Missy Franklin Tabbed Pac-12 Swimmer of the Month

BERKELEY - Cal freshman Missy Franklin, who set two school records and won five races at the recent AT&T Winter Nationals, has been named the Pac-12 Swimmer of the Month for December.

During the Bears’ lone competition last month, which ran Dec. 5-7 in Knoxville, Tenn., Franklin was the meet’s high-point scorer over the busy weekend. In her first individual race on the opening night, she swam the 500-yard freestyle – a relatively rare event for her – and came through in a school-record 4:34.63 during a runner-up finish.

Franklin then picked up a pair of individual victories on day two, She surged through the water in the 200 free to touch the wall in 1:41.40 to establish a school and meet record. The time was nearly a second ahead of the previous meet standard set by former Cal star Dana Vollmer in 2009. A short time later, Franklin led a group of five Bears in the 100 back final to win in 51.59.

In addition, Franklin swam on three relays that won in meet-record fashion – the 400 medley relay and the 400 and 800 free relays.

Beyond those five events, Franklin was runner-up to teammate Elizabeth Pelton in the 200 back and third in the 100 free. Each individual race and all three relays were under the NCAA A standard.

The Pac-12 honor is the 11th overall for Cal, the most of any conference school since the award’s inception.

Franklin and the entire Cal team will next be in action in Berkeley on Friday, Jan. 24 when the Bears host Arizona State in a noon meet at Spieker Aquatics Complex.