California at NCAA Championships
Wednesday-Saturday, March 20-23 | Prelims – 7 a.m. PT/Finals – 3 p.m. PT | Jamail Texas Swimming Center | Austin, Texas
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With a squad of 14 swimmers and divers, Cal travels to the NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas, this week fresh off an impressive performance at the Pac-12 Championships, where the Golden Bears captured nine of 18 swimming events. The national meet runs Wednesday through Saturday, with prelims starting at 7 a.m. PT and finals at 3 p.m. PT.

Cal owns the top seed at NCAAs in four of the five relays - 200, 400 and 800 free relay and 400 medley relay - while junior Abbey Weitzeil leads the country in the 100 free after setting a Cal and Pac-12 meet record of 46.35 in the event at the conference championships. Overall, the Bears swept all five relays and produced individual wins by Weitzeil (50, 100, 200 free) and Amy Bilquist (100 back) at the Pac-12 meet.

Cal has finished as the national runner-up the past two years and is on a run of 10 consecutive years among the top 3. Included in that stretch are four NCAA team titles - 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2015.

• NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS COVERAGE
Fans have the ability to follow the NCAA Championships on several different platforms throughout the meet. Finals sessions on Wednesday and Thursday will be streamed on ESPN3.com, while Friday and Saturday finals will air live on ESPNU. All sessions not part of ESPN's broadcasts will be streamed live on the NCAA Championships microsite at texassports.com.

• 10 IN A ROW AMONG NCAA TOP 3
Cal has finished among the top three at the NCAA Championships 10 years in a row - the longest current streak in the country. Included in the run are four national titles, coming in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2015. The Bears were also second in 2013, 2017 and 2018, and third in 2010, 2014 and 2016.

• NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP EXPERIENCE
Of the 14 Golden Bears traveling to Austin, Cal returns six swimmers who scored individually at the NCAA Championships last season – Amy Bilquist, Sarah Darcel, Katie McLaughlin, Maddie Murphy, Robin Neumann and Abbey Weitzeil. Together, they combined for swims in eight A finals and five B finals, in addition to helping all five relays finish among the top 3. Newcomers to NCAAs for the Bears are all freshmen – Cassidy Bayer, Isabel Ivey, Ema Rajic and Alicia Wilson.

• ADDING UP THE TITLES
Not only have the Golden Bears captured four team national titles in 26 prior seasons under head coach Teri McKeever, but Cal has also secured 56 event wins at the NCAA Championships during her tenure - 38 individual races and 18 relays. At total of 33 of those victories have come since 2011 with the Bears claiming at least five national crowns in 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2017.

• CAL TOPS IN RELAYS
Following its performance at the Pac-12 Championships, Cal enters the NCAA meet leading the country in four relays and ranking sixth nationally in the other (200 medley relay). The Bears swept all five relays at the Pac-12 Championships a few weeks ago, and concluded the meet with an NCAA record in the 400 free relay when the foursome of Robin Neumann, Katie McLaughlin, Amy Bilquist and Abbey Weitzeil touched the wall in 3:07.41. The final three legs were all sub-46.6 splits, with Bilquist's 46.30 leading the way.

• WEITZEIL: PAC-12 SWIMMER OF THE MEET
Junior Abbey Weitzeil, who won three individual events and helped four relays to victory, was named the Pac-12 Swimmer of the Meet earlier this month. After anchoring the 200 medley relay to a come-from-behind win over Stanford with 20.57 split, she set the Cal and Pac-12 record in the 50 free with a time of 21.16, which stands just shy of her American record of 21.12 from 2016. Weitzeil later earned the victory in the 200 free with a PR 1:41.97 and broke the Cal and Pac-12 meet record in the 100 free when she finished in 46.35. Her other relay wins came in the 400 medley relay and the 200 and 400 free relays.

• 22 SWIMS AMONG NCAA'S TOP 16
Cal enters this week's meet with 22 swims - 17 individuals and five relays - that rank among the top 16 in the country according to the pre-NCAA meet psych sheet. Abbey Weitzeil (50, 100, 200 free), Amy Bilquist (50, 100 free; 100 back) and Katie McLaughlin (200 free; 100, 200 fly) each appear in three events. Weitzeil leads the country in the 100 free, while the Bears own the fastest time in the nation in four of the five relays.

• 50 free - Abbey Weitzeil (2nd, 21.16), Amy Bilquist (6th, 21.64)
• 100 free - Abbey Weitzeil (1st, 46.35), Amy Bilquist (5th, 47.01), Robin Neumann (9th, 47.78)
• 200 free - Abbey Weitzeil (3rd, 1:41.97), Katie McLaughlin (6th, 1:43.04), Robin Neumann (1:43.25)
• 100 back - Amy Bilquist (2nd, 50.46), Keaton Blovad (11th, 51.34)
• 200 back - Keaton Blovad (10th, 1:51.73)
• 100 fly - Katie McLaughlin (4th, 50.67), Isabel Ivey (8th, 51.15)
• 200 fly - Katie McLaughlin (12th, 1:54.63)
• 200 IM - Isabel Ivey (10th, 1:54.31), Sarah Darcel (12th, 1:54.91)
• 400 IM - Sarah Darcel (10th, 4:05.55)
• 200 free relay - Weitzeil, Murphy, McLaughlin, Bilquist (1st, 1:26.00)
• 400 free relay - Neumann, McLaughlin, Bilquist, Weitzeil (1st, 3:07.41)
• 800 free relay - Ivey, Neumann, McLaughlin, Bilquist (1st, 6:50.63)
• 200 medley relay - Ivey, Rajic, Murphy, Weitzeil (6th, 1:35.21)
• 400 medley relay - Bilquist, Rajic, McLaughlin, Weitzeil (1st, 3:36.41)

• 10-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF 1ST NCAA TITLE
Ten years ago this week, Cal captured its first NCAA women's swimming & diving championship in College Station, Texas. The Bears edged runner-up Georgia, 411.5-400.5, in the team standings. Dana Vollmer was named Swimmer of the Meet, and Cal won three individual and two relay titles. As a result, Teri McKeever became the first woman head coach credited with an NCAA swimming & diving crown. Since that fateful day, Cal has gone on to earn three more team championships - in 2011, 2012 and 2015.

• ACADEMIC HONORS ROLL IN FOR BEARS
With a 3.43 GPA for the fall semester, Cal was named a CSCAA Scholar All-America team for the 18th consecutive semester - every time the coaching association has presented the award. The announcement comes of the heels of a fall release that showed the Bears with a 100% Graduation Success Rate, according to the most recent NCAA data. The women's swimming & diving team also claimed the athletic department's Newmark Award for having the highest GPA among all 30 Golden Bear programs with a 3.429 GPA for the 2017-18 academic year.

• WEITZEIL SETS CAL POOL, DUAL-MEET RECORDS IN 50 AND 100 FREE
Abbey Weitzeil sprinted to a time of 21.92 in the 50 free vs. USC Feb. 1 to set the Spieker Aquatics Complex record as well as lower her own Cal dual-meet mark in the event. Weitzeil's time broke the pool record of 21.97 by Simone Manual of Stanford in 2017. Last year, Weitzeil established the Cal dual-meet record by swimming 22.04 at Stanford, and she matched the time earlier this season vs. Texas. Then against Stanford on Feb. 16, Weitzeil covered the 100 free in 48.06, which tied Natalie Coughlin's 2003 school dual-meet record and lowered the pool mark of 48.17 set by Manual two years ago.

• KATIE MCLAUGHLIN TABBED PAC-12 SWIMMER OF THE WEEK FOR JAN. 21-27
Senior Katie McLaughlin was named Pac-12 Swimmer of the Week after leading Cal to a pair of dual-meet wins at Arizona State and Arizona Jan. 25-26. Over the two days of swimming, she won five different individual events - the 200 fly and 500 free at ASU, and the 100 and 200 free, and 100 fly at Arizona - all by more than a full second. She also helped the Bears to three relay victories. Her splits on the 200 medley relay at Arizona State (23.42 fly) and 400 free relay at Arizona (48.86) were both the fastest of all swimmers.

• ABBEY WEITZEIL NAMED PAC-12 SWIMMER OF THE MONTH FOR NOVEMBER
After posting then-NCAA-leading times in the 50 (21.46) and 100 free (46.49), including a then-school record in the 100, at the Georgia Fall Invitational, junior Abbey Weitzeil was named the Pac-12 Swimmer of the Month for November. In addition, she tied her own Cal dual-meet record in the 50 free (22.04, since broken) and won the 100 free in a meet with Texas on Nov. 10, and set a pool record in the 100 free (49.42) in a dual at Washington State Nov. 3.

• 2019 PAC-12 MEET RECAP
Cal won nine of 18 swimming races en route to a runner-up team finish at the 2019 Pac-12 Championships. Abbey Weitzeil earned three individual wins in the 50, 100 and 200 free, while Amy Bilquist claimed the 100 back. The Bears also swept all five relays (a feat later duplicated by the Cal men), capped by an NCAA-record 3:07.41 in the 400 free relay. In both the 100 and 200 free, the Bears swept the top three podium spots.

• TERI McKEEVER INTO CAL HALL OF FAME
Head coach Teri McKeever, now in her 27th season at Cal, was enshrined into the Cal Athletic Hall of Fame at an Oct. 26 ceremony. The 2012 U.S. Olympic head coach, she has guided the Bears to four NCAA team championships and four Pac-12 team titles, among many other honors. She is the 12th member of Cal's women's swimming & diving program to be inducted, joining Sarah Anderson, Marylyn Chiang, Haley Cope, Natalie Coughlin, Ann Curtis Cuneo, Margee MacFarland Curran, Barbara Stark Jordan, Mary T. Meagher, Staciana Stitts, Conny Van Bentum and Lynn Wittstock.

• GOLDEN BEAR TRIO ON WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS TEAM
Three Golden Bears will be on the U.S. team for the 2019 World Championships in South Korea - Katie McLaughlin, Abbey Weitzeil and Kathleen Baker. McLaughlin, who will swim the 100-meter fly, returns to Worlds for the first time since 2015 when she earned gold in the 800 free relay. Weitzeil will be competing in her third World Championships, which included a bronze medal in the 400 free relay in 2015, and will swim the 50 free and on the 400 free relay. Baker is one of three swimmers on the roster to qualify in four events - 50, 100 and 200 back and 200 IM - and she will likely be on the medley relay. She earned three medals at the 2017 world meet - gold (400 medley relay), silver (100 back) and bronze (200 back).

• COUGHLIN JOINS PAC-12 HALL OF HONOR
Former Cal swimmer Natalie Coughlin was inducted into the Pac-12 Hall of Honor at the Pac-12 Men's Basketball Tournament last weekend in Las Vegas, Nev. Coughlin, who starred for the Golden Bears from 2001-04, was an 11-time NCAA individual champion, winning the 100 back and 100 fly four times and the 200 back three times. A three-time NCAA Swimmer of the Year and Pac-10 Swimmer of the Year (2001-03), she was named the Pac-12 Swimmer of the Century in 2016. The three-time Olympian won 12 Olympic medals and 20 World Championships medals during her career.