Bears Host Stanford In Final Home Dual

Bears Host Stanford In Final Home Dual

Match-Up Features Two Of The Top Teams In The Country

California vs. Stanford
Saturday, Feb. 16 | 12:00 NOON | Spieker Aquatics Complex | Berkeley
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Cal and Stanford, two teams that have combined for six of the past 10 NCAA championships, meet in their annual end-of-the-season dual at noon Saturday at Spieker Aquatics Center in Berkeley. The match-up will be televised live by the Pac-12 Networks with Joe Castellano and Amy Van Dyken calling the action.

The Golden Bears earned their national titles in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2015, while the Cardinal has prevailed at the NCAA met the last two years. The schools have also captured nine of the last Pac-12 crowns - four by Cal and five by Stanford.

The Bears last won the dual meet in 2015, a 158-142 decision in Berkeley, while Stanford claimed the event last year, 186-110. In the 2018 meet, Cal set a pair of school dual records - Abbey Weitzeil in the 50 free (22.04, since broken) and the 200 free relay of Maddie Murphy, Weitzeil, Katie McLaughlin and Amy Bilquist (1:28.36).

Following this week's meet, Cal heads to Washington for the Pac-12 Championships Feb. 27-March 2 and the NCAA Championships March 20-23 in Austin, Texas.

• LAST TIME OUT: BEARS TAKE CARE OF USC, UCLA
Cal swept the Los Angeles schools on a cool, rainy weekend Feb. 1-2 in Berkeley, topping USC, 170-129, before downing UCLA, 167-130. Against the Trojans, the Bears claimed 10 of 16 races and, perhaps just as importantly, posted six 1-2 finishes, including two races - the 100 and 200 fly - where they took the first three spots. A day later vs. the Bruins, eight different Golden Bears earned individual wins and Cal swept both relays en route to the victory.

• ACADEMIC HONORS ROLL IN FOR BEARS
With a 3.43 GPA for the fall semester, Cal has been named a CSCAA Scholar All-America team for the 18th consecutive semester - every time the coaching association has presented the award. The announcement comes of the heels of a fall release that showed the Bears with a 100% Graduation Success Rate, according to the most recent NCAA data. The women's swimming & diving team also claimed the athletic department's Newmark Award for having the highest GPA among all 30 Golden Bear programs with a 3.429 GPA for the 2017-18 academic year.

• WEITZEIL SETS CAL POOL, DUAL-MEET RECORD IN 50 FREE
Abbey Weitzeil sprinted to a time of 21.92 in the 50 free vs. USC Feb. 1 to set the Spieker Aquatics Complex record as well as lower her own Cal dual-meet mark. Weitzeil's time broke the pool record of 21.97 by Simone Manual of Stanford in 2018. Last year, Weitzeil established the Cal dual-meet record by swimming 22.04 at Stanford. She then matched the time earlier this season vs. Texas. Weitzeil is the American-record holder in the 50 free with a best of 21.12 from 2016, and she is the nation's leader this season in both the 50 (21.46) and 100 (school-record 46.49) free.

• KATIE MCLAUGHLIN TABBED PAC-12 SWIMMER OF THE WEEK FOR JAN. 21-27
Senior Katie McLaughlin was named Pac-12 Swimmer of the Week after leading Cal to a pair of dual-meet wins at Arizona State and Arizona Jan. 25-26. Over the two days of swimming, she won five different individual events - the 200 fly and 500 free at ASU, and the 100 and 200 free, and 100 fly at Arizona - all by more than a full second. She also helped the Bears to three relay victories. Her splits on the 200 medley relay at Arizona State (23.42 fly) and 400 free relay at Arizona (48.86) were both the fastest of all swimmers.

• ABBEY WEITZEIL NAMED PAC-12 SWIMMER OF THE MONTH FOR NOVEMBER
After posting NCAA-leading times in the 50 (21.46) and 100 free (46.49), including a school record in the 100, at the Georgia Fall Invitational, junior Abbey Weitzeil was named the Pac-12 Swimmer of the Month for November. In addition, she tied her own Cal dual-meet record in the 50 free (22.04) and won the 100 free in a meet with Texas on Nov. 10, and set a pool record in the 100 free (49.42) in a dual at Washington State Nov. 3.

• BEARS ON THE NCAA BEST-TIMES LIST
Heading into this week's action, Cal has 14 individual swims, plus all five relays, ranked among the top 16 on the NCAA best-times list. Abbey Weitzeil leads the nation in the 50 free and 100 free, while she is seventh in the 200 free. Senior Katie McLaughlin appears in the top 16 in four events - 100 free (16th), 200 free (16th), 100 fly (12th) and 200 fly (9th). Sophomore Robin Neumann (4th, 200 free; 14th, 500 free), junior Keaton Blovad (14th, 100 back; 13th, 200 IM), sophomore Sarah Darcel (15th, 200 IM; 16th, 400 IM) and freshman Alicia Wilson (11th, 200 IM) round out the Cal individuals. The Bears are also the only school in the country to have all five relays ranked among the top three. The 200 free relay, 400 free relay, 200 medley relay and 400 medley relay are all second, with the 800 free relay coming in third.

• GOLDEN BEAR TRIO ON WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS TEAM
Three Golden Bears will be on the U.S. team for the 2019 World Championships in South Korea - Katie McLaughlin, Abbey Weitzeil and Kathleen Baker. McLaughlin, who will swim the 100-meter fly, returns to Worlds for the first time since 2015 when she earned gold in the 800 free relay. Weitzeil will be competing in her third World Championships, which included a bronze medal in the 400 free relay in 2015, and will swim the 50 free and on the 400 free relay. Baker is one of three swimmers on the roster to qualify in four events - 50, 100 and 200 back and 200 IM - and she will likely be on the medley relay. She earned three medals at the 2017 world meet - gold (400 medley relay), silver (100 back) and bronze (200 back).

• GOLDEN BEAR NOTES ...
Former Cal swimmer Kathleen Baker, who set a world record in the 100-meter back over the summer, earned a Golden Goggle Award for Female Race of the Year. Katie McLaughlin (Perseverance Award) and Teri McKeever (Coach of the Year) were also nominated ... Cal has finished among the top 3 at the NCAA Championships the last 10 consecutive years - the longest current streak in the country. Included in the stretch are NCAA titles in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2015 ... head coach Teri McKeever was inducted into the Cal Athletic Hall of Fame this past fall.


 
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