The Cal women's swimming and diving team finished second at the Pac-10 Championships in Federal Way, Washington this past weekend.

Only weeks after beating Stanford in a dual meet at Spieker Pool here in Berkeley, the Bears barely fell to the Cardinal this time around. Thankfully, they'll get another shot at their Bay Area rival in two weeks at the NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas.

Sophomore swimmer Caitlin Leverenz - the 2010 Pac-10 Newcomer of the Year and reigning Pac-10 swimmer of the month - took some time out of her busy schedule (she has three midterms this week) to speak to the Bear Blog about her weekend.  Here's what she had to say.


David Seawright: How would you grade your performance this weekend?

Caitlin Leverenz: Overall, it was a good weekend - we swam well and had a lot of really good things happen, but we also definitely had some not so great things happen as well. Of course we wanted to win, but it's better to not win Pac-10s and have the extra motivation for NCAAs than lose out at NCAAs and have to wait an entire year for another shot.

DS: You guys lost to Stanford only weeks after beating them in a dual meet. What's that like?

CL: It's tough - of course we loved beating Stanford in the dual meet, but at the end of the day it's not dual meets that matter. We're disappointed we didn't win a Pac-10 title but we're definitely looking forward to another opportunity in a couple weeks. The team is really fired up.

DS: You won your first ever individual Pac-10 title this weekend. What does that mean to you?

CL: It's exciting. It's a big honor to win a Pac-10 title at all, whether it's on a relay or an individual event. But we want more than that, so I'm glad we're not finished.

DS: What are your personal goals heading into NCAAs?

CL: First and foremost I want to win a team title, but I also want to win an individual title. Also, some of the relays that I'm on are close to some American and NCAA records so I'd love to get those. Bust mostly it's just to swim faster than I did last weekend.