Cal softball alum Valerie Arioto is stealing all the spotlight recently.

The U.S. women’s national softball team took home its first gold medal of the summer on Friday at the Mayor’s Cup in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Led by Arioto’s .500 batting average, Team USA garnered gold after finishing the Caribbean tournament with a pristine 4-0 record, claiming wins over Canada, Argentina, Puerto Rico and Cuba.

After each team fought through several days of inclement weather and rain delays, the tournament officials decided to cancel the championship game, awarding the Mayor’s Cup title to No. 1 seed USA by default. As the No. 2 seed, Cuba took silver, and Canada came away with bronze.

But despite an otherwise anticlimatic end to the tournament, Arioto’s powerful presence on the field shone throughout the week as the former Cal softball star aided her team to victory after victory.

Arioto led the offense, batting three for six and collecting a home run, five RBIs and six walks. The one inning in which the star player pitched, Arioto struck out two batters from the circle.

All in all, the Eagles posted an overall impressive performance at the tournament, outscoring opponents 30-8 with the pitching staff combining for a 1.88 ERA.

On Saturday, Arioto continued her domination on the field during the first day of the Pan American Games Qualifier, also held in San Juan.

With a 1-0 score and three runners on at the bottom of the first, Arioto cleared the bases with a home run hit over the fence to produce a 5-0 score.

After Arioto’s grand slam, Team USA notched several runs, one after another, until the team was leading Aruba 11-0 by the end of the first.

The Eagles eventually conquered Aruba after three innings with a 16-0 victory on Saturday. Team USA will continue round-robin play in the Pan American Games against Brazil on Sunday.

Bears show enthusiasm as 2013 Cal volleyball training camp opens

Cal football isn’t the only team that has started training for the fall season.

The Cal volleyball team was out on the court early Saturday morning for its first practice of the 2013 season, with another practice scheduled for that afternoon.

“It was good to see everyone out there,” said Cal coach Rich Feller after practice. “There was lots of enthusiasm, as you would expect … The new kids seem to be fitting in really well and getting used to things. The returning players are setting a good example with the tempo and communication level.”

Cal has six new recruits on its roster, which includes an incoming freshman class ranked in the top 25 in the country. Middle blocker Jenelle Jordan, libero Maddy Kerr and setter Alyssa Jensen will join returning starters like Joan Caloiaro and Adrienne Gehan on the team.

In addition, rising junior Michelle Neumayr will return to play for the Bears after sitting on the sidelines for the past two years. As one of the nation’s most highly recruited players coming out of high school, Neumayr suffered season-ending injuries in her first two years at Cal, preventing her from getting any play time. But the outside hitter is looking to return to the court to make her contributions to the squad.

“It felt great to finally be back out there,” Neumayr said. “At first, there were some jitters. I was nervous and excited. But once I started playing, it was a lot of fun.”

The Bears will open the season with the Cal Molten Classic at Haas Pavilion on Aug. 30.

The post Sports in Brief — August 11, 2013 appeared first on The Daily Californian.

JD Lasica/Courtesy

18-year-old swimming phenom Missy Franklin is quickly taking over as the face of Team USA after superstar Michael Phelps retired last year.

The future Cal women’s swimmer, who burst onto the international swimming scene after posting four gold-medal wins at the 2012 London Olympics, recently garnered the title of most decorated female swimmer in the history of any world championships with six gold medals.

After competing for nearly a week at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, Spain, Franklin topped off her incredible showing at the 2013 FINA World Championships with a final win in the women’s 400-meter medley relay on Sunday.

Swimming the leadoff leg for Team USA in her last event on Sunday, Franklin gave the United States a slight lead in the backstroke while her teammates, including Cal alums Jessica Hardy and Dana Vollmer, comfortably finished off the race with a winning time of three minutes and 53.23 seconds. Team USA breezed by runner-up Australia by nearly two seconds and third-place Russia by more than three.

Earlier in the competition, Franklin and Cal alumna Natalie Coughlin led Team USA to the gold in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay — narrowly edging out the second-place Australian team by only 0.12 seconds.

After once again claiming gold in the 100 back, the teenage swimming star opted out of the 50-meter backstroke semifinals on the fourth day to focus on the 200 free — one of the events Franklin did not medal in at the 2012 Olympics.

Her decision to concentrate on the 200 free paid off, as the incoming Bear edged world-record holder Federica Pellegrini of Italy to take home her third gold.

“If I had made finals (in the 50 back), it would have also been before the (4×200-free) relay tomorrow night,” Franklin said after choosing to withdraw from the 50 back race. “So with it being right before this and right before the relay, we decided the risks outweighed the rewards for that race … I think I’m happy with the decision to scratch.”

On Thursday night, Australia held the lead in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay for a majority of the race. However, Franklin outswam Team Australia’s Alicia Coutts in the anchor leg of the relay to push the United States to another gold medal victory.

After posting one impressive performance after another, Franklin claimed a championship record time of 2:04.76 to capture the 200 back and add her fifth gold to her increasing medal haul.

All in all, Franklin surpassed the previous female record of five golds at a world meet, set by American Tracy Caulkins in 1978 and Australian Libby Trickett in 2007. The native of Centennial, Colo., also became the fifth swimmer ever to earn as many as six gold medals at a Worlds or an Olympics, joining an exclusive club known only to swimmers like Mark Spitz and Phelps.

“I had some really great races that I’m really proud of, and there’s still a bunch where I have a lot of room to improve,” Franklin said, according to the AP. “So I’m really excited for the next year and the year after that and all the years following those.”

We’ll see you soon at Cal, Missy.

Contact Janice Chua at jchua@dailycal.org.

The post Missy Franklin takes home six gold medals at world championships appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Future Cal women’s swimmer Missy Franklin and Cal alumna Natalie Coughlin both led Team USA to the top on Sunday at the 2013 FINA World Swimming Championships, held at the Palau Saint Jordi in Barcelona, Spain. On the first day of Worlds, Franklin led off the 4×100-meter freestyle relay, after which Coughlin swam the second leg to help the U.S. team break a previous American record time with 3:32.31 in the final.

Although No. 2 Australia led the relay for a majority of the race, Franklin, Coughlin and the rest of Team USA narrowly edged the second-place Australian team by only 0.12 seconds to take home the gold.

Three other Cal women’s alumnae posted impressive performances on the first day of the championships, with 25-year old Lauren Boyle garnering bronze in the 400-meter freestyle.

A native of Auckland, New Zealand, Boyle captured New Zealand’s first medal at Worlds since 1994 with the fourth-fastest time in qualifying and third-best in the final.

Meanwhile, Dana Vollmer, the current world record-holder and 2012 Olympic gold medalist in the 100-meter butterfly, qualified for Monday’s 100-fly final by posting the fourth-fastest time in the Sunday semifinal. Other Cal alumna and 2012 Olympian Caitlin Leverenz qualified for the 200-meter individual medley final with seventh-best time in her event.

Future Cal Bear conquers field at 2013 Manhattan Beach Open

Maegan Manasse, one of the Cal women’s tennis recruits for the upcoming season, didn’t just win the Women’s Open Final at the 46th annual Manhattan Beach Open.

She dominated it.

A native of Southern California, Manasse didn’t lose even one set and only fell in two games throughout the entire four-day tournament, held at Live Oak Park last weekend.

After scoring a 6-2, 6-0 win over Beatrice Rosen as one of the top tournament seeds in the Women’s Open division semifinals, Manasse took down former UCLA alum Helen Tu with a double bagel win in the Women’s Open final.

The incoming Cal freshman aggressively took down Tu after a 45-minute final match in two sets, 6-0, 6-0, to capture the Women’s Open title.

“I have been watching her game grow the past couple of years, and she is amazing to watch,” Tu said after the final match. “She reminds me of myself 20 years ago, except she’s going to be a lot better.”

Manasse will only add more depth to Cal’s already formidable roster in the fall, as her strength in an offensive style of play currently places the new Cal recruit at No. 12 nationally in the women’s 18-and-under category.

The post Sports in Brief — July 28, 2013 appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Cal men’s and women’s swimmers posted impressive performances this past week at the 2013 World University Games in Kazan, Russia.

On the first day of competition, Cal women’s swimmers Rachael Acker and Liv Jensen led the United States to a second-place finish in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay on Wednesday. Sophomore Acker led off the relay while recent Cal graduate Jensen swam the second leg to help bring the United States to a time of 3:38.60.

The United States trailed Russia by less than half a millisecond to garner silver in the evening final.

Cal men’s swimmer Jacob Pebley entered the finals on Thursday with the competition’s third-best time in the 100-meter backstroke after leading both his opening heat and preliminary race on Wednesday. Pebley clocked a time of 54.32 in his first heat and 54.14 in the prelims.

In Thursday’s final, the rising sophomore and native of Oregon added to Cal’s medal haul after posting his best competition time of 54.11 to capture the bronze medal. Pebley finished behind Australia’s Ben Treffers and Japan’s Yuki Shirai by 0.025 seconds.

He will compete in the 50-meter back prelims on Friday and in the 200-meter back prelims on Sunday.

“We are very proud of Jacob’s bronze medal in the 100 backstroke,” said Cal coach David Durden of Pebley. “Representing our country and earning his way onto the medal stand is truly world-class.”

Cal women’s basketball’s Reshanda Gray to move on with Team USA to World University Games Finals

On Friday in Kazan, Russia, Cal women’s basketball forward Reshanda Gray did work down in the post to defensively aid Team USA to a victory in the World University Games quarterfinals.

The rising junior posted six points, four rebounds and one assist in her team’s 103-72 victory over Sweden, but USA head coach Sherri Coale lauded Gray more so for her defensive contributions to the team.

“Reshanda Gray was tremendous tonight,” Coale said after the quarterfinal game on Friday. “She came in and defended the post with great activity. She blocked out, (and) she scored a couple of times at the block through a lot of physicality.”

The Southern California native shot two for three from the field and the line, accumulating a .846 record from the field after the Friday matchup at the World University Games.

On Saturday, Gray aided Team USA to its narrow 79-78 victory over Australia in the tournament semifinals. Although her team led by as many as 17 points in the fourth quarter, Australia battled back to lead with a one-point margin over Team USA in the final seconds of the game.

USA teammate Crystal Bradford eventually scored the game-winning basket with 14 seconds left in the final quarter to secure Team USA’s spot in the gold-medal match on Monday.

Team USA will look to garner its third straight gold medal in the women’s basketball competition against host Russia in the finals.

Women’s golf’s Hannah Suh finds success at 2013 Trans National Amateur Championship

Rising sophomore Hannah Suh and amateur Ashlan Ramsey of Milledgeville, GA, were tied at two-under par when they entered the final round of the Trans National Amateur Championship in Truckee, Calif.

After nine holes on Friday, Ramsey was five down before shooting several birdies on the back nine to pull to within one stroke going into the 72nd hole. But while her birdie putt narrowly slid past the hole, Suh sank an eight-foot par putt to claim the prestigious title.

Suh initially trailed Ramsey by five strokes through the first 36 holes. However, she came back with her best nine-hole performance in the tournament with 33 over the front nine.

Suh ended up defeating Ramsey by one single stroke with a final round of 73.

The post Sports in Brief — July 14, 2013 appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Kelly Fang/File

At the beginning of the season, the Cal women’s swimming team displayed an incredible amount of potential to defend its national championship title for the third year in a row.

Despite losing eight seniors to start the season, such as multiple-NCAA winner Liv Jensen and Olympic silver medalist Sara Isakovic, Cal revamped its team with a total of eight new freshmen who made up one of the Bears’ best recruiting classes in recent years.

But at the end of the year, the Cal squad ultimately fell to third place in the Pac-12 championship and failed to earn an NCAA three-peat with a second-place finish and a disappointing loss to No. 8 Georgia.

To give a sense of context, the Bears claimed Pac-12 championship victory for the first time last year since taking the Pac-10 title in 2009. They also garnered the NCAA crown last season for the second year in a row.

Don’t get me wrong — the women’s swimming team boasted another high-quality season this year, including wins at the Early Bird Invitational in October, the Arena Invitational in November and seven out of nine individual dual meets.

But as a team, the Bears failed to finish the season the way they wanted. They were the heavy-handed favorites as the defending national champions throughout the year, but they ultimately fell short at the end of the season.

So why did The Daily Californian rank the Bears at No. 3 in its list of the top 10 Cal sports teams?

Looking in between the lines and past the overall results, specifically at their individual performances at the Pac-12 and NCAA tournaments, we can see a definite trend in top performances by talented Cal underclassmen — indicating a bright future ahead and reminding opponents that the Bears will continue to be a threat on the national leaderboard.

In the Pac-12s, rising sophomore Elizabeth Pelton was named Swimmer of the Meet after setting an American record in the 200 back, taking the title in the 200 IM and contributing to Cal’s win in the 400 relay as the lead off.

Pelton was again named Swimmer of the Meet at the NCAAs after collecting top-five finishes in four relay events and once again breaking the record in the 200-back to take the national title.

Rising sophomore Rachel Bootsma garnered another national NCAA title for the Bears in the 100-back while star senior Caitlin Leverenz notched Cal’s third national title after edging teammate Pelton by half a second in the 200 IM.

Leverenz’s absence next year will certainly create a hole in Cal’s roster of talented veterans.

But with such a strong recruiting freshman class from this past year and with the addition of five-time Olympic gold medalist Missy Franklin, the Bears won’t have anything to worry about for the next few years.

In fact, I’m wholly anticipating Cal’s return to the top in the upcoming seasons.

With the Bears equipped next year with an elite squad laden with raw star power , there’s no doubt they earned that No. 3 spot in our power rankings.

Contact Janice Chua at jchua@dailycal.org.

The post Power Rankings: No. 3 women’s swim appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Editor’s Note: Over summer, the Daily Californian will be releasing its power rankings of Cal’s sports as decided by the Daily Cal sports staff. Stay tuned for No. 4 and No. 3 next week!

The Cal women’s crew team has always been one of Cal’s more impressive varsity teams, despite being so underrated.

In the past six years, the Bears have consistently placed in the top three of the overall NCAA Championships. Although the team took a dip to No. 7 in 2007, the Bears clinched the NCAA victory for two consecutive years prior.

So it’s no surprise that The Daily Californian’s list of the top 10 Cal sports teams ranked the Bears at No. 6.

Actually, the team’s stats this year may even make the Bears entitled to a slightly higher ranking on our list, at maybe the No. 5 or No. 4 position.

Ever since the team captured the NCAA Team Championship title eight years ago, the Bears have been lingering around the No. 2 and No. 3 positions, most recently finishing in third for the 2011 and 2012 seasons.

This year, the Bears came extremely close to matching the high feats of their 2005 and 2006 seasons.

They were only two points shy of winning another NCAA Team Championship — trailing champion Ohio State by that slight margin but staying more than 10 points ahead of third-place Princeton and fourth-place conference opponent USC. But don’t let that brutally close finish distract you from the fact that several of the individual teams garnered impressive clutch performances in the NCAA grand final events.

The Bears placed second overall in the second varsity eight — making 2013 the tenth time the Bears have placed among the top three in the past 11 years.

The women’s rowing varsity eight also captured the NCAA title in the event’s grand final for the first national championship in the varsity eight since 2005. The Bears swiftly surpassed No. 2 Princeton by more than a second and overall NCAA Championship winner Ohio State by almost two seconds.

“Today was a complete team effort capped off by a fantastic race by the first eight,” Cal coach Dave O’Neill said after the NCAA grand final. “They understood this was one last golden opportunity to make it a great year. They certainly took advantage of this last chance, and I could not be more proud of them.”

O’Neill was being humble when he said that the team’s varsity eight performance would establish whether or not the Bears could claim “greatness” for this year.

The team started the season off in March with three straight victories over Oklahoma, Clemson and Northeastern in the Pac-12 Challenge.

The Bears later captured three grand finals at the Lake Natoma Invitational in April, and despite splitting four races against Washington just one week later, the Bears came back to sweep Stanford in the Big Row for the fourth straight year.

In May, the team notched its sixth consecutive Pac-12 title, and then the Bears ended the year with that close second-place finish at the NCAAs.

So if O’Neill had even said that the team accumulated some its best results this year than in the past few seasons, I would wholeheartedly agree.

And with the team retaining several of its key rowers, like rising senior Rachel Ersted and rising junior Lindsay Meltz, the Bears look like they’ll have another shot at finally taking home an overall NCAA title.

Contact Janice Chua at jchua@dailycal.org.

The post Power Rankings: No. 6 women’s crew appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Kay Yang/File

Considering that the Cal men’s tennis team started its season plagued with injuries, the squad’s No. 17 overall finish is pretty impressive.

So it’s no surprise that the squad made The Daily Californian’s list of the top 10 Cal sports teams ranked at No. 8.

I mean, they were good — but not great. In terms of rankings, the Bears have been hovering around the ‘–teens’ for the past few years. Last season, Cal completed the year at No. 13 and at No. 14 the year before that. And both times, the Bears concluded their run at the NCAAs in the round of 16.

They stagnated again this year with a similar Sweet 16 loss for the third year in a row. Could the Bears have performed better without all those initial injuries? Maybe.

Probably.

But that being said, we will never know if the Bears’ early loss of their co-captain senior Riki McLachlan to injury hindered them from a top-10 finish — a goal that seemed realistic enough at the beginning of the season.

Although lacking in individual star power, the Cal squad found strength in its depth, starting its regular dual-match season with three straight wins.

However, the Bears were swept by No. 5 USC in their fourth dual match of the year, after McLachlan suffered a knee injury during doubles play.

One week later, Cal lost more players to temporary injuries, which basically meant more time needed in the training room recovering and less time on the court.

But despite the several health issues, the team managed to produce a commendable season — demonstrating potential as a top-10 team with victories over some of the nation’s top squads.

Cal took down then-No. 11 Florida with a 4-1 win in February, and the Bears later topped No. 7 Duke in a monumental 4-3 upset for their first defeat over a top-10 team in March.

The Bears also conquered their Bay Area rival Stanford twice this season — the first time Cal has swept the Cardinal in six years.

Pretty good for a team that was struggling to battle back injury in the middle of the season.

And with the squad not changing too much next year, the Bears look like they will have at least one more shot at their top-10 goal.

They will be losing graduating seniors McLachlan and Christoffer Konigsfeldt — a constant force on the No. 2 court in singles and on the top court in doubles.

Although Konigsfeldt’s absence will create a hole near the top of the lineup, rising senior Campbell Johnson will most likely take his place in the No. 2 spot, and younger players Gregory Bayane and Mads Engsted will step up to take over higher courts.

The Bears will also be gaining two new freshmen recruits in Filip Bergevi and Andre Goransson — both top juniors who hail from Sweden.

With the retention of a well-rounded team from last year and the addition of two more talented players, Cal looks like it can create another impressive season in 2014, provided it is not bitten by the injury bug once again.

Maybe next year, the Bears will finally break that elite top-10 barrier.

Janice Chua covers men’s tennis. Contact her at jchua@dailycal.org.

The post Power Rankings: No. 8 men’s tennis appeared first on The Daily Californian.

John Todd/GoldenBearSports.com/Courtesy

As Michael Kim stood on the 15th green at the U.S. Open on Saturday, the Cal men’s golfer glanced up at the leaderboard and smiled.

The 19-year-old rising junior wasn’t looking to see where his four birdies in the past six holes put him up on the board. He wasn’t grinning because he was tied at third place among a 156-player field and had a legitimate chance at contention.

“I kept looking at the leaderboard — not because I wanted to know how I was doing in the tournament, but it was so cool to see my name next to those names, like Mickelson, Donald, Schwartzel,” Kim said in a post-round interview with Bob Costas. “It was just an incredible feeling.”

The humble amateur golfer completed an impressive run at the 2013 U.S. Open this past weekend at the Merion Golf Club near Ardmore, Pa. Kim finished the tournament at No. 17 and as the low amateur after reaching as high as third place on the overall leaderboard on Saturday.

After a respectable first two days of the major tournament, Kim made the cut tied for No. 8 on the scoreboard, while Cal teammate Michael Weaver barely passed the cut line at eight over to enter the third round.

While Weaver struggled with several bogeys on Saturday, Kim peaked in his third round, shooting one bogey but later consistently hitting par.

After the ninth hole, Kim shot four birdies in a six-hole stretch to take him to even par in the overall tournament. Just one shot back of the lead, Kim was momentarily near the top of the U.S. Open leaderboard.

But his position atop the board was short-lived — the Southern California native snap-hooked his tee shot on No. 16 to the left, finding the rough and making a bogey. Kim then accumulated a double bogey on the 17th hole and another bogey on the last hole to end the third round.

Kim slipped from third place to 10th place to complete the third day, shooting one over to sit at five shots behind leading pro Phil Mickelson.

“I didn’t feel that nervous, but I think I was, looking back on it,” Kim said. “I kind of went through that what-if situation in my head. What if I won, or what if I did this. I tried to snap back out of it, but I hit an awful tee shot on the next hole.”

On the last day, although Kim managed to post two birdies, he struggled with his tee shots and hit several in the rough to garner four bogeys and two double bogeys throughout round four. But the rising Cal junior is ultimately proud of his overall No. 17 performance at the major tournament — the third-best finish by an amateur in the last 30 years.

“I had a difficult ending, but the overall week, it’s just been an unbelievable experience,” Kim said. “I think I gained a lot of confidence from that. I met a ton of great players out here, and (I’m) just looking forward to what my future holds. It’s just an experience I’ll never forget.”

Contact Janice Chua at jchua@dailycal.org.

The post Michael Kim finishes U.S. Open at No. 17 appeared first on The Daily Californian.

John Todd/GoldenBearSports.com/Courtesy

Cal men’s golf sophomore Michael Kim is dominating the likes of Tiger Woods and many other golf pros at the 2013 U.S. Open.

The Bears’ top player currently stands tied at the No. 8 position among more than 150 amateur and professional golfers known around the world. On the amateur leaderboard, Kim is ranked in second place — just behind Washington’s Cheng-Tsung Pan.

At the Merion Golf Club near Ardmore, Pa., Kim ended his first round on Thursday with a respectable 73 strokes. Although he accumulated five bogeys and even a double bogey on the second hole, Kim managed to gain four birdies to complete his first 18 holes, shooting only three over par.

In the second round on Friday, Kim started with three shots on par and a bogey but later garnered three birdies to put him at just two shots behind professionals Billy Horschel and Phil Mickelson, who are currently tied for first place.

With Friday play suspended due to darkness, Kim will finish the rest of his second round on Saturday morning at 7:15 a.m. Although senior teammate Max Homa will likely not advance to the final two rounds of the tournament with the projected cut at eight-over as of now, Cal’s Michael Weaver is straddling the projected cut line of eight-over par and may still advance.

Kim, on the other hand, will most likely make the final cut, but the superstar golfer plans on waiting to see how his performance turns out on the third day.

“(I’m) trying not to think about it too much,” Kim said. “Low expectations — and whatever happens happens tomorrow.”

Contact Janice Chua at jchua@dailycal.org.

The post Cal men’s golf’s Michael Kim currently tied for eighth in U.S. Open appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Kore Chan/Staff

Cal men’s golf superstar Michael Kim has done it again.

The sophomore can now add “winner of the Haskins award” to the hefty list of achievements he has garnered throughout the season.

The Haskins Award — college golf’s most coveted accolade — is voted on by college golfers, coaches and members of the national media and given to the national player of the year in men’s collegiate golf. The Fred Haskins Commission announced on Tuesday that Kim was the 43rd recipient of the award and the first Cal men’s golfer to ever achieve such an honor.

“Voters have once again recognized an outstanding golfer and an equally impressive young man,” said J. Madden Hatcher, the commission president. “Michael Kim was the No. 1 player on the nation’s No. 1 team and certainly deserves to have his name added to the Haskins Award’s legendary list of past winners.”

Previous recipients of the Haskins Award have collectively won 28 of the elite Major Championships and more than 260 professional tournaments held around the world. Kim joins a list of top-notch golfers that includes Tiger Woods, Matt Kuchar and Phil Mickelson — all now immensely successful professional golfers.

Along with the award, Kim earned a sponsor’s exemption to play in the 2013 Greenbrier Classic, a tournament stop in the PGA Tour, from July 4 to July 7 in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

“It’s unbelievable to think my name will be on the same trophy as Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and many others,” Kim said. “I can’t wait for the opportunity to play at the Greenbrier Classic with the very best players in the world.”

The Southern California native will add to a list of achievements that includes two other previously earned national player-of-the-year awards. Having consistently topped the Golfweek/Sagarin college rankings, Kim was named the Golfweek/Sagarin Player of the Year for 2013. He later picked up the Jack Nicklaus Award — presented by the Golf Coaches Association of America — which recognizes the top players at the Division I, II, III, NAIA and NJCAA levels.

But to Kim, the Haskins Award isn’t just another one of the many honors he has received throughout the year.

“I did win the Jack Nicklaus Award, but the Fred Haskins Award is different and unique in its own right because it’s voted by my peers, my coaches, the players and a few of the media people that follow college golf,” Kim said. “To be voted by your peers as having the best collegiate season is pretty special.”

According to Golfweek, the highly accomplished golfer boasts a No. 1 ranking to end his season. Kim’s consistency throughout the season with an unparalleled stroke average of 70.73 — the lowest in Cal history — ultimately led Kim to develop into this year’s top contender for the Haskins Award.

“This is further recognition of Michael’s tremendous season,” said Cal coach Steve Desimone. “I don’t think there’s anything question Michael has won this award, because they know he was the best player in college golf this year.”

Contact Janice Chua at jchua@dailycal.org.

The post Michael Kim wins prestigious Haskins award appeared first on The Daily Californian.