Despite a second-place finish in the NCAA Tournament, the Cal men’s swimming team can find solace in being kings of the Pac-12 and ending Stanford’s 31-year reign as conference champions.
The Bears started off the season red-hot, finishing the dual meet season undefeated. In the past years, Cal has been notoriously known as a slow starter.
The Bears also had a solid finish to the season with a runner-up against a top field in the NCAAs. However, the highlight of the season was winning the Pac-12s with a score of 825 to 800 over Stanford.
In the past four years, the No. 2 men’s swimming team has enjoyed an unprecedented run of success with two runner-up finishes and two national championships.
“We had many firsts this season, such as winning the Pac-12 championships,” Cal coach David Durden said. “It was an historic moment and we’ve had the best four-year stretch of swimming in our history.”
At the Pac-12 Championships, senior Tom Shields was again named the 2013 Pac-12 Swimmer of the Meet. As a multi-event threat, Shields demonstrated versatility by participating in a variety of races, winning the 100 fly, 100 back and 200 fly races and a pair of relay races. Shields finished his career with a staggering total of 16 Pac-12 titles.
The key to winning the Pac-12 championship was winning the relays. Cal’s relay teams pulled out important victories to give Cal momentum into the next day. The 200 medley relay team finished with another medley title — Cal’s sixth in row.
Freshman Jacob Pebley, senior Trevor Hoyt, Shields and sophomore Seth Stubblefield also combined to capture the 400 medley relay.
“The key to our success was our performance in the morning prelims that put us in position to score points,” coach Durden said. “We capped it off with a nice race in the 400 medley relay.
“It is amazing to think about snapping the 31-year streak of Stanford’s and all of the great teams that they have held off over the years.”
Riding their momentum into the NCAAs, the Bears finished second to No. 3 Michigan. The Wolverines wound up winning its first NCAA title since 1995.
Despite falling short from winning the NCAAs for the third consecutive year, the Bears broke two American records in the 200 medley relay and the 200 fly race by Shields.
The 200 medley relay reset the American record by four-tenths of a second, with a time of 1:23.17. Shields continued his dominance by securing a national title in the 200 fly, tying Michael Phelps’s American record time of 1:39.65.
The lack of another national trophy was a sore spot, but Durden believed the team exceeded expectations.
“Looking at the nuts and bolts, second place finish was an overachieving performance even for us,” said coach Durden.
The Bears will miss the leadership and scoring of Shields and the other seniors, who ushered in the golden era of Cal swimming. Throughout the season, Cal always relied on Shields to accumulate huge point totals, and senior Ben Hinshaw for his leadership outside the pool.
Hinshaw constantly pumped up the team with his pre-match speeches. He showed the freshmen the ropes during practice and screamed words of encouragement during meets.
They established and continued a tradition of winning. In this new era and this season of Cal swimming, the team is closer than ever and help propel each other to new heights.
“The award is the journey not the destination,” Prenot said. “I can’t pick out a single moment; whether it’s Pac 12 championships or being runner-up at NCAAs, or our crazy weight training sessions, or spending time at the Olympic training center.
“But we really bonded and finished this season as a great team.”