As if Northern California isn’t always a hotspot for swimming, this coming weekend it will be particularly in-focus of the college swimming fandom, as two out of the biggest recruiting superstar we’ve seen in at least a decade will be taking her recruiting trip to Cal.
Missy Franklin will be in the north Bay Area taking in Teri McKeever’s program over Labor Day weekend.
Missy has said that aside from Cal, she will also make stops at USC and Georgia for sure, with Texas getting a “maybe”. She still has not declared publicly that she’s made up her mind on whether to go pro or not.
Two current members of the Cal team were on the U.S. Olympic Team with Franklin in London this past summer: Caitlin Leverenz and incoming freshman Rachel Bootsma. Two members of the post-grad group were there as well, Dana Vollmer and Natalie Coughlin, so there’s definitely already some relationships built with the Golden Bears.
According to this article, USC is now the ‘maybe’ visit while Texas and Georgia are for sure visits, and those are supposed to happen in October.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/story/2012/09/10/missy-franklin-dives-back-in-after-whirlwind-tour/57731000/1
Georgia offers alot. Here long time friend from her team in colorado stars jordan mattern, Kara lynn joyce will help I am sure and schmitty and vreland swam with her on the 800 free relay. Along with a big plus I feel the team. Its ONE team mens and womens. Practices are together meets are together and one head coach for the team. It is a great thing, I always enjoyed swimming with male and female swimmers it gave a better since of a team I feel.
Has anyone heard where Missy is going this weekend? I am betting on UGA. I hope she will have fun.
There are 5 people posted on the instagram picture by Cal recruit Leah Smith –
Leah Smith, Missy Franklin, Celina Li, Kristen Vredeveld. Any idea of the 5th person or is a current Bear acting as host?
Linnea Mack
I am pretty sure that Missy is going to use these comments when making her decision.
lol! absolutely. I’m sure she’s on SwimSwam all the time 😉
“Athens is a great college town, while Berkeley is “different”. Check to UGA on that one.” When you mean different..do you mean Berkeley is different because it is the #1 public University and there has been 70 Nobel prize winners that were affiliated with UC Berkeley! With Missy and Family high emphasize on education..I think the check goes to CAL.
Yeah, actually Berkeley is among the top academically including both public and private. I know Franklin is an excellent student, but now that I hear she’s considering Texas, I’m thinking that elite level academics may not be as much of a priority for her as I thought. Then again, now that I heard her boyfriend is going to TX that might trump everything! 😉
I can also dig at Dawgfan’s remark on “Training facilities (including state of the art weight training) and pool are far superior to Cal, check UGA. Missy is a big fan of a team environment, Cal’s men and women don’t train together, Georgia is one coach and club team training atmosphere. Big check to Georgia.”
Training facilities was so fantastic that Allison Schmidt had to train all the way in Baltimore during her Olympic year! A bigger check mark goes to CAL to provide Missy’s a top post collegiate training environment when she trains for 2016!
Allison Schmitt wanted to train with Bob Bowman. That is why she red-shirtedher senior year at Georgia and came to Baltimore… She made a right choice and did well in the Olympics.
Missy will go to Cal, most likely!
Lots of misinformation about Cal and Berkeley here-surprised nobody’s placed Oski on the grassy knoll YET. Missy will potentially swim in 3 more Olympics-that’s another 12 years of training. She’s been with Todd since she was 10 years old, and she and her parents have been pretty clear that she’ll go away to school to train with a new coach. Cal and USC have proven track records in training post-collegiate pros and Teri and Salo aren’t going anyhere. Schmidt and Joyce didn’t train in Athens for the Olympics and Jack isn’t going to be coaching for another 12 years. Missy’s been iffy on Stanford and Texas because she wants stability and predictability in where she’ll train for the next few… Read more »
See my post above about Judith Butler. Different meaning radical left. Different meaning wanting to remake the definition of the American family. Different meaning transforming gender outright and questioning the need for gender in the first place. Different meaning a lax stance on incest, perhaps its not so bad? The far left is saying.
Actually i knew what Dawgfan was alluding to but just wanted to change the direction to some other positives on CAL. Sure Cal has a broad spectrum of ideology from the far left to the far right! Yes there are some conservative groups even in Berkeley. That’s the beauty of the College to offer lots of diversity but ultimately the intent of the college is to educate the students ..to develop the minds of the kids to make them forward thinking members of our society…and I think they have been very successful. As the recently graduated Sara Isakovic stated in her Bio..””Berkeley is not only famous in Europe, but all over the world. I am attending the best public university… Read more »
Missy is NOT taking a visit to USC. She is taking a visit to Texas.
Well if so, TX would win the “closest to home” contest…. probably not a small factor for her.
In addition to that, her boyfriend is a freshman swimming for Texas this year.
Missy’s Stars come to the age group meet at the Texas Swim Center every January. She feels “at home” in Austin.
Missy’s been coming to age group meets at Texas for at least the past 5 years. I’ve watched her move up the psych sheet… come to Texas!!
Can’t think of a worse reason to pick a school.
Dutchwoman….I’ll take on your question. We know Cal can swim backstroke, but Georgia owns freestyle. Missy wants to become a better 400 IM swimmer, check to UGA. Missy has friends from Colorado and National team members on both teams, draw on that point. Athens is a great college town, while Berkeley is “different”. Check to UGA on that one. Training facilities (including state of the art weight training) and pool are far superior to Cal, check UGA. Missy is a big fan of a team environment, Cal’s men and women don’t train together, Georgia is one coach and club team training atmosphere. Big check to Georgia. Last point is Georgia has the #6 ranked football team competing in the best… Read more »
I didn’t know Franklin wanted to be a 400IM swimmer; that’s interesting. Berkeley may be different, but in a good way for college students; it’s a great college town too. Both schools are good academically, though Berkeley probably has the edge there being one of the tops i the country. Why do you think USC doesn’t have as much of a shot?
Why would Missy want to become a 400 IMer? Is this inside information? If that is the case go train with Salo. I see her as a backstroker primarily wiht freestyle second. Is that wrong? Is that still not the plan? If so, I think what Teri has done at Cal in backstroke has to be high on the list. Georgia great for 200 free, Cal great for 100/200 back and 100 free. Facilities – Don’t agree with that one. 50 meters is 50 meters, and as long as a weight room has racks and bands and so forth you have all you need. I don’t care how new a weight room is, tell me about what actually happens in… Read more »
Nice broad brush about Berkeley. Butler’s an idiot. Caitlin Leverenz is captain of the women’s team and leads a weekly Bible study for several swimmers, including Missy’s Stars’ teammate Caroline Piehl. Seth Stubblefield isn’t exactly a commie pagan worshipper either.
I feel better that you say Butler is an idiot. I am sure there are many bible studies on the Berkeley campus. I personally don’t care about the bible studies, but do care about the Butler’s perceived mission to demonize not gender roles, but ACTUAL GENDER. Gender roles have changed – I have no problem with women working and being breadwinners – who wouldn’t want equality in the workplace? I DO have a huge problem with denouncing gender as is. Say what you want but Cal’s reputation is out there – no offense but it is the few that often ruin it for the many – I would hope most people at CAL think Butler is an idiot….But tell me… Read more »
ALSO keep in mind in my original post I recommended CAL over Georgia for what it’s worth. Better training for her events, better weight program, better coach, etc…Only thing Georgia has over CAL is that nostalgic small town college campus feel and better football/football atmosphere, even with CAL’s beautiful renovation.
Missy Franklin goes to a Jesuit high school, and the Jesuits have historically been an order known for rigorous independent thought and being very annoying to the papal hierarchy in Rome. Cal makes a lot more sense for a student coming out of a Jesuit system than a region far more populated by fundamentalist bible thumpers who will sometimes leave Jack Chick tracts in the bathroom.
Wow this changes my mind; I totally think Franklin should stay away from Cal! She will either end up completely brainwashed by Leverenz’s bible study group, or she’ll end up dressing alone in the 3rd gender locker room because she got confused by taking too many gender studies courses. Luckily she’s got us at SwimSwam to steer her clear of there. Coughlin and Adrian were lucky to get out of there without major psychological damage.
Cal’s two most famous women swimmers, Mary T Meagher and Natalie Coughlin, went to all girl Catholic high schools, just like Missy. Mary T was the only member of her family who didn’t attend Notre Dame.
Contrary to the easy stereotype, Cal’d student body represents all elements of the religious and political spectrum. That’s a huge part of the Cal experience. The constant cacophony of competiting perspectives homes critical thinking skills and builds convictions. What else do you want in higher education?