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Women's Gymnastics
SAN JOSE, Calif. - For the second year in a row, the Cal women's gymnasts are the queens of Northern California. The No. 14 Golden Bears beat out No. 8 Stanford, Sacramento State, UC Davis and San Jose State for their second consecutive NorCal Classic title with a 195.575. Cal opens the season a perfect 4-0.
Stanford was the runner-up with a 194.800, followed by Sacramento State (194.325), UC Davis (192.700) and San Jose State (191.800).
Cal's 195.575 is its highest score in a season opener in program history.
Last year's Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, Toni-Ann Williams, opened her sophomore campaign with the 31st event title of her career. Williams shared the vault title with Stanford's Elizabeth Price with a 9.85, but did not compete in the all-around for the first time in her career. She did not compete on beam.
Men's Gymnastics
STANFORD, Calif. - The California Golden Bears men's gymnastics team opened the season with a team score of 423.900, falling to No. 3 Stanford, who posted a team total of 436.650 on Monday night at Maples Pavilion on the campus of Stanford University. Cal was paced by seniors Kyle Zemeir (86.750) and Kevin Wolting (86.250) in the all-around competition, while freshman Aaron Mah had a tremendous collegiate debut, participating in three events, and scoring no lower than 14.200 on any of his routines, including a 14.550 on vault.
National Football League
BERKELEY - Cal will have at least one former player participating in each of the four Divisional Round games of the NFL Playoffs after comeback road victories by Green Bay and Seattle on Sunday added four Golden Bears to rosters of teams that have advanced to the Divisional Round next Saturday-Sunday, Jan. 16-17.
Aaron Rodgers completed 21-of-36 passes for 210 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions to lead Green Bay to a 35-18 over a Washington team that also featured a pair of fellow former Bears in DeSean Jackson and Nick Sundberg. Richard Rodgers added two catches for 11 yards for the Packers, while Jackson caught two balls for 17 yards in defeat. Sundberg played but did record any statistics.
Brandon Mebane registered three tackles in Seattle's 10-9 victory at Minnesota while Marshawn Lynch did not make the trip due to injury. The Vikings rallied from a 9-0 deficit with 10 fourth-quarter points but needed a 27-yard missed field goal by the Vikings' Blair Walsh with 0:22 remaining to win.
The foursome join four former Cal players who had Wild Card Weekend byes in players C.J. Anderson (Denver) and Chris Harper (New England) as well as former Cal players in Carolina head coach Ron Rivera and assistant defensive backs coach Richard Rodgers Sr.
Baseball
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Junior right-hander Daulton Jefferies of the No. 13 California Golden Bears has been named as a Third Team Preseason All-American, Perfect Game announced on Monday. Jefferies also earned preseason All-American recognition earlier this offseason from the Collegiate Baseball newspaper, as a Louisville Slugger Second Team selection.
Jefferies, an Atwater, California, native, came into his own in 2015 as a Friday-night starter for the Bears during his sophomore campaign, going 6-5 with a 2.92 ERA in 14 appearances, 13 of which are starts. He logged 80.0 innings, striking out a team-high 74 batters and conversely allowing just 17 walks. Opponents hit just .239 against him, and ranked seventh in the Pac-12 in strikeouts. Additionally, Jefferies was tied for eighth best in fewest walks allowed. He threw seven sparkling innings, allowing just one run on three hits with five strikeouts in the College Station Regional in a 9-3 win over Coastal Carolina. He also started and pitched one inning on short rest in the regional final, a 3-1 loss to Texas A&M, allowing one hit and striking out two Aggies.
Women's Basketball
BERKELEY - Despite leading 49-31 at halftime, No. 21 Cal couldn't deflect a second-half attack by Utah (11-4, 3-1 Pac-12), and the Golden Bears dropped their first Pac-12 home game, 84-79, to fall to 10-5 overall and 1-3 in Pac-12 play. The Utes outscored Cal 53-30 in the second half.
Freshman Kristine Anigwe led with 23 points (9-21) and 11 rebounds, continuing her streak of a double-double in every Pac-12 game this season. Three other Bears scored in double figures - sophomores Mikayla Cowling (14, 6-9) and Gabby Green (season-high 12, 5-12) and freshman Asha Thomas (10, 4-11).
SAN FRANCISCO - Kristine Anigwe is now one of only two players in Pac-12 history to earn seven Pac-12 Freshman of the Week awards, picking up her conference-record seventh Monday after averaging a double-double through three games last week.
Washington's Kelsey Plum is the only other player to earn seven weekly honors since the award was introduced in 2012-13. Anigwe has earned the honor seven of nine weeks of the season.
The frosh turned in in 20.7 points per game and 11.3 rebounds per game in a 1-2 week for the Bears. Her biggest performance of the week came in a 20-point outing against Colorado, a game in which the Bears limited the Buffaloes to just 35 points. Nearly half of the frosh's career-high 13 rebounds came as offensive boards (6), and Anigwe shared the love with a career-high four assists from her post position.