In arguably Cal’s most important meet of the year so far, the Cal women’s swimming team heads to Georgia this Friday through Sunday for the Georgia Fall Invitational hoping to repeat its success in last year’s championship meet.
Currently both undefeated, No. 2 Cal and No. 3 Georgia will also face No. 9 Auburn, No. 10 Virginia, Penn State and Harvard in the same format as the NCAA championships.
“We are really looking forward to racing this weekend,” associate head coach Kristen Cunnane said. “A lot of good racing is going on around the country, so it’s a good chance to put the suits on for the first time and see how fast we can swim.”
This year’s Georgia Fall Invitational, hosted in the Gabrielson Natatorium in Athens, Ga., might just be a preview of the 2013 NCAA championships.
Last year, the Bulldogs defeated the Bears during Georgia’s home meet, but the Bears edged out the Bulldogs during the championships.
“We’re especially excited to get an early look at Georgia, who is extremely strong this year with the return of Olympian Allison Schmitt and an addition of an extremely strong freshman class,” Cunnane said.
The meet will feature some of the best swimmers in the world racing each other head-to-head.
Cal’s team, led by the team’s veteran captain Caitlin Leverenz, will face off against Georgia’s Allison Schmitt, a five-time Olympic medalist and Virginia’s Lauren Perdue, an Olympic gold medalist.
“It’s a good measure to see where college teams are right now at this point in the season,” Leverenz said. “It ultimately has no effect on NCAAs, but we can see where teams stack up at this point.”
Cal’s young squad of freshmen will be tested against some of the more experienced Georgia veterans.
Georgia junior Shannon Vreeland currently boasts the 20th best time in the nation for the 200 free, while her teammate senior Megan Romano holds the 11th best time for the 50 free.
“I think this is the first time we get to go up against a big challenge like Georgia,” Leverenz said. “It’s good for us to get out there and race and to have that challenge so we can react to it.”
Cal’s freshmen have risen to the ranks of the nation’s top swimmers. Rachel Bootsma, who won an Olympic gold medal this summer in London, holds the 16th best time in the nation for the 100 back.
Alongside her is Elizabeth Pelton, who impressively has the nation’s second fastest time in the 200 back, the third fastest in the 200 IM and the sixth fastest in the 400 IM.
“Georgia has the home crowd advantage so we need to get out there and race and see what we can do,” Leverenz said.
With an intense rivalry brewing, Cal and Georgia will both seek to remain undefeated. In addition to the years of close encounters at the NCAA Championships, both programs always pursue the best swimming recruits.
They have not been challenged so far this fall. Neither team has faced a top-five ranked team yet this season, and this meet is a must-win for both teams.
Johnny Zhang covers women’s swimming. Contact him at [email protected]
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