Golden Medals: 3 Track Athletes in NCAA Indoors Championship

Three Cal Bears in NCAA Indoors Track and Field National Championships

• Event: NCAA Indoor National Championships
• Date: Friday, March 10 and Saturday, March 11
• Location: College Station, Texas
• Time: Field Events - 3:15 p.m. / 12 p.m.; Running Events - 3:30 p.m. / 2:00 p.m.

Three Golden Bears will be racing for individual NCAA titles this weekend from College Station, Texas. Thomas Joyce in the mile (semifinal 3:45 PM PT on Friday, final 2:10 PM PT on Saturday), Garrett Corcoran in the 3000m (final 4:15 PM PT on Saturday) and Ashtyn Davis in the 60m hurdles (semifinal 5 PM PT on Friday, final 3:10 PM PT on Saturday) are the three Cal Bears and events to track. Ashtyn Davis, who recently won the MPSF conference title in the 60m hurdles, is also a cornerback on the Cal Football squad.

ESPN3 will stream the championships live before ESPN2 shows the tape delayed championships on Sunday at 4 PM PT.

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Cal Women’s Tennis opens Pac-12 play in LA

After defeating the visiting UCLA and USC two weeks ago in a convincing pair of non-conference wins (6-1 that were clinched at 4-0), Cal Women’s Tennis (6-2) kicks off Pac-12 play this weekend by visiting USC and UCLA on Friday (1:30 PM PT) and Saturday (noon PT).

Cal Golden Bears are ranked 6th/12th. USC Trojans are ranked 21st/23rd. UCLA Bruins are ranked 16th/28th. There are the USTA and Oracle/ITA team polls.

Golden Bears were able to beat the LA school two weeks ago while resting senior Maegan Manasse who typically plays as the No.1 singles player for the Bears. Junior Karla Popovic did a great job filling in for Manasse while winning both of her matches. Popovic is now ranked 9th in the country while Manasse is ranked 45th. Cal sophomore Olivia Hauger (who plays as the No.3) is ranked 96th. In doubles, Hauger and Popovic (who play as Cal’s No.2 pair) are ranked 23rd. Manasse with grad transfer from Alabama Maya Jansen are ranked 28th - they play as the Bears’ top pair. Denise Starr with freshman Alexis Nelson are ranked 46th.

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Cal Men’s Tennis looks to bounce back from Big Slam loss to beat TCU, Texas

Cal Bears had a tough loss at Stanford on Tuesday. After winning the doubles point, the Bears lost the first set in every court except for Billy Griffith (who won his match in straight sets). Bears were able to rally to send both courts 3 and 6 into a decisive 3rd set. J.T. Nishimura was able to prevail in court 6. Fighting off a service break game in the 3rd set, Filip Bergevi in court 3 send the match (and the meet) to a decisive tie-breaker. Despite having two match points, Bergevi lost 11-9 in the tiebreaker to allow Stanford to escape with a win. Bears will seek revenge against the Cardinal in the regular season finale - that would also be the Big Slam that counts toward the conference standings.

Meanwhile, the Bears welcome TCU and Texas to Berkeley this weekend. Bears went down to Austin and defeated both TCU (then ranked 2nd in the country) and Texas last year. Bears again defeated TCU in the NCAA round of 16.

The match against No.31 TCU (5-4) will start at 5 PM PT today (Friday). The match against No.6/8 Texas (13-3) will begin at 2 PM on Saturday. Prior to the Stanford result, the Bears are ranked 5th and 6th in the USTA and Oracle/ITA poll, respectively.

The Cal duo of Florian Lakat and Filip Bergevi are ranked No.1 in the country in doubles.

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Cal Women’s Gymnastics welcome No.1 Oklahoma to Berkeley

With Pac-12 Championships next weekend down at The Farm, No.17 Golden Bears will celebrate their seniors while welcoming the top ranked Oklahoma Sooners to our Haas.

The Oklahoma Sooners may not have the Olympics star power of UCLA, but they are the defending National Champs (and national runner-ups to Florida in the three seasons before that) for a reason.

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Cal Beach Volleyball starts season 4-0

Cal Beach Volleyball started the season with 4 impressive wins down at Stanford. Bears defeated both Pacific and Saint Mary by a slim 3-2 margin.

No. 14 Cal 3, Pacific 2

No. 1: Lexi Elman-Andie Shelton (UOP) def. Mia Merino-Bryce Bark, 15-21, 21-17, 15-13

No. 2: Katrin Gotterba-Maycie LaBass (UOP) def. Olivia Rodberg-Grace Campbell, 21-14, 14-21, 15-10

No. 3: Jessica Gaffney-Camille Stepanof (Cal) def. Emily Baptista-Taylor Poncetta, 17-21, 21-13, 15-10

No. 4: Nicole-Anderson-Iya Lindahl (Cal) def. Janie Feldsher-Alex Holt, 21-19, 21-19

No. 5: Teya Neff-Bridget Gustafson (Cal) def. Ashlyn Fleming-Skylar Wine, 21-19, 21-12

No. 14 Cal 3, Saint Mary's 2

No. 1: Lindsey Knudsen-Payton Rund (SMC) def. Mia Merino-Bryce Bark, 21-18, 21-11

No. 2: Olivia Rodberg-Grace Campbell (Cal) def. Mary Hernandez-Lindsey Calvin, 21-10, 21-15

No. 3: Emily Bible-Sarah Chase (SMC) def. Jessica Gaffney-Camille Stepanof, 21-17, 21-23, 15-8

No. 4: Nicole Anderson-Iya Lindahl (Cal) def. Alexis Salmons-Alexsa Parker, 20-22, 21-17, 15-12

No. 5: Teya Neff-Bridget Gustafson (Cal) def. Madi Wilkerson-Sienna Young, 21-15, 21-16

Bears then back that up by beating Cal Poly 3-2 and Santa Clara 4-1 to improve to 4-0 on the season.

No. 14 Cal 3, Cal Poly 2

No. 1: Emily Sonny-Hannah Hubbard (CP) def. Bryce Bark-Mia Merino, 21-11, 21-14

No. 2: Grace Campbell-Olivia Rodberg (Cal) def. Raeann Griesen-Heather Pembroke, 21-13, 22-20

No. 3: Van Winden-Gorman (CP) def. Jessica Gaffney-Camille Stepanof, 21-16, 21-15

No 4: Nicole Anderson-Iya Lindahl (Cal) def. Taylor Gruenewald-Brayden Gruenewald, 21-12, 21-17

No. 5: Teya Neff-Bridget Gustafson (Cal) def. Dora Beilin-Holland Boege, 22-20, 21-18

No. 14 Cal 4, Santa Clara 1

No. 1: Bryce Bark-Mia Merino (Cal) def. Nikki Hess-Allison Kantor, 21-19, 21-19

No. 2: Kirsten Mead-Jensen Cunningham (SCU) def. Grace Campbell-Olivia Rodberg, 18-21, 21-19, 15-11

No. 3: Jessica Gaffney-Camille Stepanof (Cal) def. Hailey Lindberg-Taylor Laugero, 21-10, 21-11

No. 4: Nicole Anderson-Iya Lindahl (Cal) def. Tatiana San Juan-Michelle Gajdka, 21-18, 21-16

No. 5: Teya Neff-Bridget Gustafson (Cal) def. Ngozi Nwabuzoh-Erin Reineking, 21-12, 21-17

The Cal duos of Nicole-Anderson and Iya Lindahl in court 4 and Teya Neff and Bridget Gustafson were 4-0 on the weekend.

Bears will face Pac-12 foes in their second week of competition, both coming from Stanford again. Golden Bears will first face Utah (who just added Beach Volleyball this past year) on Saturday morning at 9 AM PT before playing host Stanford at 3 PM PT.

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Cal Rugby visits UCLA, plays USC, and then hosts Stanford

After losing the “World Cup” to the UBC Thunderbirds, the young Cal Golden Bears (11-2, 3-0 in PAC Rugby Conference) will look to bounce back by winning the PAC Rugby Conference yet again. Golden Bears will travel down to Westwood to take on both UCLA and USC on Saturday. An experience squad will play the UCLA Bruins (4-3, 2-2 in PAC) while a freshman-sophomore “junior varsity” team will play the USC Trojans (1-4, 1-3 in PAC). Bears will then play host to Stanford on Wednesday night (6:30 PM PT) to look to retain the Scrum Axe.

Bears will play one last regular season match, while honoring their seniors, when they host St. Mary Gaels on March 25th in a Pac-12 Networks match. That should be a very big match for two squads that are considered the favorites on two different “national championships” brackets - the Varsity Cup and the Division 1 Rugby national championships. The 14-team Varsity Cup playoff (rather different looking field this year without BYU) will begin for the Golden Bears after that.

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Cal Women’s Water Polo faces Harvard on Pac-12 Networks

If you want to watch Cal destroy Harvard in a sporting events, this Saturday’s Cal Women’s Water Polo (12-3) match at 2:30 PM PT is for you. Pac-12 Networks will have the action for those who can’t make it to Spieker Aquatics Complex.

Anything less than a completely dominant victory by the 4th ranked Golden Bears over the 20th ranked Harvard Crimson will be a surprise.

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After a close loss to St. Joseph, Cal Lacrosse hosts William and Mary and UConn

A week after earning their first win of the season at Butler, the Bears almost won their first home match of the season last Sunday against Saint Joseph. Unfortunately, the Bears fell short 17-18 (in the first match of the season decided by less than 6 goals). Bears also lost to Michigan by a 4-14 margin on Friday.

Seniors Jenna Fritts and Elizabeth Pellechi continue to lead the team in goals with 15 and 12 apiece. Freshman Susie Ropp added 3 goals and 3 assists in the St. Joseph match to be 3rd in team in points with 10 (4 goals and 6 assists total). Sophomore goal keeper Jenny Wilkens continue to face way too many shots on a regular basis that she has gotten way too many opportunities to make some fantastic saves.

Bears will welcome William and Mary on Saturday at noon before a Tuesday night match against UConn at 6 PM. The UConn match marks the Bears’ first match on the Pac-12 Networks of the season.

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One last road tournament for Cal Softball before home opener

Golden Bears (15-3) will visit Tulsa this weekend to play against Montana, Tulsa, Wichita State, and Texas Tech.

Bears saw their 10 game winning streak snapped by a surprising 4-3 loss to Northwestern last week, resting ace Zoe Conley. In the doubleheader that day, Bears could not score a run against the top 5 ranked Florida - losing 4-0 with Conley giving up a pair of homers.

The Bears did conclude the Judi Garman Classic in Fullerton with a pair of wins over Iowa (1-0) and Indiana (6-3).

After this weekend, the Bears will open their home schedule at Levine-Fricke Field on Tuesday March 14th against Lehigh and Wednesday March 15th against Minnesota. Pac-12 play starts that weekend with the Bears visiting Eugene agains the defending Pac-12 champs in Oregon.

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Finally, since I will be taking a “Spring Break” to hang out with a bunch of college students in swim suits...AKA a trip to Indianapolis, Indiana for the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships - both women’s and men’s, expect plenty of coverage on that in the next two weeks, both here and via the CGB Twitter.

In short, the Cal women are the overwhelming favorites to take 2nd place behind Stanford (and probably are the only team that can challenge Stanford). The Cal men will again battle Texas (winner of the past two years) for the top spot with NC State also in the mix. Increasing Cal’s chance this year, Texas have 3 divers qualified in 6 total events while Cal finally have freshman Connor Callahan in diving who is qualified in all 3 diving events.

Anyhow, anybody got some creative way that we can convince Katie Ledecky to turn pro after just one year?

GO BEARS!