Cal Programs in the Rankings this week

A quick glance at all of the top-25 ranked Cal programs

Even though rankings, particularly the preseason and early season ones based more on speculations than results, are often biased, they give us a quick and good overview of how the various Cal programs are doing relative to their national competitions. 

Below are the currently top-25 ranked Cal Olympic Sports programs. For the record, I have not found any reliable rankings for both Men's and Women's Rowing (the top boat for Cal Men's Rowing will essentially be completely new this year due to the Olympic redshirts, so any ranking of the two-time defending champions will be pure speculation anyhow). Also apologies to programs like Cal Lacrosse (1-2), who may never be mentioned in this ranking-obsessed format. Also, I am currently ignoring individual rankings. Cal (Indoor) Track and Field have some highly ranked individuals (who will get their well-deserved mentions on WFC eventually), but the full squad is ranked in the 50s (men) and 70s (women).

No.2 Cal Men’s Swimming and Diving

(D1 CSCAA Polls - February)

Cal (3-0-1) will end their dual season with a meet at rival Stanford this Saturday. Then, it is on to the final Pac-12 Championships (March 6-9) and the bid to three-peat at the NCAA Championships (March 27-30) from Indianapolis, Indiana. Golden Bears tied Arizona State in a dual meet earlier this season, the two programs should have great battles at both the Pac-12 (won by ASU last year) and the NCAA (Cal is the 2x reigning champion).

We will definitely be paying attention to these meets here on Write for California.

No.3 Cal Women’s Gymnastics

(Road to Nationals - Feb 19)

Cal (11-3, 4-0 in Pac-12) got the country's 3rd best average team score with 197.575. Considering the program only has two home meets so far and more than their share of road and neutral site meets (which hopefully will pay dividends in the postseason where the meets will compete similarly on platforms), this is quite impressive. Golden Bears certainly have the potential to regularly break the team score threshold of 198 consistently to threaten No.1 Oklahoma but have not yet got the meet where they hit on all four apparatuses.

https://twitter.com/CalWGym/status/1759703016087617642

I am personally very much looking forward to seeing this squad in person this Sunday at UCLA.

No.4 Cal Rugby 15s

(Goff Rugby Report - Feb 14)

Cal (8-1, 2-0 in PAC) returned to form with two easy road wins in Arizona (85-10 over Arizona and 74-7 over Grand Canyon) on the heels of the 26-53 home loss to BYU. Golden Bears have some tough matches coming up (at 2022 champion Army, home vs. defending champion Navy, at St. Mary's) to continue sharpening their skills against the best in the country ahead of the D1A postseason tournament. Cal will visit Utah on Friday where a win will clinch the PAC title and the D1A tournament berth.

No.5 Cal Women’s Water Polo

(Collegiate Water Polo Association - Feb 14)

Cal (6-1) dropped a heart-breaking OT loss to rival Stanford at the Stanford Invitational for their only blemish of the season so far. In this wide-open year (thanks to the Olympic sabbaticals that hit Stanford, USC, and UCLA) where Cal got arguably the program's best chance to break through and win a first national title, the Golden Bears are an improving team to incorporate the impact newcomers including transfer Elena Flynn, the team's top scorer.

The Barbara Kalbus Invitational down in Irvine this weekend will be another chance for Cal to play one or two of Stanford/USC/UCLA. It is an opportunity to make an early-season statement.

No.7 Cal Women’s Swimming and Diving

(D1 CSCAA Polls - February)

Cal (7-1, 5-1 in Pac-12) completed their dual season with an emotional Senior Day home win over rival Stanford 155.5-144.5 last Saturday. A special shoutout to Rachel Klinker for a great swim after taking a 17-hour flight to get back to Berkeley from Doha, Qatar where she finished an impressive 4th in 200m Fly with Team USA at the World Aquatics Championships. Pac-12 Championships (February 28 - March 2) and NCAA Championships (March 20-23) from Athens, Georgia are next. The Pac-12 title may be a wide-open race this year.

calwswim

A post shared by @calwswim

Senior Isabelle Stadden earned the latest Pac-12 Swimmer of the Week honor for her dominance in the two backstroke events.

No.8 Cal Men’s Gymnastics

(Road to Nationals - Feb 19)

Cal (1-4) may have a bad dual record, but those losses came against No.2 Stanford (the two Bay Area rivals have met three times already) and No.1 Oklahoma (who are both MPSF rivals of Cal). By average score, Cal's 396.750 is ranked 8th in the country. A plausible goal for this squad is to consistently break 400 points this season, but that would still be 15-20 points short of the top 3 teams.

https://twitter.com/CalMGym/status/1760021226649727453

Jaxson Mitchell became the latest Cal freshman, joining Brendan Strom and Carter Kim, as MPSF Freshman of the Week this year. The future is bright for this program.

No.8 Cal Beach Volleyball

(AVCA Collegiate Beach Preseason Poll)

The Beach Volleyball season starts this weekend from Berkeley when the Bears host American River College (?) and San Jose State on Friday and will play Saint Mary's and Santa Clara on Saturday. Coming off their first NCAA quarterfinal and Pac-12 championship final, the Golden Bears will play 13 of the 16 teams that made the 2023 NCAA Championship this year.

No.16 Cal Women’s Tennis

(ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings - Feb 20)

The bid by Cal (4-2) for a 2nd ITA Team Indoor Championship title in program history ended in the quarterfinal round with a loss to Michigan. The Golden Bears also lost to Pepperdine before beating host Washington in consolation play. Cal is good enough to challenge any team in the nation, but consistency week to week in the grueling Pac-12 play will decide how high the Golden Bears will be seeded going to the postseason.

No.18 Cal Men’s Golf

https://twitter.com/CalMensGolf/status/1760343329945038878

A late push by Cal earned them 2nd place in Hawaii at the Burns Intercollegiate last week. Redshirt junior Tony Chen led the way with a 3rd-place individual finish.

Cal has earned their 3rd 2nd-place as a team this season to go with two 1st-place, a 3rd, and a 9h place. Five top-three finishes in six tournaments is pretty good. Cal just might have the right mix of upperclassmen and talented freshmen to be a serious postseason contender.

https://twitter.com/CalMensGolf/status/1759073069812052354

No.19 Cal Women’s Golf

(Division 1 Mizuno WGCA Coaches Poll - Feb 16)

Cal is currently battling in the 3rd round of the Pac-12 Preview today in Hawaii. Like the men, Cal women’s golf also got two team wins already this season. Although they don’t have the crazy depth of Cal men’s golf, freshman Constance Fouillet has been a revelation and is on pace to own Cal’s freshman scoring record when she’s done.

No.21/22 Cal Softball

https://twitter.com/CalSB/status/1760019952080433401

On a current 8-game winning streak, Cal Softball (10-1) has earned road wins over then-No.21 Louisiana and then-No.21 Virginia Tech. The freshmen, particularly RHP Randi Roelling and catcher Lagi Quirogs, have done well, but there are other breakthroughs such as junior Mika Lee's three homers already after not leaving the yard last year. Elon Butler leads the team with four homers and a 0.500/0.563/1.038 slash line that's good enough for Pac-12 Player of the Week honor.

https://twitter.com/CalSB/status/1759715092030239023