If Cal was a nation, it would have placed third in this summer’s Olympic swimming medal count. The pool is definitely Bear territory. The London 2012 Summer Olympics brought together more than 10,000 athletes competing in 302 events across a little over two weeks. Cal athletes represented 18 separate nations, from China to Brazil to Iceland. Read More…
On a bright Berkeley afternoon in late September, coach David Durden started preparing the Cal men’s swim team for the unfamiliar role of the underdog. Six months had passed since the team’s biggest win in 31 years. One of the most talented classes in college swimming history had gone, leaving Read More…
The Cal men’s swimming and diving team won its second consecutive NCAA championship on Saturday. The Bears clinched the team title after teammates Will Hamilton and Tom Shields finished 1-2 in the 200 fly on Saturday. Cal outlasted second-place Texas, 535.5-491. The Bears won six events and scored points in each Read More…
The regular season just didn’t mean that much to the Cal men’s swim team. Meets, with few exceptions, were nothing more than opportunities to practice in front of a crowd. Training trumped hard-fought competition; expectations for each meet were always tempered. The regular season had the feel of another sport’s Read More…
If each and every Cal swimmer turns in the meet of his life this weekend, the Cal men’s swim team has a chance to leave Seattle with its second consecutive national championship. And if the squad wins another national title, the city of Berkeley needs to throw a ticker-tape parade Read More…
If the pundits have learned anything from David Durden’s four years at the helm of the Cal men’s swim team, it’s this: Come postseason time, don’t underestimate the Bears. No. 6 Cal finished second over the weekend at the Pac-12 Championships, but took down two of the nation’s top-five teams Read More…
The Stanford men’s swim team has a tradition of excellence at the Pac-12 Championships. Since 1982, Stanford has won each conference championship, usually by a wide margin. Cal also has a tradition. Since 2002, the Bears have finished second at each of those meets. Both Bay Area rivals continued their Read More…
It’s been a pedestrian season for the Cal men’s swim team this winter. At 4-2, the Bears have soundly defeated their weaker opponents and ceded defeat to the more talented sides. Despite the occasional inspiring events — such as Tom Shields’ comeback in the Big Meet — Cal’s regular season Read More…
STANFORD, Calif. — The Big Meet ended as it began: full-throated whistles punctuating the electric air, a spirited anchor leg from a charging challenger, a raucous crowd’s crescendo as two competing hands reached for final wall in sync. For three minutes each, two relays befit the Cal-Stanford rivalry at its Read More…
Since the Cal men’s swim team began its long season five months ago, coach David Durden has preached patience and pragmatism. Training has taken priority over placement in meets. With March’s NCAA Championships in mind, the Bears have kept their focus on gradual, individual improvement — not the other guys Read More…
