Cal men's swim

For the fourth straight year, the No. 2 Cal men’s swim and dive team finished as the runner-up at the NCAA Championships, just behind Texas, which claimed its fourth consecutive national title Saturday.

To name a few, the Bears have dominated swimming and diving, water polo, rugby and rowing for much of their history.

For three years running, Cal has finished runner-up in collegiate men’s swimming and diving’s biggest stage, where the lights shine the brightest and the crowd roars the loudest.

It’s rare that a squad of two can make history. But for Cal men’s diving, this last week was historic.

The Bears compiled 971 points, more than 200 points ahead of runner-up No. 1 Cardinal, which finished with 769. No. 9 USC finished third with 549.33 points.

The team to beat at this meet is the two-time defending Pac-12 champion No. 1 Stanford (6-0, 4-0), which climbed to the top of the ladder after edging out No. 2 Cal (5-1, 4-1) to finish its season undefeated.

Cal (5-1, 4-1) has not been down this late in a meet all year — there was never pressure in the last few events because the Bears had always pulled away from their opponent by then.

A battle of the West Coast’s best awaits as No. 1 Cal men’s swim caps off the dual meet season at No. 5 Stanford in a clash of Pac-12’s top two squads.

The Bears received contributions throughout the lineup, not only taking first place on 10 of 14 swim events but racking up second, third and fourth place finishes even when they didn’t.

USC will be the highest ranked head-to-head opponent Cal has faced thus far this season.