June 13, 2007
BERKELEY, CALIF. -
After amassing a school-record 13 national titles this year - including two team championships, eight individual crowns and three victorious relays - the University of California Athletic Department will be recognizing its 2006-07 national champions with its second annual National Championship Week, slated for Sept. 17-22, 2007.
Cal National Championship History
The Golden Bears captured a pair of national team titles with Cal's men's water polo winning its NCAA-record 12th crown and the Bears' rugby squad capturing its 23rd overall title. Individually, junior Alysia Johnson won both the NCAA indoor and outdoor 800-meter run in track & field, and junior Tim McNeill was the NCAA men's gymnastics champion in the pommel horse and the parallel bars. In swimming, sophomore Dana Vollmer placed first in the 100-yard butterfly, sophomore Jessica Hardy won the 100-yard breaststroke and senior Patrick O'Neil was the national champion in the 200-yard butterfly. Senior Kelechi Anyanwu was the women's discus champion at the NCAA track & field championships.
The Cal women's swimming team also recorded three relay titles at the NCAA meet, topping the field in the 400-yard freestyle relay, the 800-yard freestyle relay and the 400-yard medley relay - all in America-record times.
A series of events have been planned to celebrate these extraordinary achievements, culminating with activities during the Sept. 22 Arizona-Cal football game at Memorial Stadium.
"In collegiate athletics, a national championship is the ultimate accomplishment and comes as a result of years of hard work, determination and perseverance," said Director of Athletics Sandy Barbour. "Establishing a National Championship Week is our way of publicly recognizing these tremendous achievements and formally offering our congratulations to the coaches, student-athletes and staff who helped make them come true."
To offer year-round acknowledgement, national championship corners, complete with photos, trophies and other memorabilia, will be established in the display cases both at Haas Pavilion and in the Memorial Stadium Hall of Fame Room. On Tuesday, Sept. 18, Barbour will unveil the national championship corner in the Hall of Fame Room. In addition, a video display highlighting the titles will run continuously on the first floor of Haas Pavilion, just outside the Athletic Development Office, and will be featured on CalBears.com.
Among the other events scheduled are: a Coaches' Round Table on Tuesday night that will provide a forum for the championship coaches to share their experiences, and a celebratory reception hosted by Chancellor Robert Birgeneau at University House on campus Thursday afternoon. On Saturday, there will be a national champion poster giveaway and autograph session at Cal Fan Fest on Maxwell Family Field prior to the Arizona-Cal football game. During the game, the champions will be introduced at halftime.
In its history, Cal has now claimed 74 national team titles in 13 different sports and 159 individual, relay and doubles titles. In all, Golden Bear student-athletes have won 124 national titles in men's and women's track & field, men's and women's tennis, men's gymnastics, men's and women's swimming and women's golf. Cal also has 22 national relay titles in track & field and swimming, and 13 national titles in tennis doubles.
The Bears' 2006 men's water polo team, coached by Kirk Everist, finished 31-4 and defeated USC, 7-6, on junior Jeff Tyrrell's last-second shot in the NCAA finals, held Dec. 3 at Loyola Marymount. Junior goalie Mark Sheredy was named NCAA Tournament MVP, and senior John Mann was the recipient of the Peter J. Cutino Award as the nation's top male collegiate water polo player.
Cal rugby captured its 23rd collegiate crown, and 15th in the past 16 years, with a 37-7 decision over BYU May 5 at Stanford. Sophomore outside center Colin Hawley was named tournament MVP as the 25-1 Bears defeated the Cougars in the national title match for the second year in a row. Head coach Jack Clark won his 19th national crown as the leader of Cal rugby.
At the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, held June 6-9 at Sacramento State's Hornet Stadium, Johnson ran a school-record 1:59.29 to win the NCAA 800-meter run and Anyanwu produced a school-record 188-11 (57.58 meters) to win the NCAA discus to help the Bear women to a program-best eighth-place national finish. Johnson's time was the second-fastest 800 ever at an NCAA championship meet and third-fastest 800 mark for a collegiate woman athlete. Earlier, she had run an indoor school-record 2:03.47 to win the NCAA indoor 800-meter title March 10 in Fayetteville, Ark.
On April 14 at State College, Pa., McNeill won two individual gymnastics titles by recording scores of 9.725 on the parallel bars and 9.650 on the pommel horse. He is the second Golden Bear to win two NCAA titles in the same year, joining Graham Ackerman, who won the floor exercise and vault in 2004. McNeill's victory on pommel horse was a successful defense of his 2006 national title. He became the fifth Cal gymnast to repeat as national champion on a particular event.
Women's swimming, under the direction of Teri McKeever, captured two individual crowns and three relay titles at the NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships, March 8-10 in Minneapolis, Minn., earning the Bears a program-best third-place national finish. Individually, Vollmer won the 100-yard butterfly with a pool-record 50.69, while Hardy swam a school-record 59.43 in the 100-yard breaststroke, repeating as national champion in that event. Cal also had record-setting (American, U.S. Open, NCAA meet) national titles in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:12.13, Emily Silver, Erin Reilly, Hardy, Vollmer), the 800-yard freestyle relay (7:00.89, Vollmer, Silver, Blake Hayter, Reilly), and the 400-yard medley relay (3:30.18, Lauren Rogers, Hardy, Vollmer, Silver).
On the men's swimming side, O'Neil was crowned the national champion in the 200-yard butterfly when he swam a career-best 1:42.98 March 17 at the Men's NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in Minneapolis.
Cal's National Champions in 2006-07
Team
2006 Men's Water Polo
2007 Rugby
Individual
Alysia Johnson, women's indoor track & field - 800-meter run, 2:03.47;
women's outdoor track & field - 800-meter run, 1:59.29
Dana Vollmer, women's swimming - 100-yard butterfly, 50.69
Jessica Hardy, women's swimming - 100-yard breaststroke, 59.43
Tim McNeill, men's gymnastics - pommel horse, 9.650; parallel bars, 9.725
Patrick O'Neil, men's swimming - 200-yard butterfly, 1:43.77
Kelechi Anyanwu, women's outdoor track & field - discus, 188-11
Relays
Women's swimming - 400-yard freestyle relay
(3:12.13 - Emily Silver, Erin Reilly, Jessica Hardy, Dana Vollmer)
Women's swimming - 800-yard freestyle relay
(7:00.89 - Dana Vollmer, Emily Silver, Blake Hayter, Erin Reilly)
Women's swimming - 400-yard medley relay
(3:30.18 - Lauren Rogers, Jessica Hardy, Dana Vollmer, Emily Silver)
