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Cal Bears at USA Swimming Olympic Trials final totals

At the conclusions of the 2016 U.S. Swimming Olympic Trials, we have 12 Golden Bears (11 swimmers, 1 coach) heading to Rio to swim in 27 events (assuming the typical relay plans).

By Ruey Yen
For the 2nd consecutive day, a pair of Golden Bears (Adrian and Ervin in 50 Free on Saturday) swept the Olympic berths in an event.
For the 2nd consecutive day, a pair of Golden Bears (Adrian and Ervin in 50 Free on Saturday) swept the Olympic berths in an event.
Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

2016 U.S. Swimming Calympians and events (Updated Final Total)

Disclaimer, the 4x100 medley relay lineups have not been set. However, typically, the two 100 meter qualifier from each event would swim the prelim and the final of those relays. My counts of events (and the chances to medal) include this assumption.

  • Dana Vollmer - 3rd Olympic game (2004, 2012, 2016) 100 Fly, 4x100 Medley relay, 4x100 Free 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, 4x200 Free relay, 200 Back
  • Cierra Runge - 1st Olympic game (2016) 4x200 Free relay
  • Tom Shields - 1st Olympic game (2016) 200 Fly, 100 Fly, 4x100 Medley relay
  • Josh Prenot - 1st Olympic game (2016) 200 Breast
  • Nathan Adrian - 3rd Olympic game (2008, 2012, 2016) 100 Free, 4x100 Free relay, 50 Free, 4x100 Medley relay
  • Anthony Ervin - 3rd Olympic game (2004, 2012, 2016) 4x100 Free relay, 50 Free
  • Jacob Pebley - 1st Olympic game (2016) 200 Back
  • Abbey Weitzeil - 1st Olympic game (2016) 100 Free, 4x100 Free relay, 50 Free, 4x100 Medley relay
  • Dave Duren - Named to the Coaching Staff, after winning Coach of the Meet honor at this Olympic Trials and placing 6 of his swimmers on the team

It's officially official!! I am RIO BOUND!! Words cannot describe the feeling of making my first Olympic Team and fulfilling a lifelong goal. Thank you to everyone who helped me get to this point! #rio2016

A photo posted by Cierra Runge (@cierrarunge) on 

Keep an eye out on California Golden Blogs for more information on these Calympians as we will start rolling out Calympian profiles next week (I count 30+ confirmed Calympians across all nations and all sports, and there could be easily a dozen or so more).

*****

Day 7 Recap:

Women's 200m Back - Final

Missy Franklin has earned the right to defend and the time to figure out how to defend the 2012 London Gold in her signature event of the 200 Back. Franklin finished in 2nd place behind recent Stanford grad Maya DiRado (who's been having a very very good meet by winning 200 IM, 400 IM, and now 200 Back) just ahead of Lisa Brattan and Cal rising sophomore Amy Bilquist.

Franklin got in just half a second ahead of Brattan and Bilquist. Despite a disappointing finish in the 100 Back that prevents her from swimming in both that event and the 4x100 medley relay, Missy will swim in 3 events in Rio - 200 Free, 4x200 Free relay, and now the 200 Back.

The time posted by Bilquist is a personal best. She had improved on her time from the prelim to the semi to the final. Cal fans should be excited to see what she can do in the NCAA next year.

Race Results:

1. Maya DiRado (2:06.90)
2. Missy Franklin (2:07.89)
3. Lisa Bratton (2:08.20)
4. Amy Bilquist (2:08.30)
5. Danielle Galyer (2:09.31)
6. Erin Voss (2:09.81)
7. Elizabeth Beisel (2:11.12)
8. Bridgette Alexander (2:11.41)

Men's 100m Fly - Final

All eyes were on Michael Phelps in his last domestic competitive swim of his career (unless he wants to prolong it again after Rio). However, a pair of Golden Bears had other ideas. Tom Shields, already going to Rio thanks to his 200 Fly 2nd place finish, and Seth Stubblefield were the top two seeds going into the final.

Of course, Phelps lived up to his hype and won this race. Shields just edged Stubblefield for the 2nd spot.

The 100 Fly is actually Tom Shields' better event than the 200 Fly. Don't be surprised if Shields again challenges Phelps in Rio for the Gold in both of these fly events.

Race Results:

1. Michael Phelps (51.00)
2. Tom Shields (51.20)
3. Seth Stubblefield (51.24)
4. Jack Conger (51.26)
5. Tim Phillips (51.44)
6. Matthew Josa (51.86)
7. Will Glass (52.25)
8. Giles Smith (53.56)

Women's 800m Free - Final

Former Cal Bears (and transfer to Wisconsin) and confirmed Calympian on Saturday night (more on that later) Cierra Runge, 6th seed in the final, opted to scratch this event. This race ends up being rather anticlimactic with Katie Ledecky (who will attend Stanford in the fall and swim collegiately since she has yet to turn pro) cruising to the victory but not really pushing herself for the world record. Even prior to this final, Ledecky owns the 10 best time, all-time in this event. Leah Smith finished a distant second, as expected, to also earn another event at Rio.

Race Results:

1. Katie Ledecky (8:10.32)
2. Leah Smith (8:20.18)
3. Stephanie Peacock (8:24.71)
4. Lindsay Vrooman (8:29.10)
5. Ashley Twichell (8:29.85)
6. Hannah Moore (8:31.01)
7. Haley Anderson (8:33.66)
8. Sierra Schmidt (8:36.09)

Men's 50m Free - Final

Just like the Men's 200 Back final on Friday night, Cal men's swim dominated another race on Saturday night for the 50 Free. Cal alum, multiple Olympic medalists, and former training partners (before Ervin moved away from training at Cal recently) Nathan Adrian and Anthony Ervin finished 1 and 2 in this extremely close race.

Nathan Adrian completes the double of winning both the 100 Free and the 50 Free. He will swim in both of those events as well as the 4x100 free relay.

Check out their post race interview with another Cal alum, Michele Tafoya.

With the qualification in this individual event, 35 year old Anthony Ervin is the oldest athlete to qualify for an individual event in the Olympics since 1904. That's pretty cool. Ervin has a chance to earn two medals in the 4x100 free relay and now the 50 free.

Race Results:

1. Nathan Adrian (21.51)
2. Anthony Ervin (21.52)
3. Cullen Jones (21.75)
4. Caeleb Dressel (21.80)
5. Josh Schneider (21.95)
6. Michael Chadwick (21.96)
7. Jimmy Feigen (21.99)
8. Dillon Virva (22.40)

Before we continues to the preview for tonight and a look at the list of confirmed Calympians and confirmed retirements, I would just like to take one more minute to acknowledge how close Caitlin Leverenz (Calympian in 2012), Seth Stubblefield (recent Cal grad), Amy Bilquist (rising Cal sophomore) got to becoming Rio Calympians. All three of these swimmers have the ability to potentially win their events at Rio had they just qualified (or represent another country). All three are young enough to be relevant in 2020, may they channel their near miss into better things in the future.

From the Tom Shields interview above, it sounds like that Seth Stubblefield has got different plans than swimming for the next year. I am not going to include him in the section below until I find a more firm statement that Stubblefield is retiring from swimming.

*****

Viewing Info:

Finals: 4 PM PT on NBC (note the earlier start time)

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 8 Preview:

There are just two events left in the 2016 U.S.A. Swimming Olympic Trials.

Women's 50m Free - Final
Men's 1500m Free - Final

Both of these events will advance only the top two finisher to Rio.

After a very successful week as a whole, there are actually no Cal men's swimmer in the 1500 Free final tonight (distance swimming has always been one of the very few weakness for Cal swimming). All those swimmers flock to Michigan, including the favorite in this final tonight, Connor Jaeger.

Women's 50 Free

Three Golden Bears still got more racing to do on Sunday night.

Cal alum Madison Kennedy is looking to make her first Olympic games in this crazy sprint of an event. Her 2nd seed from the semifinal (and the top time in the prelim) clearly demonstrated her ability to do so. Incoming Golden Bear Abbey Weitzeil, winner of the 100 Free earlier on the week, will try to pull the 100 and 50 Free double (same feat accomplished by Calympian Nathan Adrian on the men's side). Also in the mix is Dana Vollmer, who is looking to have a potential opportunity to earn 4 medals in Rio.

It should be an exciting 24.4 seconds to wrap this Olympic Trial for California Swimming.

*****

Cal Swimmers who have announced their retirement

Of course, many great Cal swimmers did not make the U.S. Olympic team. Many of them have already announced that this is (probably) it for their career. Here is a (probably) incomplete list of those announcement. Best of luck to these Golden Bears in their future endeavors outside of the pool. May their Cal education assists them in their second career.

Jessica Hardy

The two time Olympic relay medalist (bronze in 4x100 medley and gold in 4x100 free from 2012 London) has swum her last race (at least domestically) on Saturday's 50 Free prelim.

Elizabeth Pelton

In case Liz Pelton's use of past tense above is not obvious.

Rachel Bootsma

Before the meet, Bootsma had said that she is done swimming competitively after the Olympics. The former Gold medalist (from 2012 right before she matriculated at Cal) and 3 time NCAA individual champion will finish her Cal degree in December.

Melanie Klaren

Another recent Cal graduate who has decided to quit swimming competitively after this trials is recent Cal captain in Melanie Klaren. Overshadowed somewhat by the presence of Bootsma, Pelton, and Missy Franklin during her time at Cal, Klaren fell short of the finals in both the 100 back and 200 back. She will start her coaching career at Duke this fall.

Klaren is focused more on the 200 backstroke on Friday but also has made some important life decisions. The former Cal captain will retire from swimming this summer and become an assistant coach at Duke.

"This is my last meet, so I’m just going to have fun," she said. "I made World University Games last summer. I wanted to pick my end date. ... I’m really happy with that choice. Being here is awesome."

Trent Williams

Another Cal recent graduate has swum his last competitive race.

Of course, I am not including Natalie Coughlin here because she has not officially announced her retirement from swimming.

*****

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

GO BEARS!

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