One Day, Two Victories

Cal Defeats USC, UC San Diego In Pair Of Dual Meets

• USC Results (PDF)
• UC San Diego Results (PDF)

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Division I Meet of the Week: Cal, Stanford Men Gear Up for Rivalry



The Cal-Stanford rivalry saw a good dual meet by the women's teams last week, now this week, it is time for the men's meet, which is also the Division I Meet of the Week.

The women's rivalry has been a little closer of late, with Stanford and Cal being ranked as the top two teams for much of the past three seasons. They were both top five teams according to the latest College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of American (CSCAA) poll.

The Cal men are the defending NCAA champions and currently ranked No. 2 in the CSCAA poll. Stanford is ranked No. 19.

But no matter where the rankings are, this is perhaps the best college rivalry in swimming, which is why it is an easy choice for Division I Meet of the Week.

• Both teams are extremely close in proximity, have Olympic coaches running the program, have an academically elite school and produce elite swimmers on a regular basis.
• Both teams are undefeated in dual meets.
• Both teams are coming off of a win over No. 18 USC.

Stanford's Benjamin Ho won three events, highlighted by a win in the 100-yard backstroke (48.21) while also contributing to victories in the 200-yard medley relay (1:28.39) and 200-yard freestyle relay (1:22.32).
Alex Liang chipped in with two individual victories, winning the 200-yard backstroke (1:47.29) and 200-yard individual medley (1:49.65).

Cal is coming off of a double win, topping No. 18 USC, and UC-San Diego, the top team in Division II.
Zheng Quah and Reece Whitley anchored Cal's performance with 18 points apiece. Quah won both butterfly events, touching the wall in 46.76 in the 100 fly and 1:43.95 in the 200 fly, while Whitley swept the breaststroke races (53.22 in the 100 breast; 1:54.64 in the 200 breast). Both swimmers also won the 200 medley relay as they paired with Daniel Carr and Michael Jensen for a 1:26.11 finish.

Other individual victories over USC were earned by Sean Grieshop in the 500 free (4:24.65), Ryan Hoffer in the 50 free (19.64), Jensen in the 100 free (44.41), Trenton Julian in the 1000 free (9:02.88) and Bryce Mefford in the 100 back (47.18).

The Golden Bears are definitely the favorite on paper, but that won't take away any of the excitement heading into this rivalry in the Division I Meet of the Week.

Ryan Hoffer Leads Cal Sprint Group In Search of Repeat Title

HBear said:

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Division I Meet of the Week: Cal, Stanford Men Gear Up for Rivalry

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QUAH CLOCKS 45.8 100 FL, WHITLEY POSTS 1:52.7 200 BR AS CAL BEATS STANFORD



CAL VS. STANFORD

• Full Results

TEAM SCORES

• CAL: 198
• STANFORD: 98

The Cal Bears and Stanford Cardinal gathered in Palo Alto for one last dual meet of the season ahead of the Pac-12 Championships. The reigning NCAA Champion Bears brought home another win by 100 points.

BRBear said:

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Quah, Gonzalez, Carr, Whitley, Julian, Hoffer, Sendyk, Grieshop, Arvidsson, Louser, Jhong, Mefford, and Jensen pretty much definitely in, Young more towards the bubble but most likely in. Everyone else out. 14 total, Callahan maybe makes 15.

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2020 NCAA MEN'S DIVISION I SWIMMING PRE-SELECTION PSYCH SHEETS DROP



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PROJECTING THE CUTLINE 2020 NCAA MEN'S DIVISION I CHAMPIONSHIPS

As expected, all 14 Bears make the cut for the NCAA Championships set to commence in Indy in just a few weeks - Wednesday, March 25 Saturday, March 28, 2020.

A quick scan of the pre-selection psych sheets looks to have the Bears swimming the following events...
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Karl Arvidsson: 100 Breast, 200 Breast
Daniel Carr: 200 IM, 100 Back, 200 Back
Hugo Gonzalez: 200 IM, 400 IM, 200 Breast
Sean Grieshop: 500 Free, 400 IM, 1650 Free
Ryan Hoffer: 50 Free, 100 Fly, 100 Free
Michael Jensen: 50 Free, 100 Fly, 100 Free
Chris Jhong: 200 IM, 400 IM, 1650 Free
Trenton Julian: 500 Free, 400 IM, 200 Fly
Jason Louser: 200 IM, 400 IM, 200 Breast
Bryce Mefford: 200 IM, 200 Free, 200 Back
Zheng Quah: 200 IM, 100 Fly, 200 Fly
Pawel Sendyk: 50 Free, 100 Fly, 100 Free
Reece Whitley: 200 IM, 100 Breast, 200 Breast
Ethan Young: 100 Back, 200 Back

Thanks for the summary. Confused about Young's (46.05 100 Back) and the Bears' (3:02.63) 400 Medley Relay seeds. Can't trace either back to the Minnesota Invitational or Pacs (Bears DQed in the 400 Medley), so both must come from unreported (Sunday?) time trials. If so, would be odd that Hugo didn't time trial the 200 IM (DQ at Pacs) too. He has a horrible seed (1:45.44, 66th) for NCAAs and will be swimming "blind' in the early heats to move on into scoring range. His 200 IM seed came from the 'Zona meet when he was unsuited. Would have a much better chance in scoring in the 200 Breast where he'd be seeded 4th at NCAAs.

BearDevil said:

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Thanks for the summary. Confused about Young's (46.05 100 Back) and the Bears' (3:02.63) 400 Medley Relay seeds. Can't trace either back to the Minnesota Invitational or Pacs (Bears DQed in the 400 Medley), so both must come from unreported (Sunday?) time trials. If so, would be odd that Hugo didn't time trial the 200 IM (DQ at Pacs) too. He has a horrible seed (1:45.44, 66th) for NCAAs and will be swimming "blind' in the early heats to move on into scoring range. His 200 IM seed came from the 'Zona meet when he was unsuited. Would have a much better chance in scoring in the 200 Breast where he'd be seeded 4th at NCAAs.

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Ethan Young's 46.05 comes from Pac-12s; the relay was DQed but his leadoff split still counts. I'm pretty sure that 3:02 comes from the relay time (though it shouldn't, since DQ), but someone else can confirm.

AFAIK, Cal men didn't time trial on Sunday after the meet, but I could be wrong on this, too.

Agreed that Hugo's swim in the early heats will be a little inconvenient, but hope he'll do great with or without the later-heat knowledge. As you mentioned, with such a strong seed/time trial result, he will be swimming in the 2 BR on top of both IM races.

SCORING OUT THE 2020 NCAA MEN'S D1 PRE-SELECTION PSYCH SHEETS

2019 PERFORMANCE
The other factor, of course, is how well teams hold their seeds at NCAAs. Here are the teams that moved the most from seed at last year's NCAA meet, in swimming points only:

Biggest risers:

• California: +158
• Harvard: +83
• Texas: +80
• NC State: +54

Biggest fallers:

• Michigan: -135
• Tennessee: -90
• Florida: -81
• Alabama: -50.5
• Missouri: -49.5

PSYCH SHEET SCORING, 2020 NCAA MEN'S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS SWIMMING ONLY

Psych sheet scoring has Texas leading Cal by 32.5 points. Texas also scored 84 diving points last year to Cal's zero, and look perhaps stronger in diving this year. On the other hand, Cal outperformed its seeds by a huge margin last year, almost double what Texas did.

• 1 - Texas - 474.5
• 2 - California - 442
• 3 - Florida - 269
• 4 - Indiana - 251.5
• 5 - Michigan - 249.5
• 6 - Texas A&M - 243.33
• 7 - Arizona State - 178
• 8 - Alabama - 177
• 8 - NC State - 177
• 10 - Louisville - 176.5

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Ranks based on seeded swims only. Texas has qualified a whopping five divers so far...

Did the psych sheets take into account the "lost" 40 points for Cal's DQ in the 400 Medley Relay? GO BEARS!

Schroeder71 said:

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Did the psych sheets take into account the "lost" 40 points for Cal's DQ in the 400 Medley Relay? GO BEARS!

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Cal's 400 MR team is still seeded 4th off their time swam
in Minnesota earlier this year.

"Texas has qualified a whopping five divers so far... "

According to SwimSwam, Texas is taking 14 swimmers and four divers. Texas will be the favorite based on their massive diving points edge.

BIG TEN 200 FLY A-FINALIST KAI BATHURST ANNOUNCES TRANSFER FROM INDIANA TO CAL

After one season with the Indiana Hoosiers, California native Kai Bathurst has announced his transfer to the University of California, Berkeley. He should have three years of eligibility remaining with the Golden Bears.

Quote:

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I'm super stoked to announce my transfer to swim at the University of California, Berkeley. I wanna thank all my coaches, friends and family that helped me get here. Go bears!

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TOP TIMES (SCY)

• 50 free 20.72 (from high school)
• 100 free 44.53
• 200 free 1:35.85
• 500 free 4:21.50
• 100 fly 49.72 (from high school)
• 200 fly 1:44.45
• 200 IM 1:49.55 (from high school)

On June 14, SwimSwam reported on Bathurst entering the NCAA transfer portal alongside Andrew Couchon, a rising junior who has yet to announce his post-IU plans. You can read about the recent IU departures here.
Bathurst dropped over four seconds in the 200 fly and over three in the 500 free in his one season with the Hoosiers. He also made small improvements in the 100 and 200 free. At the 2020 Big Ten Championships, Bathurst made the 200 fly A-final and placed eighth overall, while adding B-final appearances in the 200 and 500 free. Bathurst ended the 2019-20 season ranked third on IU's roster in all three events that he swam at the Big Ten Championships, although he didn't swim on any relays at that meet.

Prior to IU, Bathurst trained with Beach Cities Swimming and swam for Mira Costa High School in Los Angeles County. He was the 2019 CIF Southern Section Division 2 champion in the 200 free.

Bathurst would've ranked third in the 200 fly and sixth in the 200 free on Cal's top times list last season. Cal is graduating mid-distance phenom Zheng Quah (1:33.3 free, 1:38.8 fly), while Trenton Julian (1:33.1 free/1:40.6 fly) has just one year left with the Bears.

Cal is bringing in the SwimSwam-ranked #4 class in the country, and Bathurst's addition alongside that class with strengthen the Bears' depth.