Courtesy: Cal Athletics
Fifth-ranked Cal finishes out the calendar year with a dual meet that will be held at Legend Aquatic Center against UC San Diego, beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday. The meet is the first of four straight at home for the Golden Bears, with the team returning to Berkeley and Spieker Aquatics Center after the New Year to host San Jose State Jan. 17, Arizona, Jan. 21 and Arizona State Jan. 22.
Cal is coming off a strong outing at the Minnesota Invitational, where the Bears captured four races, posted six NCAA A and over 60 NCAA B qualifying times, and had five swims that earned all-time top-10 status at Cal.
LAST TIME OUT – BEARS SWIM FAST IN MINNESOTA: Competing against some of the nation’s top teams, Cal had a successful meet at the non-scoring Minnesota Invitational Dec. 1-4. All five of the Bears’ relays produced NCAA A qualifying times, while Isabelle Stadden reached the standard during her victory in the 200 back. The other winners for Cal were Isabel Ivey in the 200 free and 200 IM and Alicia Wilson in the 400 IM.
CHANGES TO TOP-10 LIST: Cal produced five times at the Minnesota Invitational that made the school’s all-time top-10 list, with freshman Leah Polonsky doing so three times. She now ranks sixth in school history in the 100 breast (1:00.23), ninth in the 200 breast (2:11.30) and seventh in the 400 IM (4:07.93). In addition, Alicia Wilson’s PR 2:09.82 in the 200 breast puts her fifth in the event, and the 200 medley squad of Isabelle Stadden, Ema Rajic, Isabel Ivey and Elise Garcia posted the sixth-fastest time at Cal (1:34.93).
IVEY POSTS TRIO OF TOP-4 TIMES: Following the Minnesota Invitational, senior Isabel Ivey ranks among the top 4 in the country in three different events. She won both the 200 free (1:43.13) and 200 IM (1:53.90) at the meet, with both times placing her third in the national rankings. The 2021 Pac-12 Swimmer of the Year is also fourth in the 100 free (47.57). Other Bears in the top 10 in individual events are: Isabelle Stadden (100 back, 6th, 51.00; 200 back, 3rd, 1:50.02), Rachel Klinker (200 fly, 8th, 1:54.01) and Alicia Wilson (400 IM, 8th, 4:06.43).
STADDEN, WEITZEIL REPRESENT TEAM USA AT SHORT-COURSE WORLDS: Cal sophomore Isabelle Stadden and alum Abbey Weitzeil are in Abu Dhabi this week, representing Team USA at the FINA Short-Course World Championship that run Dec. 16-21 Stadden will swim the 200-meter back, while Weitzeil is slated to compete in the 50-meter free, 100-meter free and 100-meter IM. Stadden was an Olympic Trials finalist in both backstroke events last summer, and Weitzeil won a pair of relay medals and reached the final of the 50 and 100 free at the Tokyo Games.