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Cal Women's Swimming had another top-10 finish at the NCAA
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Cal Women's Swimming had another top-10 finish at the NCAA

Golden Bears finished 8th as a team in 2022 but picked up an NCAA Record Holder and Canadian Olympian as a graduate transfer

Ruey Yen
Mar 30
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A week before Cal Men’s Swimming won their 7th NCAA team title, Cal Women’s Swimming raced at the same venue in Atlanta. While I did write an update on the first two days of the meet, here is the rest of what happened at the NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championship.

400y IM

Freshman Leah Polonsky added another All-American Honorable Mention by placing 13th. She had finished 12th in 200y IM.

Scoring points in two individual events on top of racing in three relays, Leah Polonsky was the most valuable freshman on the Cal team.

Twitter avatar for @CalWSwimCal W Swim & Dive @CalWSwim
Another All-American finish for the freshman! #NCAASwimDive #GoBears
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March 18th 2022

1 Retweet9 Likes

200y Free

Cal’s best shot at an NCAA title was thwarted by rival Stanford. Isabel Ivey swam the best 200y Free of the year when she led off the 800y Free Relay on Wednesday night for Cal with a 1:41.35. Ivey swam a 1:41.59 in the 200y Free final on Friday night. That was not enough to catch Stanford’s Canadian Olympian Taylor Ruck, who took the win with a 1:41.12.

Twitter avatar for @CalWSwimCal W Swim & Dive @CalWSwim
Isabel Ivey swims 1:41.59 and claims second place 🥈 in the 200 free - her highest individual finish ever!! #NCAASwimDive #GoBears 🔥💛🐻
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March 18th 2022

7 Retweets78 Likes

Ayla Spitz earned some additional points for the Bears by placing 13th overall.

Twitter avatar for @CalWSwimCal W Swim & Dive @CalWSwim
Ayla Spitz with a season-best 1:44.72 in the 200 free, good for 13th place! #NCAASwimDive #GoBears
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March 18th 2022

1 Retweet14 Likes

100y Back

Isabelle Stadden raced against a strong field in the 100y Back A-Final. Despite a new personal record, the Cal sophomore only placed 7th.

NC State’s Katherine Berkoff set a new NCAA record in winning this event.

Twitter avatar for @CalWSwimCal W Swim & Dive @CalWSwim
Isabelle Stadden with a PR 50.81 in the 100 back - now ranked #7 in school history in the event! #NCAASwimDive #GoBears
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March 18th 2022

5 Retweets32 Likes

Behind only Ivey, Isabelle Stadden was the second-best Cal Bear at the NCAA this year. Beyond the two A-Finals in the backstroke event, Stadden also raced in three relays - the backstroke for the two relays but also 100y Free for the 400y Free relay.

400y Medley Relay

The Bears closed Friday with a 12th place in the 400y Medley Relay. Stadden (back), Polonsky (breast), freshman Mia Kragh (fly), and Ivey (free) combined for the season-best time.

Twitter avatar for @CalWSwimCal W Swim & Dive @CalWSwim
The Bears close out Friday night with a season best in the 400 medley relay - the #8 time in school history! #NCAASwimDive #GoBears
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March 19th 2022

4 Retweets33 Likes

Moving on to Saturday, two Cal Bears were able to make the A-Finals that night.

200y Back

Isabelle Stadden did a bit better in her best event of 200y Back than in the 100y Back. Her new personal record was enough for 4th place.

Stanford’s USA Olympian Regan Smith won by a sizable margin.

Twitter avatar for @CalWSwimCal W Swim & Dive @CalWSwim
A PR 1:49.45 sends Isabelle Stadden to 4⃣th place in the 200 back! #NCAASwimDive #GoBears 🔥
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March 19th 2022

5 Retweets34 Likes

100y Free

Isabel Ivey scored in her third individual event of the week. After a 3rd in 200y IM and a 2nd in 200y Free, Ivey was only able to qualify for the consolation final for 100y Free.

She helped Cal to 4 more points by placing 13th. Clearly, Isabel Ivey was the Cal MVP in this meet between her individual results and how she raced in 4 relays.

Twitter avatar for @CalWSwimCal W Swim & Dive @CalWSwim
Isabel Ivey with another All-American finish in the 100 free. #NCAASwimDive #GoBears
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March 19th 2022

2 Retweets37 Likes
Twitter avatar for @CalWSwimCal W Swim & Dive @CalWSwim
Isabel Ivey joined the Bear in Mind podcast to preview next week's NCAA Championships. Listen here to hear her thoughts on her career & the meet:
calbea.rs/3sTMqD6 #GoBears
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March 9th 2022

3 Retweets11 Likes

200y Fly

On a weekend where the NCAA record book was often rewritten, Cal junior Rachel Klinker’s personal best was good for 6th place in 200y Fly.

Twitter avatar for @CalWSwimCal W Swim & Dive @CalWSwim
Rachel Klinker with a big PR in the 200 back final: She takes 6th place with the #3 time in school history - 1:52.19! #NCAASwimDive #GoBears 🔥🔥
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March 19th 2022

4 Retweets34 Likes

400y Free Relay

After starting the meet with a 7th and a 3rd place in relays, Cal’s overall standing was really hurt by the rest of the relay finishing outside the top-8. Golden Bears closed the meet with a 11th place in the 400y Free.

Twitter avatar for @CalWSwimCal W Swim & Dive @CalWSwim
Cal closes out #NCAASwimDive with an 11th-place finish in the 400 free relay! #GoBears
Image

March 20th 2022

2 Retweets15 Likes

In the end, Virginia dominated this meet by winning 11 of 18 swimming events. UVA repeated as NCAA champions after winning the program’s first title last year.

Internet’s Big Game Boomer is infamous for making a bunch of often controversial lists. Maybe he’s on to something by comparing Cal to Virginia?

Twitter avatar for @BigGameBoomerBig Game Boomer @BigGameBoomer
College Fanbases That Are The Most Alike
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March 17th 2022

47 Retweets860 Likes

Anyhow, another surprise was how Texas finished ahead of Stanford.

Final 2022 NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Team Standing:

  1. Virginia 551.5

  2. Texas 406

  3. Stanford 399.5

  4. Alabama 288

  5. NC State 279

  6. Louisville 196.5

  7. Michigan 184.5

  8. California 180

  9. Ohio State 165

  10. Tennessee 127

The 16 Cal Bears at this meet gave their all, and for the 25th consecutive year, Cal has a top-10 finish as a team. However, Cal’s streak of finishing in the top-5 will end at 15 years in a row.


Looking ahead to next year, one would first hope/expect Isabel Ivey to stay at Cal as a 5th year. Ivey graduated high school early to start swimming with Cal, her original class is the seniors next year. Given how Cal swimmers often stay on campus to train in the pro group even after they had graduated, it would not be a stretch to imagine Ivey returning to the team next year with the extra year of eligibility.

One extra incentive for Ivey to return is that Cal just added Canadian Olympian and NCAA Record Holder Maggie Mac Neil as a graduate transfer. Mac Neil has a bit of a down year in 2022, but she set the NCAA record in 100y Fly in 2021. Mac Neil has also been an NCAA champion in 100y Free.

It is not clear in which Master’s program she will be pursuing her degree in at Cal.

macnmagg
A post shared by Maggie Mac Neil OLY (@macnmagg)

I'm so beyond excited to announce that I will be moving out west to finish up my NCAA eligibility. I feel so lucky to be able to pursue a masters degree at the University of California Berkeley, while continuing to swim at the highest level! Happy to be moving away from the snow for this new chapter! Go 🐻! 💙💛

One would think that a major reason for Mac Neil to come to Cal would be to train with a fellow top sprinter in recent alum USA “Calympian” Abbey Weitzeil.

With the NCAA Men’s Basketball Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight being hosted in San Francisco, Abbey Weitzeil was honored this past weekend at the halftime of the Duke-Arkansas game.

Twitter avatar for @NCAANCAA @NCAA
Olympian Abbey Weitzeil of @CalWSwim and Paralympian Dani Aravich of @butlerXCTF were honored during halftime of Elite Eight matchups in San Francisco and Spokane. 🇺🇸 #MarchMadness x #OlympiansMadeHere | #ParalympiansMadeHere
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Image

March 28th 2022

14 Retweets56 Likes

GO BEARS!

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Bob R.
Mar 30

Gobears49

Since Cal finished 8th for women's swimming in 2022, if we used the best times for the two swimmers you mention, where would Cal have finished if they were on our team then. If it takes you more time than you want to spend to get an answer, please don't bother. Tx.

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