California hits the road for the second straight competition to open the season when the Golden Bears travel to Corvallis for a dual meet at Oregon State that begins at 5 p.m. Friday afternoon. The event is the first of four straight duals for Cal, with the next three all coming at home against Washington State Oct. 21, Nevada Nov. 4 and Texas Nov. 11.

The Bears last ventured to Oregon State in the fall of 2013 and came away with a 161-95 decision with victories in all but one event. Senior Celina Li, racing as a freshman in her first dual, claimed two races - the 200-yard butterfly and the 200-yard breaststroke.

BEARS ON TV
Cal will make a pair of appearances on the Pac-12 Network this season, starting with the Bears' home meet vs. Stanford on Saturday, Feb. 11 from Spieker Aquatics Center. In addition, the network will broadcast action from all four days of the Pac-12 Championships Feb. 22-25.

BAKER CROWNED QUEEN OF THE POOL
Sophomore Kathleen Baker captured the Queen of the Pool title in Cal's season-opening meet Sept. 23 in San Luis Obispo. The unique competition, featuring teams from Cal and Cal Poly, tests the swimmers on versatility, with each person taking part in five 100-yard races - freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly, backstroke and individual medley. Times are combined, and the fastest overall is declared the queen. Baker's total time was 4:43.28, just ahead of senior Celina Li's 4:44.91. Li had earned the title each of her first three years with the Bears. Individually, freshman Abbey Weitzeil claimed the 100 free in 49.81 as well as the 100 breast in 1:04.56. Sophomore Amy Bilquist won the 100 back in 53.25, while Baker took the 100 fly (54.11) and the 100 IM (55.79).

LOOKING BACK AT 2015-16
In 2016, Cal earned its eighth consecutive top 3 finish at the NCAA Championships - the longest current streak in the country - with a third-place finish at the national meet. Rachel Bootsma completed her collegiate career as a three-time champion in the 100-yard backstroke, while the foursome of Farida Osman, Kristen Vredeveld, Valerie Hull and Amy Bilquist - all returnees for this season - captured the 200 free relay title. At the Pac-12 meet, Osman won both the 50 free and 100 butterfly, while Bilquist claimed the 200 back, with Osman, Vredeveld, Bootsma and Bilquist prevailing in the 200 free relay.

RIO RECAP: 8 MEDALS AT THE OLYMPICS
Ten current and former Bears qualified for the 2016 Olympics in Rio, and together they came home with an impressive eight medals. Two current members of the squad - Kathleen Baker and Abbey Weitzeil - certainly made their marks. Baker grabbed a silver medal in the 100-meter backstroke - the fourth consecutive Olympics a Cal swimmer has medaled in the event - and she took gold as part of the U.S. 400 medley relay. Weitzeil also gained her medals in relays with silver in the 400 free relay and gold for her role with the medley relay. Two other current Bears - senior Farida Osman (Egypt, 50 free, 100 fly) and junior Noemie Thomas (Canada, 100 fly, 400 medley relay) - also donned their country's colors in Rio.
Alum Dana Vollmer earned gold in the medley relay, silver in the 400 free relay and bronze in the 100 fly, while Missy Franklin took home gold in the 800 free relay. The others who competed were: Stephanie Au (Hong Kong), Lauren Boyle (New Zealand), Yvette Kong (Hong Kong) and Camille Cheng (Hong Kong).