BERKELEY – A total of 14 Golden Bear swimmers and all five relays have earned invitations to the NCAA Championships, the NCAA announced on Wednesday.
 
The list of Cal swimmers who will travel to Athens, Georgia, for the national meet March 18-21 is:

• Keaton Blovad – 100 back, 200 back, 200 IM
• Sarah Darcel – 200 IM, 400 IM
• Sarah DiMeco – 1650 free
• Ali Harrison – 100 breast
• Isabel Ivey – 100 back, 100 fly, 200 IM
• Rachel Klinker – 200 fly
• Maddie Murphy – 50 free
• Courtney Mykkanen – 200 back
• Robin Neumann – 100 free, 200 free, 500 free
• Ema Rajic – 100 breast, 200 breast
• Eloise Riley – 50 free
• Ayla Spitz – 200 free, 500 free, 200 back
• Abbey Weitzeil – 50 free, 100 free, 200 free
• Alicia Wilson – 200 IM, 400 IM

The group includes four freshmen (DiMeco, Klinker, Riley, Spitz), three sophomores (Ivey, Rajic, Wilson), three juniors (Darcel, Harrison, Neumann) and four seniors (Blovad, Murphy, Mykkanen, Weitzeil). Three of the Bears qualified in the maximum individual three events – Blovad, Neumann and Weitzeil. Only Stanford and Virginia, with 15 invitees each, will have a higher number of representatives at NCAAs, and the total is Cal's highest since 15 swimmers were invited in 2015, the last time the Bears won the national title.
 
According to the NCAA psych sheet, Cal's contingent features 12 individuals ranked among the top 16, including Weitzeil, who will enter the championships as the No. 1 seed in both the 50 free and 200 free. She is the defending champion in the 50 free and lowered the American record to 20.90 seconds during a meet at Minnesota in December.
 
Every Cal relay is ranked among the top 5 – a statement only Virginia can also make. Last year, the Bears captured NCAA titles in the 200 free relay, 400 free relay and 400 medley relay, and they were the runner-up in the 800 free relay and 200 medley relay.
 
Qualifying for diving takes place March 9-11 at the NCAA Zone E Championships held in Federal Way, Washington.
 
Cal has placed among the top 3 at the NCAA Championships each of the past 11 years – the longest current streak in the country – winning national titles four times (2009, 2011, 2012 and 2015). The Bears have been the national runner-up each of the past three years.
 
ESPN3 will stream all four of the finals sessions, while prelims will be streamed through georgiadogs.com. A tape-delayed broadcast of the meet will air on ESPUN at 7 p.m. PT on Wednesday, April 1.