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Cal Bears at USA Swimming Olympic Trail Day 6 (Friday) Recap and Day 7 (Saturday) Preview

On the next to last day of the 2016 U.S. Olympic Swimming Trial, we have 7 Golden Bears swimming in 4 finals. Will the Calympian U.S. Swimming squad be even bigger than the current 11?

By Ruey Yen
Ryan Murphy and Jacob Pebley went 1 and 2 in the men's 200 Back final on Friday night.
Ryan Murphy and Jacob Pebley went 1 and 2 in the men's 200 Back final on Friday night.
Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

Day 6 (Friday) Finals Recap

Four more 2016 U.S. Olympic Swimming team berths were claimed by Cal affiliated swimmers on Friday night. While two of the athlete were already going to Rio, it was still a very successful night for the Golden Bears. Bears also have plenty of success in the Friday night semifinals, leading to 7 Golden Bears in tonight's 4 finals. It is actually plausible for Golden Bears to sweep 1-2 spot in 3 of the 4 finals tonight.

Men's 200 Back - Bears go 1-2

Cal is Backstroke U, but that had more traditions on the women's side (think Natalie Coughlin and all the girls who came to Cal because of her...Rachel Bootsma, Elizabeth Pelton, Missy Franklin, etc.). The men's side has successful caught up to the women's on Day 6 of the Trial.

Golden Bears teammates (okay, so Jacob Pebley is technically an alum now while Ryan Murphy still has one more year of eligibility) claimed the top two spots in this race.

Ryan Murphy has already booked a spot on the team via his 100 Back victory. Jacob Pebley, however, needed this finish to go to Rio (Pebley had missed out on 100 Back earlier on the week with a 4th place finish) with his Cal buddies Murphy and roommate Josh Prenot (a fellow recent Cal grad who earned a spot by winning the 200 Breast).

Pebley's reaction to find out that he made the squad was priceless.

Congratulations to Ryan and Jacob. Both are serious threats to win, not just medal, this event in Rio.

Race Results:

1. Ryan Murphy (1:53.95)
2. Jacob Pebley (1:54.77)
3. Tyler Clary (1:55.33)
4. Sean Lehane (1:56.44)
5. Austin Katz (1:57.20)
6. Robert Owen (1:57.48)
7. Michael Taylor (1:57.86)
8. Hennessey Stuart (1:58.69)

Women's 100 Free - incoming Bear Abbey Weitzeil with the win

Another Calympian booked her ticket to Rio on Friday night.

Incoming freshman Abbey Weitzeil, who deferred matriculating at Cal by an year to train for the Olympic, won the 100 Free sprint.

Abbey was the favorite for this event coming into this meet, but it is still quite hard to live up to the expectation.

Cal alum and Olympic vet Dana Vollmer, already on the Olympic squad with her 2nd place 100 Fly finish, earned 6th place in the 100 Free to make the 4x100 relay. Vollmer now has the chance to win 3 medals (100 Fly, 400 medley relay, and 400 free relay)

Both Vollmer and Weitzeil are threat to make the team in the 50 Free (prelim this morning) as well.

Cal Women's Swimming head coach Teri McKeever, "The Bears are swimming great. Lots of great swims on the men side. They are just very inspiring, and so it's been a lot of fun."

Race Results:

1. Abbey Weitzeil (53.28)
2. Simone Manuel (53.52)
3. Amanda Weir (53.75)
4. Lia Neal (53.77)
5. Allison Schmitt (53.87)
6. Dana Vollmer (53.92)
7. Katie Ledecky (53.99)
8. Kelsi Worrell (54.06)

Men's 200 IM

The Michael Phelps - Ryan Lochte show had a spoiler in Cal sophomore and 19 year old Andrew Seliskar. Seliskar actually was in 4th place behind Phelps, Lochte, and Stanford alum David Nolan for the most part before fading at the end to finish in 7th place.

Seliskar would have to wait for his chance at the Olympic in 2020, when he is expected to be in his prime.

Race Result:

1. Michael Phelps (1:55.91)
2. Ryan Lochte (1:56.22)
3. David Nolan (1:59.09)
4. Gunnar Bentz (1:59.36)
5. Jay Litherland (1:59.91)
6. Abrahm Devine (2:00.15)
7. Andrew Seliskar (2:00.27)
8. Austin Surhoff (2:00.33)

Women's 200 Breast

This was a rare event without any Golden Bears in the final. Congratulations to Lilly King (who goes to Indiana) for winning the 200 Breast in addition to the 100 Breast (where she beat out Cal alum Jessica Hardy among others).

Race Results:

1. Lilly King (2:24.08)
2. Molly Hannis (2:24.39)
3. Bethany Galat (2:24.52)
4. Micah Lawrence (2:24.93)
5. Melanie Margalis (2:26.92)
6. Emma Schoettmer (2:27.30
7. Annie Lazor (2:27.48)
8. Sarah Henry (2:28.12)

Day 7 Events:

We are down to a bunch of finals on the night, all of which have Cal Bears as finalists.

Women's 200m Back - Final
Men's 100m Fly - Final
Women's 800m Free - Final
Men's 50m Free - Final
Women's 50m Free - Semifinal

For all of today's finals with the exception of Men's 100 Free, only the top 2 swimmers will make the U.S. Olympic team. The top 6 swimmers in Women's 100 Free will make the Rio games (although only the top 4 has immediately qualified).

Link to Day Seven Heat Sheet (please let me know in the comments if there are other Cal swimmers that I missed)

Viewing Info:

Prelims: 8 AM PT (LIVE on NBC Sports App/Live Stream)

Prelims tape delayed on TV: 2 PM PT on NBC Sports Network

Finals: 5 PM PT on NBC Sports Network (Not the change for July 2nd)

Results: USA Swimming site has links to the corresponding Omega time sheets

CGB overall preview of the 2016 USA Swim Olympic Trials (6/26 - 7/3)

*****

Day 7 Night Session Preview

Women's 200m Back - Final

Missy Franklin looks fairly strong in her signature event, the 200 Back, to grab the 2nd seed going into the final on Saturday night. Cal rising sophomore Amy Bilquist earns the 3rd seed and is also a contender to get one of the top two spots and book her way to Rio tonight.

Stanford recent alum Maya DiRado actually got the top time of the semifinal. DiRado has already won the 200 IM and 400 IM to book her spot to Rio. DiRado has also announced that she will quit swimming "to take a job" after this Olympic.

A Cal 1-2 finish like in the men's 200 Back would be splendid in this event.

Semifinal Top 8:

1. Maya DiRado (2:08.14)
2. Missy Fanklin (2:08.63)
3. Amy Bilquist (2:09.68)
4. Lisa Bratton (2:09.79)
5. Elizabeth Beisel (2:09.81)
6. Bridgette Alexander (2:09.83)
7. Danielle Galyer (2:09.88)
8. Erin Voss (2:10.06)

Men's 100 Fly Final

Cal alum Seth Stubblefield had scratched his 50 Free swim on Friday morning to concentrate on the 100 Fly. On Friday night, at least, that gamble appears to have paid off.

Stubblefield and fellow Cal alum Tom Shields (already going to Rio thanks to his 200 Fly 2nd place finish) are strong contenders to go 1-2 in this event.

Despite Stubblefield's top time, Shields is perhaps the better bet to win this event tonight. Nevertheless, it should be fun for Cal fans to have two more Bears to root for.

Oh yeah, Phelps is also in this final. Expect 90% of the coverage to be on Michael Phelps and Boomer Phelps (Michael's baby son).

Semifinal Top 8:

1. Seth Stubblefield (51.26)
2. Tim Phillips (51.28)
3. Tom Shields (51.49) - TIE
3. Jack Conger (51.49) - TIE
5. Matthew Josa (51.72)
6. Michael Phelps (51.83)
7. Will Glass (52.83)
8. Giles Smith (52.90)

Women's 800m Free - Final

UPDATE: Cierra Runge has apparently decided to not race in the final tonight. I am not sure if she is nursing an injury or just wants to give someone else the shot of beating Ledecky and Smith. Runge is likely already going to Rio in the 4x200 free relay thanks to her 5th place 200 Free finish.

The women's 800 Free prelim was swam in the morning of Friday. The top 8 times advance directly to Saturday night's final. Stanford commit Katie Ladecky won the prelim race again, of course, in the process, she now owns the top 10 best time all-time in this event. That is quite an impressive feat, especially for someone who choose to go to Stanford.

Former Cal Bears (on the Cal squad in 2015) and soon to be Wisconsin Badger (decided to transfer after taking this past year off to concentrate on her training) Cierra Runge (a likely Calympian for her 5th place finish in the 200 Free...still not officially confirmed though) is the Cal connection in this race.

Runge had the 6th best time on Friday morning. 20+ seconds behind Katie Ledecky and 10+ seconds behind Leah Smith.

This event takes over 8 minutes to complete, do not be surprised if NBC cuts into this race at midpoint or goes to commercials in the middle.

Men's 50m Free - Final

Bad news first, Cal alum William Copeland lost the swim-off to Josh Schneider (22.09 to 21.84 - both faster times than what they got in the semifinal 22.13) for the 8th place in tonight's final.

Nevertheless, the top two semifinalists in this event are two familiar names in Cal alum Anthony Ervin and Nathan Adrian.

By the way, check out this article on Nathan Adrian.

Semifinal Top 8

1. Anthony Ervin (21.55)
2. Nathan Adrian (21.60)
3. Cullen Jones (21.93)
4. Jimmy Feigen (22.02)
5. Caeleb Dressel (22.04)
6. Dillon Virva (22.06)
7. Michael Chadwick (22.11)
8. Josh Schneider (won swim-off)

Women's 50m Free - Semifinal

SwimSwam preview of this event

A couple notable scratches in this event include Natalie Coughlin (announced yesterday) and Amy Bilquist (to focus on the 200 Back final tonight). On the national front, Katie Ledecky has also scratched this event.

Bears who are swimming in this event include Kristen Vredeveld, Rachael Acker, Abbey Weitzeil, Jessica Hardy, Madison Kennedy, and Dana Vollmer.

Cal alum Madison Kennedy may be the dark horse in this event.

The Cal semifinalists in this event (just completed as I finish this post) are Kennedy (1st), Weitzeil (3rd), Vollmer (6th).

2016 U.S. Swimming Calympians (and events)

  • Dana Vollmer - 3rd Olympic game (2004, 2012, 2016) 100 Fly, 4x100 medley relay
  • Ryan Murphy - 1st Olympic game (2016) 100 Back, 200 Back, 4x100 medley relay
  • Kathleen Baker - 1st Olympic game (2016) 100 Back, 4x100 medley relay
  • Missy Franklin - 2nd Olympic game (2012, 2016) 200 Free
  • Cierra Runge* - likely has made the team as a part of the 4x200 free relay
  • Tom Shields - 1st Olympic game (2016) 200 Fly
  • Josh Prenot - 1st Olympic game (2016) 200 Breast
  • Nathan Adrian - 3rd Olympic game (2008, 2012, 2016) 100 Free, 4x100 free relay
  • Anthony Ervin - 3rd Olympic game (2004, 2012, 2016) 4x100 free relay
  • Jacob Pebley - 1st Olympic game (2016) 200 Back
  • Abbey Weitzeil - 1st Olympic game (2016) 100 Free, 4x100 free relay

Best of luck to all of the Golden Bears racing today.

GO BEARS!

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