BERKELEY – Twelve Golden Bear swimmers plus all five relays have earned invitations to the NCAA Championships, the NCAA announced Wednesday.
 
The list of Cal swimmers who will compete at the national meet in Austin, Texas, March 20-23 is:

• Cassidy Bayer
• Amy Bilquist
• Keaton Blovad
• Sarah Darcel
• Ali Harrison
• Isabel Ivey
• Katie McLaughlin
• Maddie Murphy
• Robin Neumann
• Ema Rajic
• Abbey Weitzeil
• Alicia Wilson

The Bears' group features two seniors, three juniors, three sophomores and four freshmen. According to the NCAA psych sheet, Cal's contingent holds 17 swims that rank among the top 16 in the country, including three swimmers in three different events. Weitzeil leads the nation in the 100 free, while she is second in the 50 free and third in the 200 free. Bilquist is second in the 100 back, fifth in the 100 free and sixth in the 50 free, with McLaughlin fourth in the 100 fly, sixth in the 200 free and 12th in the 200 fly.
 
The Bears are the top seed in four of the five relays – 200, 400 and 800 free relay and 400 medley relay – and they are the fifth seed in the 200 medley relay.
 
Cal is coming off a second-place finish at the Pac-12 Championships, where they won nine of the 18 swimming events. In addition to sweeping all of the relays, Weitzeil captured the 50, 100 and 200 free and Bilquist touched first in the 100 back. The Bears' 400 free relay set an NCAA record with its time of 3:07.41, with Weitzeil breaking the Pac-12 record in the 50 free (21.16) and the Pac-12 meet record in the 100 free (46.35).
 
Qualifying for diving takes place March 11-13 at the NCAA Zone E Championships held in Flagstaff, Ariz.
 
Cal has placed among the top 3 at the NCAA Championships each of the past 10 years – the longest current streak in the country – winning national titles four times (2009, 2011, 2012 and 2015).

ESPN will provide live linear coverage for both Friday and Saturday finals on ESPNU, as well as digital coverage on ESPN3 for Wednesday and Thursday evening finals. All sessions not part of ESPN's broadcasts will be streamed live on the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships microsite at texassports.com.