Jan. 22, 2013

1-22-13 Men's Swimming and Diving Release

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BERKELEY -

Sat., Jan. 26 at Arizona State, Mona Plummer Aquatics, Tempe, Ariz. 1 p.m. MT

This Week In a battle between two of the nation's top swimming and diving programs, No. 4-ranked Cal (2-0) - the 2011 and 2012 NCAA team champions - visits No. 1-ranked Arizona in a nationally televised dual meet (shown Feb. 2, time TBA, on Pac-12 Networks; Summer Sanders, analyst; Ted Robinson, play-by-play) at 2 p.m. MT Friday (Jan. 25) at Hillenbrand Aquatic Center. Following the UA dual, the Golden Bears face Arizona State on Saturday (Jan. 26) at 1 p.m. MT. Cal returns 12 members from its 2012 national championship squad, including last year's individual NCAA champs Tom Shields (100 fly and 100 back), Will Hamilton (200 fly) and Marcin Tarczynski (200 IM). Additionally, Cal returns four members from its national champion relays -Shields, junior Shayne Fleming, sophomores Fabio Gimondi and Seth Stubblefield - for the 2012-13 campaign. Senior Shields is a nine-time NCAA champion (either individually or on relays), winning the 100 fly as a freshman, the100 back title as a sophomore, and the 100 fly and 100 back as a junior. He was the 2010 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year, the 2011 Pac-10 Swimmer of the Meet and the 2012 NCAA Swimmer of the Meet. Shields is also the school record-holder in the 200 free (1:32.75), 100 back (44.86), 100 fly (44.76) and 200 fly (1:40.31). Sophomore Hamilton is the school record-holder in the 500 free (4:15.04) as well as winning the national title in the 200 fly as a freshman. Junior Tarczynski is the school record-holder in the 200 IM (1:41.97), and owns the school's third-best all-time mark in the 100 back (46.02). Arizona (3-1) features sophomore Kevin Cordes, with the nation's top times in the 100 (51.10) and 200 breast (1:50.73). The Wildcats also have the nation's top times in the 400 free (2:51.21), 200 medley (1:24.84) and 400 medley (3:05.69) relays. Last season, Arizona defeated Cal, 191-109, Jan. 20 at Spieker Aquatics Complex, and went on to finish fourth in the 2012 NCAA team standings with 396 points.

Golden Bears to Date Highlights for the Bears so far this season include winning the Georgia Invitational Dec. 2 in Athens, Ga. with 856 points, including freshman Josh Prenot setting a new Cal school record with a time of 3:41.36 in the 400 IM, which is the fastest time in the nation this season. Another standout freshman for the Bears is Jacob Pebley, who has the country's best mark in the 200 backstroke (1:41.62). Defending 200 fly national champion Will Hamilton owns the nation's top time in the 200 fly this season at 1:42.75, while Marcin Tarczynski, defending national champion in the 200 IM, is currently third nationally in that event at 1:44.36.

2011-12 in Review David Durden earned both the NCAA Coach of the Meet and Pac-12 Men's Swimming Coach of the Year for the third year in a row after the Bears repeated as NCAA champions in 2012, claiming the program's fourth overall title. Cal also won back-to-back crowns in 1979-80. The Bears, who entered the NCAA Championships ranked sixth, won four individual events and two relays to finish with 535.5 points to second-place Texas' 491 points. Besides the individual titles from Shields, Tarczynski and Hamilton, Cal's 200 free relay (1:16.58 - Messerschmidt, Fleming, Gimondi, Stubblefield) and 400 medley relay (3:03.24 - Mathias Gydesen, Nolan Koon, Shields, Messerschmidt) also captured national crowns. Shields not only won three NCAA events in 2012, he was the national runner-up in four other events - the 200 medley relay swimming the butterfly leg, the 800 free relay swimming the lead-off leg, the 200 fly (behind Hamilton) and the 400 free relay swimming the anchor leg.

Head Coach David Durden David Durden, in his sixth year at the helm of the California men's swimming and diving program, has led the Golden Bears to back-to-back national team titles in 2011 and 2012, and has been named NCAA Coach of the Meet and Pac-12 Coach of the Year three seasons in a row. In just five years Durden has brought the Cal program to the pinnacle of college swimming as he coached the Golden Bears to their first NCAA team title since 1980 in 2011, and then guided his squad to another national crown this past March in Federal Way, Wash. In his spectacular fifth year at Cal, Durden led his 2011-12 team to the program's fourth NCAA title with a dominating 535.5 to 491 point victory over second place Texas at the national meet. Before his pair of national crowns, he led the Bears to an NCAA runner-up finish in 2010 and fourth-place finishes in 2008 and 2009. Durden now owns an overall dual meet record of 26-9 (.743). He joined the Golden Bears in 2007 upon the retirement of Hall of Fame coach Nort Thornton, who is now Head Coach Emeritus. His assistant coach is Yuri Suguiyama and Cal's diving coach is Todd Mulzet.