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Cal Men's Swimming and Diving proves again that Pools are Bear Territories!

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Cal Men's Swimming and Diving proves again that Pools are Bear Territories!

Cal Men's Swimming and Diving wins program's 7th NCAA Team Title after Men's Water Polo won their 15th NCAA title last semester

Ruey Yen
Mar 27, 2022
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Cal Men's Swimming and Diving proves again that Pools are Bear Territories!

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After winning the NCAA title for Men’s Water Polo last semester, Cal has now also claimed the NCAA title for Men’s Swimming (and Diving)! Somewhat surprisingly, this is the first time that Cal has achieved this double in the same school year. Golden Bears are the most successful school in collegiate Men’s Water Polo history with 15 titles. They are shooting up the Men’s Swimming and Diving list to 7th with this 7th title.

Twitter avatar for @CalWaterPolo
Cal Water Polo @CalWaterPolo
We like the latest addition to our trophy case! #TheChamps #GoBears #CalWaterPolo
10:56 PM ∙ Dec 10, 2021
110Likes19Retweets
Twitter avatar for @calmenswim
Cal Men's Swim & Dive @calmenswim
🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 A tradition of greatness continues.
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9:15 PM ∙ Mar 27, 2022
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Once upon a time, Cal and USA Olympic legend Matt Biondi participated in both! He won three NCAA Water Polo team titles and 8 NCAA individual swimming titles as well as being a part of 4 NCAA winning relays.

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Pac-12 Network @Pac12Network
One of the greatest swimmers in history, Matt Biondi started for @calmenswim from 1983-87 and won 12 NCAA championships and 14 Pac-10 titles, eventually earning Pac-12 Men’s Swimmer of the Century in 2016.
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11:35 PM ∙ Feb 26, 2018
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Back to the present, Christopher Zheng’s recap of NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Day 4 can be found here. In this year’s battle between Cal and Texas, the Golden Bears prevailed.

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Cal Men's Swim & Dive @calmenswim
Woke up feeling like CHAMPS 🏆
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4:11 PM ∙ Mar 27, 2022
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Many of the upperclassmen on the Cal team got to win the 2nd NCAA team title of their collegiate career. The Bears also won back in 2019.

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NCAA @NCAA
The Golden Bears are 𝙶𝚘𝚕𝚍𝚎𝚗 🏆 @calmenswim takes home the Division I men’s swimming and diving national championship for the first time since 2019! #GoBears
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1:50 AM ∙ Mar 27, 2022
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The team title was won by a combination of elite swimmers but also roster depth. The Bears also claimed two individual championships and a relay championship.

Hugo Gonzalez set the fastest 400y IM in history

Destin Lasco is the latest Cal 200y backstroke winner

Bjorn Seeliger, Reece Whitley, Trenton Julian, and Destin Lasco won the 400y Medley Relay


Congratulations to Cal head coach Dave Durden, his entire coaching staff, and all 38 members of the swimming team, not just the 18 that qualified for national!

Twitter avatar for @calmenswim
Cal Men's Swim & Dive @calmenswim
CHAMPIONS! 🏆
1:35 AM ∙ Mar 27, 2022
86Likes12Retweets

Cal head coach Dave Durden chatted with the press after another national championship. He spoke about his team, having his mentor and swim coaching legend David Marsh as an assistant this year, as well as the specialness of Cal - the place, the people, and the successful swimming alumni who become donors.

A lot of what Durden said was echoed by what the Cal 400y Medley Relay winners said the day earlier. Bjorn Seeliger talks about the preparation and the difference in mentality between prelims (business for 1 hour per day) and finals (fun). Destin Lasco talked about the Cal fans in the stands. By the way, Reece Whitley has got a really great deep voice - very commanding for the Cal senior.

Below are the Cal family, alumni, fans that cheered on the Golden Bears to this NCAA title.

Twitter avatar for @calmenswim
Cal Men's Swim & Dive @calmenswim
Incredible support all week long. 💙💛 Our #CalFamily turned ATL into BEAR TERRITORY!
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7:45 PM ∙ Mar 27, 2022
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400y IM winner Hugo Gonzalez also spoke to the press on Friday night. He talked about his long journey in collegiate swimming and hinted that he might use his extra year of eligibility to come back next year.

Twitter avatar for @hglezoliveira
Hugo González @hglezoliveira
What a ride it has been but finally NATTY CHAMPS!! I can’t be proud enough of this team for everything they’ve taught me throughout these last years ROLL ON YOU BEARS💙💛🐻
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12:02 PM ∙ Mar 27, 2022
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Cal alumni are also thrilled about this national title.

Twitter avatar for @ryan_f_murphy
Ryan Murphy @ryan_f_murphy
So proud of these guys @calmenswim ! https://t.co/PGGJ9PR2nM
Twitter avatar for @SwimmingWorld
Swimming World @SwimmingWorld
A Cal Tradition: Golden Bears' Latest NCAA Title Earned Through Power and Depth - And Expectation - https://t.co/VryB37Irk5 @calmenswim @ryan_f_murphy https://t.co/vBDm0M6E7L
3:34 AM ∙ Mar 27, 2022
59Likes5Retweets
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Michael Silver @MikeSilver
We rule the pool #GoBears
Twitter avatar for @calmenswim
Cal Men's Swim & Dive @calmenswim
You know it, you tell the story ... We are NATIONAL CHAMPS!! 🥇🏆 #NCAASwimDive #GoBears https://t.co/siu8U8J4zx
3:20 AM ∙ Mar 27, 2022
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This is the 7th NCAA Team title in program history and the 5th under Dave Durden in this last decade. Cal Athletics is also on the verge of breaking triple-digits in the number of team national championships. Cal Rugby might be able to achieve that on April 30th, if Cal Women’s Gymnastics doesn’t shock everyone by winning their first NCAA team title in two weeks!

The 99 team national championships won by Cal are not all in sports governed by the NCAA. In fact, Cal Athletics is one of the few schools to not succumb to the power of the NCAA and sponsor only NCAA sports to maximize their chance to win the Director’s Cup or the Capital One Cups.

Nonetheless, Cal’s latest NCAA title makes it 540 of that kind for the Pac-12.

Twitter avatar for @pac12
Pac-12 Conference @pac12
5⃣4⃣0⃣ NCAA TITLES AND COUNTING FOR PAC-12. Congratulations to @calmenswim on another National Championship! 🎉 #BackThePac | #GoBears
3:04 AM ∙ Mar 27, 2022
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Our new Pac-12 Commissioner is clearly mistaken on the number of “NCAA team titles” in Cal history. Only 40 of the 99 national championships are awarded by the NCAA.

Twitter avatar for @Kliavkoff
George Kliavkoff @Kliavkoff
- 7th title for @calmenswim - 99th NCAA team title in @CalAthletics history #GoBears - 540th team title all time for the @pac12 (more than 200 more than any other conference) #ConferenceOfChampions
Twitter avatar for @calmenswim
Cal Men's Swim & Dive @calmenswim
CHAMPIONS! 🏆 https://t.co/ALypPIuSCg
2:07 PM ∙ Mar 27, 2022
74Likes8Retweets

Cal won this natty without diving after a misfire in the diving coach hire last summer.

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Write For California LIVE @WriteForCalLive
NATIONAL CHAMPS! Congratulations to @calmenswim on winning their 7th NCAA title! #GoBears #RollOnYouBears
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1:25 AM ∙ Mar 27, 2022
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Yes, that’s Cal AD Jim Knowlton in the team celebration photo. Hopefully, Knowlton used his time in Atlanta wisely by getting Cal a quality diving coach so the Bears can continue to win more championships even after Texas Diving rebounds to its usual point-scoring way. Cal does have a state-of-art diving facility now and Cal Aquatics, unlike the rest of Cal Athletics, is fairly well-funded.

For winning the team championship, everyone gets to dive into the pool to celebrate. Dave Durden and some of the Cal swimmers have pretty good diving form.

Twitter avatar for @calmenswim
Cal Men's Swim & Dive @calmenswim
Bringing our 7th NCAA title back to Bear Territory!
4:13 AM ∙ Mar 27, 2022
90Likes16Retweets
Twitter avatar for @SwimmingWorld
Swimming World @SwimmingWorld
2022 NCAA Men’s Division I Championships: Photo Gallery from Final Day - is.gd/2m3cw1 #SwissTIming
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4:58 AM ∙ Mar 27, 2022
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calmenswim
A post shared by Cal Men's Swim & Dive (@calmenswim)

ROLL ON YOU BEARS!

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Cal Men's Swimming and Diving proves again that Pools are Bear Territories!

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4 Comments
hoopdreams
Mar 27, 2022

Congrats!!!

Cal swim has been a top program for years and have had many elite swimmers (men and women)

Truely a pride of the University

The other benefit is we get to see and root for many of them in the Olympics

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BTown85
Mar 27, 2022

Swim on you Beeeeeeaaaaarrrrrrrs!!!!!!

Thanks for keeping it real, Ruey!

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