With the start of the spring semester underway this week, Cal returns to the competition pool with dual meets at Arizona Friday and Arizona State Saturday. The events kick off the final portion of the season with remaining matchups set for Berkeley's Spieker Aquatics Center - vs. USC Jan. 27, vs. UCLA Jan. 28 and vs. Stanford Feb. 11.

The Golden Bears enter the new year with 15 individual and five relay swims that rank among the top 10 in the country. Five of those marks rate at the top of the charts - Amy Bilquist (100 back, 50.85), Kathleen Baker (200 back, 1:49.83), Noemie Thomas (100 fly, 50.67), 200 free relay (1:26.31) and 400 medley relay (3:28.33). In fact, Cal is the only school to have all five relay times in the nation's top five.

Cal leads the all-time series with Arizona, 22-11 and won last year's meet in Berkeley. 185-114. The Bears own a 24-10-1 series advantage over ASU and came out on top last year, 181-98.

• LAST TIME OUT: CAL DOWNS SAN JOSE ST.
Cal's most recent dual came nearly a month ago on the first day of winter when the Golden Bears defeated San Jose State, 178-113, on Dec. 21 in Berkeley. Three Cal swimmers won two events apiece, with sophomore Katie McLaughlin winning the 200 fly (1:59.83) and 200 IM (2:093.89); sophomore Amy Bilquist claiming the 50 free (22.88) and 200 back (1:59.67); and senior Celina Li taking the 100 free (51.68) and 200 breast (2:18.91).

• LaMAY PAC-12 DIVER OF THE MONTH
Sophomore Phoebe LaMay, who has set a pair of school records already this year, was named the Pac-12 Diver of the Month for November. LaMay won the 1-meter board competition in Cal's dual meet against Texas Nov. 11, and her score of 314.18 broke her own Golden Bear mark of 313.25 reached during her freshman season. A couple of weeks later at the Texas Diving Invitational, LaMay totaled 335.80 on 3-meter, edging the previous record of 334.15 by Anne Kastler in 2014. LaMay is Cal's third Pac-12 Diver of the Month, and first since Kastler earned the honor in January 2014.

• BEARS EARN NEWMARK GPA AWARD
In early October, the Bears learned they had won the Newmark Award for having the highest GPA among all 30 of Cal's intercollegiate athletic teams for the 2015-16 academic year. When combined for the 24 women on the squad, the figure came to a very impressive 3.376.

• BEARS ON TV
Cal will make a pair of appearances on the Pac-12 Network this season - vs. Stanford on Saturday, Feb. 11 and all four days of the Pac-12 Championships Feb. 22-25.

• RIO RECAP: 8 MEDALS AT THE OLYMPICS
Ten current and former Bears swam at the 2016 Rio Olympics, and together they came home with eight medals. Two current squad members - Kathleen Baker and Abbey Weitzeil - certainly made their marks, with Baker earning silver in the 100m back and on the 400m medley relay and Weitzeil claiming silver on the 400m free relay and gold on the medley relay. Farida Osman (Egypt) and Noemie Thomas (Canada) were also 2016 Olympians.