This feature originally appeared in the Winter edition of the Cal Sports Quarterly. The Cal Athletics flagship magazine features long-form sports journalism at its finest and provides in-depth coverage of the scholar-athlete experience in Berkeley. Printed copies are mailed four times a year to Bear Backers who give annually at the Bear Club level (currently $600 or more). For more information on how you can receive a printed version of the Cal Sports Quarterly at home, send an email to CalAthleticsFund@berkeley.edu or call (510) 642-2427.


To compete for Teri McKeever often means learning how to live outside of your comfort zone.
 
That can range from understanding how to handle unpredictable waves and currents in ocean workouts or simply swimming in unfamiliar events to build strength where there could be weakness.
 
The formula has clearly worked, as evidenced by four NCAA team titles and dozens conference, national and Olympic awards for Cal swimmers over the years.
 
Amy Bilquist discovered McKeever's philosophy first-hand early in her freshman year as a Golden Bear. Entering school in the fall of 2015, she fancied herself a sprint freestyler primarily, with a little 100 backstroke tossed in for good measure.
 
So when Cal hosted San Jose State in the second home meet of her college career, where did Bilquist see herself entered? In the 200-yard individual medley, of course.
 
Bilquist thought to herself, "I'm a sprinter. I don't want to do this."
 
But she did and finished second to teammate Elizabeth Pelton, a one-time NCAA runner-up in the event. Despite the protest, Bilquist began to take the first steps to understanding McKeever's methodology.
 
"Teri has always told me to stop limiting myself and not put boundaries on what I can do," Bilquist said. "I still love sprint freestyle, but I have a lot of confidence in my backstroke."
 
McKeever, now in her 25th season leading the Cal program, has seen and heard all the reservations swimmers have expressed to stretch beyond their means. Especially for freshmen who are getting to know a new coach, reluctance can be quite normal, and McKeever was not surprised at all by Bilquist's reaction.
 
"There was definitely some pushback and adjustment on both of our parts, but the thing I'm impressed with is she was willing to work through that." McKeever said. "The year was really about expanding her horizons. She was willing to work through the relationships, the differences, the good times, the times that were a struggle, and find a place to keep being successful."
 
Perhaps nowhere was that more evident than at the U.S. Olympic Trials last summer in Omaha, Neb. Bilquist focused on two events – the 100- and 200-meter back – with no freestyle in sight. In both cases, she far exceeded her seeded entry time and set personal bests each time she was in the water.
 
In the 100 back, Bilquist broke one minute for the first time with the second-fastest time of the opening heats. She came down another 0.2 seconds in the semifinals and posted a 59.37 in the final.
 
Though the result put her ninth all-time among U.S. swimmers in the event and actually would have won Olympic gold as recently as 2004, Bilquist finished an agonizing third, a mere 0.08 seconds behind Cal teammate Kathleen Baker, who went on to claim the silver medal in Rio.
 
A few days later in the 200 back, Bilquist lowered her time a remarkable four seconds - from a 2:12.56 entry time to 2:08.30 in the final. But once again, she was just outside the top two needed for a spot on the Olympic team, placing fourth.
 
"It's definitely a big pill to swallow when you touch the wall third and fourth and realize you have to wait another four years before you get an opportunity to compete for it again," Bilquist said of her quest to earn an Olympic berth. "I think that's been the most challenging thing for me, knowing that I have to wait so long."
 
Bilquist and McKeever have already put together a plan to help her reach her coveted goal. Bilquist calls them "stepping stones," little targets to keep her challenged and motivated along the way.
 
"I think that if I just had the end game in four years, I'd get a little lost," Bilquist said. "It's OK if I miss some of those stepping stones – I might not hit them all – but I have to have confidence that in four years, it will all come together."
 
Instead of wallowing in disappointment, Bilquist has come back to this season as motivated as ever.
 
"We all have setbacks, and I think Amy's learning how to have a setback inspire her rather than derail her," McKeever said. "She's never trained better. There's a very confident, determined and purposeful young lady who comes to practice every day, and my experience has been when an athlete does that consistently, good things happen."
 
Born in Arizona, Bilquist took up swimming at age 3, and by the time she was 8, she was already swimming up a division, competing against 9- and 10-year-olds. That didn't sit too well initially with some of the parents of other swimmers – not because Bilquist, a tall child, was racing with older kids, but because they thought she looked too old and should be in an even older age group.
 
Once the confusion was cleared up, Bilquist, who now stands 6-foot-3, went out and earned the age group title with the most overall points at the meet.
 
Not long after, Bilquist moved with her family to Indiana and joined the Carmel Swim Club. She made her first U.S. senior national team at 17 when she qualified for the world short-course championships. With several Golden Bears on the roster, including Natalie Coughlin, Madison Kennedy and soon-to-be Cal teammates Baker and Abbey Weitzeil, Bilquist came home with a pair of relay medals.
 
A year later, she was in Berkeley, and Bilquist admits that her freshman season at Cal got off to a rocky start. It didn't help that soon after she enrolled her parents moved to California. "It was hard not knowing that I had a home to go back to," she said.
 
Once the spring semester came round and with her parents settled into their new home, Bilquist began hitting her stride. And when the Pac-12 Championships came about at the end of February, she pulled off what she considers quite a surprise – the conference title in the 200 back.
 
"My 200 back just felt like it clicked," Bilquist recalled. "Teri had always been telling me that you're a 200 backstroker. I just hated that event more than anything coming into Cal. She really worked on me embracing that event and seeing that it can be more of a strength than a fear for me. That was the race when I knew Cal was the right place for me. Teri believed in me to do this event even when I couldn't."
 
Having fully embraced the 200 back, Bilquist is clearly a believer in McKeever's approach. All it took was convincing her to find strength outside her comfort zone.