2019 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
MARCH 27-30 | PRELIMS 8 A.M.; FINALS 4 P.M. (PT) | LEE & JOE JAMAIL TEXAS SWIMMING CENTER | AUSTIN, TEXAS
LIVE VIDEO (PRELIMS) | LIVE VIDEO (FINALS) | LIVE RESULTS (SWIMMING) | LIVE RESULTS (DIVING)



The Cal men's swimming and diving team has its eye on the ultimate prize as it heads to Austin, Texas for the 2019 NCAA Championships. The meet begins Wednesday at the Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center with the 800 freestyle relay and continues through Saturday.

The Bears, who won three out of four national championships between 2011 and 2014, have finished in second place in each of the past four seasons. With a deep, experienced and talented group of 16 student-athletes heading to Austin this season, Cal appears poised to make a run at the top spot once again.

Leading thew way for the Bears is senior All-American Andrew Seliskar, who holds down the top seed in three different events with the best time int he country this season in the 200 individual medley, 200 freestyle and 200 breaststroke. He was named Pac-12 Swimmer of the Meet earlier this month for the third time in four years as Cal won its second straight conference title with the most lopsided margin of victory since 2007.

Senior MIke Thomas and juniors Zheng Wen Quah and Pawel Sendyk each qualified for two events, with Quah entering as the No. 2 seed in the 200 butterfly and Thomas ranked second in the 400 individual medley. Sendyk is the No. 3 seed in the 50 freestyle.

Freshman Reece Whitley is a top-5 seed in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke while the Bears qualified all five of their relay teams, with three of them earning top-5 seeds.

THE NCAA CONTINGENT
Fourteen swimmers and two divers will compete in Austin as part of the Bears' NCAA crew. The following is a complete list, with swims seeded in the top-16 nationally noted in parentheses:

• Karl Arvidsson – 200 breaststroke (9)
• Connor Callahan – 1-meter, 3-meter and platform diving
• Daniel Carr – 100 backstroke, 200 backstroke (7)
• Sean Grieshop – 500 freestyle, 400 individual medley (9)
• Ryan Hoffer – 50 freestyle (7), 100 freestyle, 100 butterfly
• Michael Jensen – 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle (11)
• Trenton Julian – 500 freestyle and 200 butterfly
• Bryce Mefford – 100 backstroke, 200 backstroke (5)
• Nick Norman – 500 freestyle and 1,650 freestyle (6)
• Zheng Wen Quah – 200 individual medley, 100 butterfly (7) and 200 butterfly (2)
• Johnny Robinson – platform diving
• Carson Sand – 100 breaststroke
• Andrew Seliskar – 200 individual medley (1), 200 freestyle (1), 200 breaststroke (1)
• Pawel Sendyk – 50 freestyle (3), 100 freestyle (8), 100 butterfly (13)
• Mike Thomas – 200 individual medley (14), 400 individual medley (2), 200 butterfly (11)
• Reece Whitley – 100 breaststroke (4), 200 breaststroke (3)

HOW TO FOLLOW
All preliminary rounds will be streamed live by texassports.com. All finals will air on ESPN3. Links to both can be found on CalBears.com

BEARS WIN SECOND STRAIGHT PAC-12 TITLE
The Bears didn't just win their second consecutive Pac-12 title earlier this month in Federal Way, Wash. They dominated the rest of the field so much that their 948 total team points was 232 more than their closest pursuer Stanford, who finished with 716 points. That's the largest margin of victory at the Pac-12 Championships since 2007. Senior Andrew Seliskar was named the Swimmer of the Meet for the second year in a row and the third time during his four years at Cal. He also finished the meet with 11 career individual titles - tied for most all-time with former Stanford legend Jenny Thompson. 

NCAA DOMINANCE
The Bears have been in the hunt for the national championship every year for a near-decade, having finished in the top-two in each of the past nine seasons. In head coach David Durden's 11 years at Cal, the Bears have captured a total of 39 individual or relay NCAA championships.

SELISKAR RACKS UP HONORS
Senior Andrew Seliskar has kept the Pac-12 office busy this season with his exceptional performance, having won the past two Pac-12 Swimmer of the Week awards and Pac-12 Swimmer of the Month in December. Seliskar took the monthly honor after winning five titles at the Georgia Fall Invitational and setting six NCAA "A" qualifying times. He was named Swimmer of the Week for his work in dual meets against USC and Stanford, winning a combined five individual races in four different strokes.

INTERNATIONAL EXCELLENCE
The month of December will be remembered for one of the most noteworthy announcements in Cal Aquatics and Cal Athletics history as head coach David Durden was named by USA Swimming to serve as head coach of the United States men's team at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. Having served as an assistant at the 2016 Rio Olympics where Cal swimmers combined to earn 11 medals, Durden has kept Cal Aquatics at the forefront of international competition with tremendous performances by Golden Bears at both the 2018 Phillips 66 National Championships and the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships in Tokyo. Durden is the eighth Cal coach to be selected as Olympic head coach for the United States and will add the honor to a resume that already includes head coaching duties at the 2017 and 2015 FINA World Championships.

ACADEMIC HONORS
The Bears were named a Scholar All-America team by the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association earlier this season. It marked the third semester in a row that Cal has earned Scholar All-America honors as a team as the squad registered a team GPA of 3.05. That success followed a spring semester in which 10 Golden Bears earned Pac-12 All-Academic honors and Cal was awarded Scholar All-America team honors for the entire season.