Golden Medals: W. Swim, Gym, & Water Polo Calympians in home events

Cal Women’s Gymnastics stays perfect (7-0), hosts ASU on Saturday night (6 pm PT on Pac-12 Networks)

No.15 Golden Bears put on a show for the home crowd last Saturday when they placed 1st in a tri-meet against Pac-12 rival Washington and Bay Area neighbor San Jose State.

Senior Desiree Palomares had another great performance on the beam to win that event with a 9.90.

Junior Toni-Ann Williams won the Floor with a 9.90 as well. Williams won Pac-12 honors for the week.

Senior Emily Richardson had a 9.90 routine on the bars.

Despite the win, the Bears saw their ranking slipped a little bit more after a second consecutive weeks of leaving points behind on the floor exercise as a whole. Bears were ranked 10th overall in the country but slipped to 13th and now 15th. Nevertheless, it is comforting to know that the Bears have yet to peak on the young season as they will soon be taking on some top 10 squads in Pac-12 rivals in Utah (next Saturday in Salt Lake City) and eventually UCLA.

The show goes on this weekend again from Haas Pavilion as the Bears host the visiting Arizona State Sun Devils.

Calympian in Action: Toni-Ann Williams (Jamaica), Rio 2016

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Cal Women’s Swimming takes on USC and UCLA in dual meets

No.6 Golden Bears (5-1) welcome the LA schools with dual meets on Friday at 2 pm PT and Saturday at noon PT.

Despite the ranking of 6th in the country, the Bears are a good bet to continue the streak of finishing in top 3 in the country. Bears have got plenty of depth from a bunch of swimmers with Olympic experiences, not to mention likely future Calympians in Amy Bilquist, Katie McLaughlin, and Keaton Blovad.

While the bar for this has been relatively low, sophomore diver Phoebe LaMay has already set school records in 1-meter and 3-meter this season. It would be interesting to see how the Bears match up against traditional diving powerhouse in USC.

Expect another dominant weekend from the Cal Women. Bears have one last home meet after this weekend when they host Stanford on February 11th.

Calympians in Action:

Kathleen Baker (USA - Silver in 100 Back, Gold in 4x100 Medley Relay), Rio 2016;

Abbey Weitzeil (USA - Gold in 4x100 Free Relay, Gold in 4x100 Medley Relay), Rio 2016;

Farida Osman (Egypt), Rio 2016, London 2012;

Noemie Thomas (Canada), Rio 2016;

Marina Garcia (Spain), London 2012

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Cal Women’s Water Polo (2-0) opens home schedule

No.4 Golden Bears will host No.22 CSUN and 4 other ranked teams in the California Speedo Cup I this weekend from Berkeley.

After the Friday match against CSUN, Bears will play No.14 Long Beach State and No. 19 UC Davis on Saturday at 12:30 PM and 4 PM, respectively. CSUN and No.17 San Jose State are also a part of this Speed Cup.

Anything short of 3 routs this weekend would be deemed a disappointment for the Bears. Thus far, the three Calympians who took a sabbatical year last season for the Olympics, have seamlessly reintegrated back into a team that saw a lot of growth from players who were counted on to do more.

Calympians in Action:

Dora Antal (Hungary), Rio 2016, London 2012;

Roser Tarrago (Spain), Rio 2016, London 2012;

Anna Illes (Hungary), Rio 2016

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Cal Women’s Tennis starts ITA Indoors defense

No.8 Golden Bears host Xavier, Missouri, and Old Dominion this weekend for the right to advance to the ITA Indoors final 16 from New Haven, CT in a couple of weeks. Bears are the defending champs at the ITA Indoors - the first team national title in program history.

Although the Bears graduated two key team members in Klara Fabikova and Lynn Chi, junior Karla Popovic has taken a big step forward this fall to join Cal’s No.1 player in Maegan Manasse as amongst the best singles players in the country.

Denise Starr and Olivia Haugher are also back for the Bears, who are looking to make another deep run in both the ITA Indoors and the NCAA championships as a team. Maya Jansen, a grad transfer from Alabama, has paired with Manasse as the Bears’ top doubles duo. It will be interesting to see for the first time this season just which players have entered the start singles and doubles lineups.

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Cal Men’s Tennis to prove that the hype is real

No.4 Golden Bears are coming off a Final Four run in the NCAA championship last year. They will be out to prove that the No.4 ranking is well deserved.

Last year, the Bears’ trip to Duke for the ITA kickoff was snowed out. This year, the Bears get to host Cal Poly, Tulane, and Pepperdine for the rights to advance to Charlottesville, VA for the ITA Indoors final 16.

Bears graduated Oskar Wikberg but return the other 5 singles mainstay in Filip Bergevi, Florian Lakat, Billy Griffith, Andre Goransson, and J.T. Nishimura.

Just like for the women, this weekend will reveal the Bears’ new lineup for the year (barring some early season injuries that we don’t know about).

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Cal Men’s Gymnastics places 2nd at Stanford Open

No.9 Golden Bears (1-2) finally claimed a victory after two consecutive weekends of competing against rival Stanford. Bears placed 2nd behind No.2 Stanford but ahead of No.19 Washington at the Stanford Open last weekend.

Bears had some issues with the pommel horse as a whole, while recorded a tremendous improvement on the rings.

This Saturday, the Bears will finally avoid facing Stanford when they head to LA to participate in the quad meet hosted by No.20 USC. No.14 Arizona State and No.18 Temple will also be a part of that meet.

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Cal Track and Field opens season at Washington Indoor

Finally, we get to a Cal sports that does not have a top 25 ranking as a whole. Cal Track and Field will open their season up in Seattle - the same site for two more visits in the next month, including for the MPSF Championships on February 24-25.

Individually ranked Golden Bears entering this event include:

Ashtyn Davis (60 Meter Hurdles, 12th), Garrett Corcoran (Mile, 22nd), Eugene Hamilton III (800 Meters, 22nd), Thomas Joyce (Mile, 26th), Bethan Knights (Mile, 17th; 3000 Meters, 10th), and Peter Simon (Shot Put, 10th)

Freshman Robert Brandt is expected to do well thanks to his performance in the Cross Country season.

In addition to the individual rankings, both men's (18th) and women's (16th) distance medley relay teams were ranked in the top 20 nationally.

GO BEARS!