Bear Insider Sunday Roundup
The latest in a long line of Cal swimming domination, Cal senior Andrew Seliskar added three more Pac-12 individual titles to run his Pac-12 career-leading total to 11 in yesterday’s Pac-12 championships. Seliskar will graduate holding the most individual Pac-12 titles in men’s swimming history. He also helped the Bears set the conference meet record in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 2:48.80, giving him 21 total victories at the Pac-12 Championships.
Seliskar wasn’t the only successful Bear in the pool, as the Bears notched their second straight Pac-12 men’s swimming title, tallying 948 points, easily outdistancing Stanford's 716 points. Arizona finished third with 570 points. Juniors Pawel Sendyk and Zheng Quah each added their second individual 2019 conference titles Saturday, with Sendyk just edging teammate Michael Jensen for a victory in the 100-yard freestyle and Quah winning the 200 butterfly for the second straight year.
The Cal women’s squad fared well last week, finishing second in the Pac-12 Championships behind a dominating performance by junior Abbey Weitzeil, who won three individual events, joining Seliskar in a sweep of men’s and women’s Pac-12 Swimmer of the Meet. The Bears also swept all five relay events in an impressive performance.
Also of note in Cal women’s swimming, Cal and Olympic Legend Natalie Coughlin was named to the Pac-12 Hall of Honor this week.
On the hardcourt, 2020 Cal forward signee DJ Thorpe -son of NBA legend Otis Thorpe is well on his way to recovery from surgery, as seen by this impressive dunk this week. Thorpe will be joining a recently resurgent Cal squad who bounced back from a historically futile streak of 15 straight conference losses before winning their last three over Pac-12 champ Washington, Washington State and Stanford -their first back-to-back road wins in Palo Alto in over three decades.
The Bears will square off against fifth-seeded Colorado (19-11/10-8) at 2:30 Wednesday in Las Vegas at the Pac-12 tournament. The Cal women bowed out in the second round of the women’s tournament with a loss to Stanford after defeating WSU in the first round. The Bears with their 19-12 (9-9) record will wait out tomorrow’s NCAA tournament brackets announcement to see if they make the tourney.
Cal baseball started slowly this season, losing their first three games before rebounding to win six of seven. They took their hot streak to Baton Rouge to face #9 LSU, taking one of three and narrowly missing a sweep after giving up late inning leads in the two losses. Returning national player of the year Andrew Vaughn is still crushing it, hitting .432 with seven home runs and 19 RBI in just 13 games for the Bears this season.
Cal women’s beach volleyball is off to a strong season at 7-1 and ranked #11 in the nation after a big win over Stanford this week.
In softball, Cal pitcher Zoe Conley recorded a no-hitter in Cal’s victory over St. Bonaventure. The Bears (16-7) stayed hot, winning their seventh straight abbreviated 5-inning game at their tournament in Hawaii. As a junior with no offers, Conley nearly quit softball till her dad convinced her to keep plugging away and the Bears’ offer came -the school of her dreams.
And last but not least, on the academic front, Cal ‘85 Nobel Laureate Frances Arnold celebrated her prestigious honor with a Top Dog in Berkeley after her honorary plaque was awarded. She knows her dogs, too!