BERKELEY – California opens its 2022-23 men's swimming & diving campaign with the annual King of the Pool meet at Cal Poly on Friday morning. The unique pentathlon meet will feature each swimmer taking part in five 100-yard races, including butterfly, breaststroke, individual medley, backstroke, and freestyle. The swimmer with the best combined time from each school will be crowned king of the pool.
 
The action starts at 11 a.m. PT at the Anderson Aquatics Center in San Luis Obispo, California.
 
CAN'T WAIT TO BE KING
Seven Bears have been crowned the King of the Pool from 2010-21. Previous winners include three-time winner Marcin Tarczynski (2010-12), Ryan Murphy (2013), Will Hamilton (2014), Matthew Josa (2017), Andrew Seliskar (2018), Zheng Quah (2019), and Hugo Gonzalez (2021).
 
REIGNING CHAMPS
Cal won its seventh national championship last spring and is looking to add to its collection of titles. Cal brings back a wealth of experience from last year's championship squad, including 14 of the 18 swimmers who competed in the NCAA Championship. Back for the Bears are Jack Alexy, Liam Bell, Hugo González, Robin Hanson, Dylan Hawk, Gabriel Jett, Tyler Kopp, Destin Lasco, Jason Louser, Colby Mefford, Dare Rose, Björn Seeliger, Sebastian Somerset, and Reece Whitley.
 
THEY'RE BACK
Three standout Bears – González, Whitley, and Chris Jhong – are back for another tour of duty after electing to use an NCAA waiver to compete collegiately for a fifth year. The trio has a combined 30 All-America certificates, 14 Pac-12 titles, and three individual NCAA Championships while having led Cal to the 2019 and 2021 NCAA team titles and four consecutive Pac-12 team titles dating back to 2019.
 
NEW FACES
The Bears added five freshmen and three transfers to its championship squad. The freshman class includes Matthew Chai, Colby Hatton, Luca Putasteri Gissendaner, Hank Rivers, and Tommy Roder. Transfers include Luke Rodarte from Cal Lutheran and a pair of Michigan transfer's Patrick Callan and Bora Unalmis.
 
STAY POSTED
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