Cal at Stanford Triple-Distance Meet, Host Badgers

BERKELEY – It will be a busy week for the 2014 NCAA champion California men's swimming team (2-0) as David Durden’s squad will first travel to Bay Area rival Stanford for a Triple-Distance Meet on Wednesday, Nov. 5, at 2 p.m. at Avery Aquatics Center. The Golden Bears will then entertain Wisconsin on Friday, Nov. 7 at 1 p.m. at Spieker Aquatics Complex in the final dual meet of the 2014 fall season.

Wednesday's meet at Stanford will not count towards either team's dual-meet record, but will feature some of the very best collegiate swimmers in the nation competing in a non-standard event schedule.

In the Triple-Distance Meet, athletes divide into specialty groups that compete with one another in three races to determine a specialty champion in each of swimming's six event domains: sprinters (50, 100, 200 free), distance swimmers (200, 500, 1000 free), butterflyers (50, 100, 200 butterfly), breaststrokers (50, 100, 200 breaststroke), backstrokers (50, 100, 200 backstroke) and individual medlyists (100, 200, 400 IM). Individual champions will be recognized in each domain as the athlete with the fastest cumulative times from three events.

The official Pac-12 dual meet between the two Bay Area teams will be Saturday, Feb. 21 at 12 p.m. at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

Last year, Cal won the NCAA championships, while the Cardinal placed ninth. The Bears also snapped Stanford’s 31-year streak of winning the conference meet in 2013, capturing the Pac-12 title for the first time since 1981. Cal repeated as Pac-12 champions in 2014.

On Friday, the Bears host a Badger squad coached by former Cal assistant women's swimming coach (2004-06) Whitney Hite. Last season, Cal topped Wisconsin, 151-131, in a dual meet in Berkeley. The Badgers went on to finish 33rd at the 2014 NCAA meet.

Cal opened its 2014-15 dual meet season with a 173-81 victory at Pacific on Oct. 8 in Stockton. The Bears then defeated Hawaii, 159-117, on Oct. 17 at Spieker Aquatics Complex. Cal has now captured 17 straight dual meets over the past three seasons.

Two Bears who will be featured this week are seniors Will Hamilton and Fabio Gimondi. Hamilton, who was the NCAA champion in the 200 fly in 2012 and in September, 2014 was King of the Pool at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with the lowest aggregate time of 4:07.25 in the 100 fly, 100 back, 100 breast, 100 free and 100 IM. Gimondi is a top sprinter for Cal who was a 2012 NCAA champion as a member of the Bears' 200 free relay, swimming the third leg in a time of 19.27. Last season, he swam the prelims of Cal's 400 medley relay that won the 2014 NCAA title.

The Bears will again vie for an NCAA crown in 2015 after winning national championships in 2011, 2012 and 2014 under Durden. Besides returning defending national champion (100 and 200 backstroke) Ryan Murphy, Cal returns NCAA relay champions Seth Stubblefield, Tyler Messerschmidt, and breaststroker Chuck Katis, among several others who have shined during Pac-12 and NCAA championship competition. The Bears also feature a stellar 2014-15 freshman class