Cal Women's Swimming)
• Gregg Troy (Gator Swim Club)
• Ray Looze (Indiana Swimming)
• Arthur Albiero (Louisville Women's Swimming)
• Jack Bauerle (Georgia Swimming)
• David Marsh (Team Elite Aquatics)

Men's Roster:

• Nathan Adrian, 4x100 free
• Michael Andrew, 50 free; 50/100 breast; 50 fly
• Zach Apple, 4x100; 4x200 free relay
• Michael Chadwick, 4x100 free relay
• Jack Conger, 100 fly
• Abrahm DeVine, 200 IM
• Caeleb Dressel, 50/100 free; 50/100 fly
• Conor Dwyer, 4x200 free
• Matt Grevers, 100 back
• Zane Grothe, 400/800/1500
• Townley Haas, 200 free; 4x200 free relay
• Zach Harting, 200 fly
• Chase Kalisz, 200/400 IM
• Jack LeVant, 4x200 free relay
• Jay Litherland, 400 IM
• Ryan Murphy, 50/100/200 back
• Jacob Pebley, 200 back
• Blake Pieroni, 100 free; 4x200 free
• Josh Prenot, 200 breast
• Andrew Seliskar, 200 free
• Grant Shoults, 400 free
• Jordan Wilimovsky, 800/1500
• Andrew Wilson, 100/200 breast
• Justin Wright, 200 fly

• World University Games

The World University Games coaching staff:

• Braden Holloway (N.C. State Swimming)
• Tracy Slusser (Stanford Women's Swimming)
• Wyatt Collins (Texas Men's Swimming)
• Chase Kreitler (Cal Men's Swimming)
• Steve Jungbluth (Florida Men's Swimming)
• Carol Capitani (Texas Women's Swimming)
• Jerry Champer (Georgia Swimming)
• Lars Jorgensen (Kentucky Swimming)

Men's Roster:

• Zach Apple, Indiana, 50/100 free
• Clark Beach, Florida, 200 back
• Dean Farris, Harvard, 4x100 free
• Robert Finke, Florida, 800/1500 free
• Trey Freeman, Florida, 200/400 free
• Sean Grieshop, California, 400 IM
• Connor Hoppe, California, 50/100 breast
• Grant House, Arizona State, 4x200 free
• Robert Howard, Alabama, 4x100 free
• Tate Jackson, Texas, 100 free
• Michael Jensen, California, 50 free
• Trenton Julian, California, 4x200 free, 200 fly
• Austin Katz, Texas, 200 back
• Jack LeVant, Stanford, 200 free, 200 fly
• Bryce Mefford, California, 50/100 back
• Jeff Newkirk, Texas, 4x200 free
• Nick Norman, California, 800/1500
• Devon Nowicki, Oakland, 50/100 breast
• Justin Ress, NC State, 4x100 free, 50/100 back
• Daniel Roy, Stanford, 200 breast
• Jack Saunderson, Towson, 50/100 fly
• John Shebat, Texas, 200 IM
• Coleman Stewart, NC State, 50/100 fly
• Sam Stewart, Texas, 200/400 IM
• Jonathan Tybur, Texas A&M, 200 breast
• Zach Yeadon, Notre Dame, 400 free

• Pan American Games

Men's Roster:

• Nathan Adrian, 50/100 free
• Nick Alexander, 200 back
• Gunnar Bentz, 200/400 IM
• Daniel Carr, 100/200 back
• Michael Chadwick, 50/100 free
• Kevin Cordes, 100 breast
• Nic Fink, 200 breast
• Grant House, 200 free
• Matthew Josa, 100 fly
• Drew Kibler, 200 free
• Will Licon, 200 breast, 200 IM
• Cody Miller, 100 breast
• Sam Pomajevich, 200 fly
• Tom Shields, 100/200 fly
• Charlie Swanson, 400 IM
• True Sweetser, 800/1500 free
• Chris Wieser, 400 free

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HBear said:

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Big news of the morning:

SEC CHAMPION MAXIME ROONEY ANNOUNCES HE'S LEAVING FLORIDA

Unclear whether Rooney intends to transfer, stop swimming (wouldn't be my first assumption, but SS suggestion in the article -- "He grew up swimming in California for the Pleasanton Seahawks, and is a dual citizen in the Philippines, meaning he could potentially represent the nation in the 2020 Olympics, if Monday's announcement is not the end of the road for his swim career."), or anything else.

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MAXIME ROONEY ANNOUNCES TRANSFER TO TEXAS FOR SENIOR SEASON

UrsusArctosCalifornicus said:

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HBear said:

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Big news of the morning:

SEC CHAMPION MAXIME ROONEY ANNOUNCES HE'S LEAVING FLORIDA

Unclear whether Rooney intends to transfer, stop swimming (wouldn't be my first assumption, but SS suggestion in the article -- "He grew up swimming in California for the Pleasanton Seahawks, and is a dual citizen in the Philippines, meaning he could potentially represent the nation in the 2020 Olympics, if Monday's announcement is not the end of the road for his swim career."), or anything else.

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MAXIME ROONEY ANNOUNCES TRANSFER TO TEXAS FOR SENIOR SEASON

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wow. Disappointed that he has spurn Cal again.

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Swimming World Presents "Men's NCAA Division I Mini-Feature: Daniel Carr"



by LAUREN1

Second Chance Pays Off

In a four-day meet where Cal utterly dominated the NCAA of the meet happened 30 minutes after the Friday morning prelims session - when most of the swimmers, coaches and fans had returned to their respective hotels for an afternoon of rest. It was an ordeal that started with Cal coach Dave Durden emphatically gesticulating behind the blocks and ended one hour later with Durden on his back!

...

To read the full story of Daniel Carr's second chance swim at the NCAA D1 Champs, check out the May 2019 issue of Swimming World Magazine, available now!



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Cal's Golden Bears: The Complete Package



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PalyBear said:

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Ted Knapp quitting was inevitable yet still intriguing. Greg Meehan has shown the upside at Stanford given the right coach and by comparison the under-achievement of the mens team.

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HAWAI'I'S DAN SCHEMMEL NAMED NEW STANFORD MEN'S HEAD COACH


Schemmel comes to Stanford after three seasons at the helm of Hawai'i's program and five as an assistant at Wisconsin. Current photo via Stanford Athletics

Re-Ranking the Best NCAA Men's Swimmers in Division I From 1-25


24. Trenton Julian, Sophomore, Cal

2019 Times: 500, 4:11.30 (NCAA); 400 IM, 3:39.83 (NCAA)
Pre-season rank: 47

Julian was a huge role player for the Bears this year as he was the B-Final champ in the 500 and was fifth in the 400 IM. He also was sixth in the 200 fly as he helped Cal win its first national title since 2014.


22. Zheng Quah, Junior, Cal

2019 Times: 100 fly, 45.06 (NCAA); 200 fly, 1:39.29 (Georgia Invite)
Pre-season rank: 20

Zheng only managed to score in two events this season and was slightly off his Georgia Invite time in the 200 fly where he placed third overall. Zheng also finished sixth in the 100 fly as he was another member of Cal's incredibly deep National Championship team.


20. Daniel Carr, Sophomore, Cal

2019 Times: 100 back, 44.86 (NCAA); 200 back, 1:38.56 (NCAA)
Pre-season rank: NR

Carr was the talk of the meet after he was granted a re-swim in the 100 back preliminaries for turning on a starter wedge in his 100 back heat. He was able to qualify for the A-Final after one of the most memorable coach celebrations this decade. Carr ended up going slower in the 100 back final but also reached the A-Final with a fifth place swim in the 200 back, and swam on both of Cal's runner-up medley relays. He was also a B-finalist in the 200 IM.


18. Reece Whitley, Freshman, Cal

2019 Times: 100 breast, 51.11 (NCAA); 200 breast, 1:50.62 (Pac-12)
Pre-season rank: 17

The much anticipated collegiate debut for Whitley finally happened this year as he was an All-American in both of the breaststroke events, finishing fourth in the 100 and fifth in the 200. The two-time reigning Swimming World high school swimmer of the yearalso swam on both of Cal's runner-up medley relays and will certainly have a bright future with the Cal Golden Bears.


15. Ryan Hoffer, Sophomore, Cal

2019 Times: 50 free, 18.58 (NCAA); 100 fly, 45.04 (NCAA)
Pre-season rank: 19

Hoffer came out of high school as one of the most hyped prep swimmers ever after he was an 18.7 and 41.2 at Junior Nationals. He won his first individual NCAA title by swimming an 18.5 in the 50 this year and proved he could be the real deal moving forward. Hoffer faded a little bit the rest of the meet when he placed seventh in the 100 fly and sixth in the 100 free, but did swim on the lone winning relay for the Golden Bears. He swam the second leg for Cal's 200 free relay team that won the NCAA title.


8. Sean Grieshop, Sophomore, Cal

2019 Times: 500 free, 4:10.29 (NCAA); 400 IM, 3:37.03 (NCAA); 1650, 14:35.82 (NCAA)
Pre-season rank: 34

Grieshop improved big-time in his sophomore season as he was able to reach two A-Finals in the 400 IM and 500 and was fourth in the 1650 from the earlier heats. Grieshop was second in both the 400 IM and 500 after not reaching a single A-Final in 2018. He will continue his momentum to the World University Games this summer where he will swim the 400 IM in his second trip to the meet.


2. Andrew Seliskar, Senior, Cal

2019 Times: 200 IM, 1:38.14 (NCAA); 200 free, 1:30.14 (NCAA); 200 breast, 1:48.70 (NCAA)
Pre-season rank: 7

It is hard to believe Seliskar won his first individual title in 2019. After being so close for so many years, Seliskar finally broke through and won all three of his events. He swam the second fastest time ever in the 200 IM, moved up to third all-time in the 200 breast, and was fourth all-time in the 200 free. It was a dream season for the senior in his final collegiate meet that ended in a national title for the Golden Bears. Seliskar was named swimmer of the meet by the CSCAA and will now move on to professional swimmer, where he will be swimming for Team USA at the World Championships this summer in the 200 free.

In the absence of a writeup from SS or SW (thus far) on *Night 1* finals at the 2019 Speedo Grand Challenge @ William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center, Irvine, the live meet results can be perused here:

https://www.socalswim.org/live-results/2019GrandChallenge/

Note that only the top 4 finishers from morning heats qualify for the A final here, not the usual 8...

*Day 1* Prelims were reported here earlier: https://swimswam.com/47-year-old-steve-west-pops-104-99-100-br-lcm-at-nova-grand-challenge/


Some podium winners whose faces should be familiar to us here

*200m Free* - Seli (Champion!)...Long was 4th (not pictured)
https://instagr.am/p/Bx3ZGh3gWBi

*100m Breast* - Reece (Champion!)..Hoppe = 3rd
https://instagr.am/p/Bx3csJAArAC

UrsusArctosCalifornicus said:

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In the absence of a writeup from SS or SW (thus far) on *Night 1* finals at the 2019 Speedo Grand Challenge @ William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center, Irvine

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Now posted by SwimSwam

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GORBENKO SETS ISRAELI RECORD, SELISKAR GOES 1:47 FR/2:00 IM AT NOVA CHALLENGE



Meanwhile, Cal post-grad Andrew Seliskar put up some quick swims in the 200 free and 200 IM. These swims have placed Seliskar in the top 10 times in the US thus far and putting him on track for an even faster LCM championship season.

Seliskar's first swim was the 200 free, where he dropped nearly 3 seconds off his prelims time to win the super-final with a 1:47.88. This is now the 5th-fastest time swam by an American this year. He is also now just 2 seconds off his 2018 taper times, when he swam four 1:45s during Nationals/Pan Pacs last summer.

A few events later, Seliskar just missed cracking the 2-minute barrier in the 200 IM. The NCAA champ dropped almost 4 seconds from prelims to win the super-final with a 2:00.91, now the 8th-fastest time swam by an American this season. At the 2018 Santa Clara PSS, Seliskar put up a 2:01.89/2:02.71 in the event, putting this evening's swims ahead of his non-rested times last year.

Cal teammate Reece Whitley also flirted with a barrier-breaker in the 100 breast super-final, where he won with a 1:00.77. This is also Whitley's first LCM meet of the season, and he put up his 6th-fastest performance ever in the event. Whitley's time is now the 8th-fastest American time this season. The college rookie has yet to break a minute in this event, with his PB standing at 1:00.08 from the 2017 Junior World Championships.

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Very well-deserved honor for Seli

2019 SWAMMY AWARDS: NCAA MALE SWIMMER OF THE YEAR ANDREW SELISKAR



NCAA MALE SWIMMER OF THE YEAR: ANDREW SELISKAR, CALIFORNIA

2019 SWAMMY AWARDS: MEN'S NCAA COACH OF THE YEAR DAVE DURDEN



2019 MEN'S NCAA COACH OF THE YEAR: DAVE DURDEN, CAL

Dave Durden took the helm at Cal prior to the 2007-2008 season, and after initially finishing 4th at NCAAs each of his first two season, the Bears have been in the thick of the NCAA championship hunt every year since then, finishing in the top two each and every season.

Coming into the the 2018-2019, the Bears had been in a bit of a relative rough spot, having watched their arch-rival the Longhorns win each of the last four NCAA titles, but this year Durden coached Cal to a nearly-flawless performance that ranks among the greatest in NCAA history.

The team fired nearly on all cylinders. 13 of their 14 individual swimming qualifiers scored points, including ten different swimmers accounting for a total of 19 A-finals. The Bears had at least one A-finalist in every single swimming event, and earned multiple A-final spots in several events. The relays were on point too, with all five relays finishing in the top 3, and the 200 free relay earning 1st.

While Cal looked to have things decently in control after the second day, perhaps the biggest moment - and the one that Durden will forever be remembered for - came on the morning of the third day. Daniel Carr got to re-swim the 100 back after experiencing a malfunction with the starting system during prelims, and responded by dropping a 44.86 to earn a spot in the A-final. Durden was cheering Mefford on, going generally nuts, slipping and falling on the pool deck in his excitement, but looking none the worse for wear.

Perhaps the most telling stat about Cal's performance? Texas actually scored 26 more points in 2019 than they had when they won in 2018, but still lost by 85 points.

Matching honors for Dave & Teri -- love to see it! Great way for our Bears to end the year.

(Moved to the proper thread :p)