Taylor Choe

It’s easy to always say that the swimmers’ experiences have been vital, but it’s also clear that Durden’s experience in coaching world-class athletes has played a huge part in the team’s success this season and in all the years past.

Along with Cal defending its Pac-12 Championship title, Seliskar also won Pac-12 Swimmer of the Meet for the second year in a row.

While the conference may be strong, the Bears haven’t had much trouble with any of their opponents so far this season. Most recently, they handily defeated the Cardinal and before that, the Trojans — the two highest ranked teams behind them.

All team members seemed to play their parts in Cal’s win over Stanford. Performing well as a team, with everyone stepping up and contributing, is more important than having a few individual talents when it comes to winning NCAAs.

Coming off a strong team performance versus now-No. 10 USC, as well as having the Pac-12 Swimmer of the Week in senior Andrew Seliskar on its side, Cal will be aiming to continue its success Saturday at Spieker Aquatics Complex in its last meet before the Pac-12 Championships.

In its first meet of the season — the UW Invitational, a two-day affair in Seattle, Washington — many athletes on the Cal track team kicked off the year with personal bests as well as a good number of top-five finishes.

Hamilton’s 800m race at the 2016 MPSF Championship claimed Cal’s record with a blazing time of 1:48.55. At last year’s UW Invitational, he took sixth after coming in at 1:51.07.

Cal was unable to find the net again, and the final whistle signaled a disappointing end to an impressive season.