Video recap of the action from the Pac-12 Networks
Cal Swimming vs. Arizona State
When: 12 pm PT
Where: Spieker Aquatics Complex, Berkeley, CA
If you're in Berkeley this weekend, this is the last two home meets of the year for the dominant forces that is Cal swimming. Both the men and the women will be in action as they take on Arizona State today (at noon, live on the Pac-12 Networks) and Arizona on Saturday (also at noon, taped delayed coverage on the Pac-12 Networks at 8:30 pm PT). The Cal women are the No.1 ranked team in the country behind Olympians in Missy Franklin and Rachel Bootsma and likely future Calympians in Elizabeth Pelton, Celina Li, etc. The Cal men are ranked 4th in the country with senior Calympian Marcin Tarczynski leading the way.
There is Calympian star power on the sideline as well as Cal great Natalie Coughlin is taking time off from her training (and food growing/making) to do color commentary on these meeets.
Golden Bear Team Photo, Colorado Springs Training Camp. #GoBears pic.twitter.com/CUMTnqGuy0
— Natalie Coughlin (@NatalieCoughlin) January 10, 2014
Arizona State is unranked while the Arizona men are ranked 5th.
I wrote about my expectation of both teams this NCAA season in the winter season preview last week. Everybody in the swimming world and beyond is expecting the Cal women to win a whole lot of races en route to a NCAA team championship. With the bulk of the top swimmers in the country all sporting the Cal cap, the most interesting aspect of the weekend (for the women, at least) is perhaps which Bear will touch the wall first.
This is the first meets for the Bears in 2014. The Cal women are coming off the annual winter training trip to Hawaii (the men apparently decided to train in Colorado...see Natalie Coughlin's tweet above).
The Cal men also have high expectation on the season. The Bears men have peaked at the NCAA championships last three years, winning back-to-back title follow by a 2nd place finish. Cal is expected to be one of the top team in the country with the likes of Michigan and Texas.
Some of the Bears also do some good work outside of the pool:
GO BEARS!