UrsusArctosCalifornicus said:

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This year saw a deep Texas team do it without winning a single individual swimming event (in all fairness, they did come out on top in 2 relays + 1 diving event) ... also to UT's credit, all 20 of Eddie Reese's NCAA crew scored, which is quite a testimony to their depth. In comparison 3 of the 15 strong Bears squad didn't quite make it to finals (Jr Jhong, So Somerset & Fr Kopp).

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Swimming does not have to be good as long as they have the depth and us giving up 83 pts in diving to our zilch. We need to get new divers to go with our new training facility! Is it just that Cal doesn't want to offer the money for divers? Are we looking to entice any foreign divers to come to CAL.

There just aren't many club diving teams for kids out there. The two main teams in the Bay Area are in Santa Clara and Walnut Creek. High schools struggle to even field a diving team, many don't have any at all. Most of the divers that compete in high school are either former gymnasts (that were injured), or just people that enjoy the sport. There are very few actual club/year-round diving teams, like there are with swim teams, soccer clubs, baseball, basketball and football teams, etc.

It's a great sport for kids to get into if they want to play a sport in college, not a lot of competition out there (in terms of sheer number of divers.)

I think the Junior University has a pretty substantial age group diving program.

OK, so there are three or so real/significant USA Diving/year-round diving programs in the Bay Area. How many kids are on each team? Not many. Bay Area high schools struggle to find kids to field a diving team. MOST do not have a team at all due to lack of interest/participation. Now, compare that to summer league swimming in the Bay Area, or to USSwimming Teams. Or, soccer clubs. Or...teams for other sports. The numbers of people playing those sports are incredible and competition for a chance to play in college is FIERCE. There just aren't many divers out there these days, there is little competition, especially when compared to other sports. So, if you're a top diver, you have your choice of where to go to school...and most want to go somewhere that will enable them to continue to develop you for the Olympics, or whatever their goal is.

Maybe we could hire a Chinese diving coach and bring in just 1-2 divers from China. With our international academic reputation and China's diving depth it should be possible. We literally only need 1-2 per team (M&W)

GONZALEZ WREAKS HAVOC ON MEN'S 200 IM FIELD FOR GOLD, SPANISH RECORD

2021 LEN EUROPEAN AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

• MEN'S 200 IM FINAL

Hugo Gonzalez continues to perform unbelievably here in Budapest, closing in a scintillating 27.76 to win the men's 200 IM in a time of 1:56.76.

After already nailing 100m backstroke silver earlier in the session, the 22-year-old Cal Bear scorched a 200m IM mark of 1:56.76 to edge out the Swiss defending European champion Jeremy Desplanches.

Gonzalez demolishes his Spanish Record (1:58.03) by well over a second in 1:56.76, and falls just a tenth shy of the nine-year-old Championship Record.

That Spanish national record was produced in April of 2018, which means Gonzalez dropped well over a second in about 3 years, with most of the differential coming in the backstroke portion.

This super quick 1:56.76 was formed via 25.54/29.60 (55.14)/33.86/27.76 (1:01.62).

Gonzalez is now the 16th fastest 200m IM performer of all-time worldwide, as well as the 6th fastest European ever with his gold medal-worthy result.

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• MEN'S 100 BACK FINAL

Romanian Robert Glinta charged down the last few meters to emerge victorious in a razor-thin men's 100 backstroke final, edging Spaniard Hugo Gonzalez by .02 to win the gold medal in a time of 52.88.

Gonzalez puts up a blistering 52.90 PB for silver, closing in a blazing 26.98

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• UPDATES =>

Gonzalez Shines At European Championships



Hugo Gonzalez Wins Three Medals, Highlights Cal Trio Competing In Budapest

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CAL ALL-AMERICAN TRENTON JULIAN WILL RETURN FOR 5TH YEAR AT CAL



NCAA 200 yard butterfly runner-up Trenton Julian has announced that he will return to Cal for a "Super Senior" season. Julian is one of a number of Division I swimmers and divers who are taking advantage of an NCAA waiver next season that allows swimmers who competed in the 2020-2021 season to use an extra year of eligibility.

Julian says that it made sense for him to return, because he has a semester left en route to his undergraduate degree. He will then work on a certificate program in the spring.

"I'm looking forward to getting a more normal year of training with the team and working towards a National title for one last time," Julian told SwimSwam.

Last year, at the NCAA Championship meet, Julian scored 48 individual points via a trio of top four individual finishes. That made him the 8th-highest scorer of the meet and the third-highest scorer of the Cal team that placed 2nd overall.

Very few senior men from among the NCAA's top teams have announced so far that they'll take advantage of this rule (4 Indiana Hoosiers are the notable exception).

Julian's return helps Cal balance out a big 5th year announcement from Jordan Windle, a diver at the University of Texas, who scored 52 points at the NCAA Championships.

Cal and Texas have been the top two programs in the NCAA for the last decade. Since 2010, the two teams have occupied 21 of the 22 top 2 finishes at the NCAA Men's Championship meets.

Athletes who return for a 5th year in the 2021-2022 season won't have their scholarships counted against teams' limits, though those scholarships will still have to be paid for. While athletes from all classes who participated in the 2020-2021 season can use a 5th year, in future seasons that will mean counting their scholarships against a team's limit: 9.9 per team for men and 14 per team for women.

CAL ALL-AMERICAN DANIEL CARR WILL RETURN FOR 5TH SEASON OF NCAA ELIGIBILITY



A second Cal NCAA All-American swimmer, Daniel Carr, has confirmed to SwimSwam that he will return for a 5th season of collegiate swimming. Carr joins Trenton Julian, the NCAA runner-up last season in the 200 fly, in returning for the Golden Bears.

Carr scored 25 individual points at last year's NCAA Championships via three scoring individual finishes.

Carr's sprint freestyles have really developed later in his career at Cal, where he's given a boost to what has been the country's top sprint freestyle group in the last few seasons.

At last season's NCAA Championship meet, Cal had 222 individual points scored by seniors more than any other team in the country. Their top earner, 60-point scorer Ryan Hoffer, has turned pro and joined the DC Trident of the International Swimming League. The return of a combined 73 points from Julian and Carr, however, helps soften that blow.

Other scoring seniors Bryce Mefford (36 points), Sean Grieshop (31 points), and Zach Yeadon (22 points) have not announced what their plans are for next season.

CAL MEN ADD 2 MORE BIG 5TH YEAR ADDITIONS: SEAN GRIESHOP AND WILL ROBERTS



The Cal men's outlook for the 2021-2022 season has improved dramatically in the last few weeks, with two more All-Americans announcing that they will take advantage of the NCAA 5th year rule next season.

One is Sean Grieshop, who has raced for Cal for his 4 prior seasons of collegiate season. The other is Will Roberts, who swam his first 4 years of school at Michigan, but will transfer to Cal to use the 5th year.

The other big names that Cal is awaiting decisions from are Zach Yeadon, who scored 22 points at NCAAs last year, and Bryce Mefford, who scored 36 points at NCAAs last year. Mefford told SwimSwam on Monday that he was waiting to make his decision until after the upcoming Olympic Games, where he is qualified to race as the 2nd American in the 200 back behind another Cal Bear, Ryan Murphy.

The Cal Golden Bears placed 2nd at the 2021 NCAA Championship meet after winning the last pre-pandemic title in 2019. The Cal men have finished in the top 2 of the last 11 NCAA Championship meets.