Last year, Cal women’s swimming entered its season opener fresh off of Missy Franklin’s verbal commitment.
Now Franklin is in Berkeley as the Bears look forward to this weekend’s season opener against Oregon State.
Cal will travel to Corvallis, Ore., on Friday for its first Pac-12 meet. The last time the Bears faced the Beavers was in 2011, when the Bears raced Oregon State twice on consecutive days. Cal defeated the Beavers, 168-85, on the first day and won 13 of 14 races the next.
With the best recruiting class in the country, Cal should have no problem replicating these results. Ten freshmen, including Franklin, Celina Li, Kristen Vredeveld and Marina Garcia, will swim in their first college dual meet Friday.
In Cal’s first competition last Friday, the Cal Poly Queen of the Pool meet, Li had a strong showing and edged Franklin by one-tenth of a second to be crowned Queen of the Pool. Li won the 100 fly, the 100 breast and the 100 IM to win the title. And Li was not the only one who did well: The Bears swept the top 16 spots in the meet.
Li and Franklin will lead the Bears into the conference along with sophomores Elizabeth Pelton and 2012’s Queen of the Pool Rachel Bootsma. An American record holder in the 200 back, Pelton finished third at Cal Poly, one spot ahead of Bootsma.
With such an impressive collection of swimmers, the Bears will be close to unstoppable this weekend.
There are, however, a few glimmers of hope for the Beavers against Cal’s stacked lineup.
Sophomore Sammy Harrison qualified for the NCAA Championships as a freshman in both the 1650 free and 500 free and placed 31st in the 1650 and 43rd in the 500 free. Harrison also holds the Oregon State records in the 1650 free and the 1000 free.
Harrison’s expertise in long-distance freestyle events is valuable to the Beavers. The backstroke-heavy Bears showed some vulnerability in their freestyle events last season. Although Franklin likely will focus on some freestyle sprints at Berkeley, the longer freestyle events are still points of weakness.
Harrison’s teammate senior Crystal Kibby will also be a strong competitor for the Beavers. Last time Cal faced Oregon State, Kibby was a major part of the Beavers’ effort. Kibby was part of the Oregon State 200 medley relay that came in second behind Cal. She also finished second behind Caitlin Leverenz in the 400 IM and second in the 200 breast. With the end of Leverenz’s collegiate swimming career, the breaststroke events may prove to be another point of weakness for the Bears, so Kibby may have her opportunity to take some points.
As the Bears go into their first dual meet, however, victory is likely. But the greater value for Cal is not in winning the dual meet but in being able to gauge its strengths and weaknesses through Friday’s contest.
The preseason is largely used as preparation for the regular season, which is all part of the Bears’ training for the championship stretch of the season. Because of this, the most important function of this weekend is to allow the freshmen to continue to adjust to the higher level of swimming and to the Bears’ team dynamic.
Jessica Lim covers women’s swimming. Contact her at [email protected].