Feb. 22, 2011

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BERKELEY - Fourth-ranked California competes in the eight-team Pac-10 Women's Swimming and Diving Championships this Wednesday, Feb. 23, through Saturday, Feb. 26, at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Wash. The Golden Bears, who took second place at last year's conference meet, have momentum on their side, having beaten rival and top-ranked Stanford to conclude the regular season on Feb. 12. Cal and 2012 U.S. Olympic head coach Teri McKeever led the Bears to a 7-1 dual-meet record (5-0 in the Pac-10).

This year's meet includes the men's conference diving championships.

Last year, Stanford won the Pac-10 Championships, with Cal second, USC third, Arizona fourth, UCLA fifth, Arizona State sixth, Oregon State seventh and Washington State eighth.

Results
Pac-10 Championships results will be available at http://results.teamunify.com/pnws2/. At the conclusion of the event, complete results will be posted on the Pac-10 website http://www.pac-10.org.

Meet Schedule

Wednesday, Feb. 23
Start	Event
3:30 p.m.	Men's 1 Meter Preliminary
6 p.m.	200 Medley Relay
Men's 1 Meter Final
800 Freestyle Relay
Thursday, Feb. 24
Start	Event
11 a.m.	Preliminaries/Time Standard Trials
	Women's 1 Meter Preliminary
	Men's 3 Meter Preliminary
	Men's 3 Meter Final
6 p.m.	500 Freestyle
	200 Individual Medley
	50 Freestyle
	Women's 1 Meter Final
	200 Freestyle Relay
Friday, Feb. 25
Start	Event
11 a.m.	Preliminaries/Time Standard Trials
	Women's 3 Meter Preliminary
	Men's Platform Preliminary
	Men's Platform Final
6 p.m.	400 Individual Medley
	100 Butterfly
	200 Freestyle
	100 Breaststroke
	100 Backstroke
	Women's 3 Meter Final
	400 Medley Relay
Saturday, Feb. 26
Start	Event
11 a.m.	Preliminaries/Time Standard Trials
	Women's Platform Preliminary
6 p.m.	1650 Freestyle
	200 Backstroke
	100 Freestyle
	200 Breaststroke
	200 Butterfly
	Women's Platform Final
	400 Freestyle Relay

Tickets
All tickets for the Pac-10 Championshipos will be available at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center on the day of the event only. Gates open at 10 a.m. each day.

* Admission is FREE on Wednesday, Feb. 23.
All Session Pass (Feb. 24-26):
Adult: $25.00
Student with ID/Child/Senior (65 and over): $15.00
One Day Pass: Adult: $10.00
Student with ID/Child/Senior (65 and over): $6.00

Poll Position
Here are the ranked Pac-10 teams based on the most recent - Feb. 9 - TYR/College Swimming Coaches Association of America poll; the next poll comes out on March 17: 1. Stanford, 4t. Cal, 6. USC, 7t. Arizona, 21. UCLA, 25. Arizona State.

Leverenz Featured on Pac-10.org
Pac-10.org currently features a story on Cal's Caitlin Leverenz, the 2010 Pac-10 Freshman/Newcomer of the Year who is also a member of the United States' 2011 World Championships roster. You can read that article here.

Last Time Out
Cal ended the dual-meet season by topping the Cardinal, 155-145, after a fantastic finish at Spieker Aquatics Complex in Berkeley. The Bears needed to win the final race - the 400-yard freestyle relay - to claim victory in the Big Meet. Cal trailed at times during the exciting race, but the foursome of freshman Nathalie Lindborg, senior Erica Dagg, senior Hannah Wilson and junior Liv Jensen posted a pool-record and NCAA B time of 3:15.85 to win the race and defeat Stanford for just the fifth time in the long history between the two programs. Cal, which had previously beaten Stanford in 2006, also handed the Cardinal its only dual-meet loss this season.

The Bears won 10 of 16 events, as senior Amanda Sims won both butterfly events in her last competition at Spieker, sophomore Caitlin Leverenz set two pool records and won three individual races, Jensen, in addition to anchoring the winning relay, won the 50 and 100 freestyles, freshman Cindy Tran won both backstroke events, and Cal captured both relays.

Prior to the meet, Cal honored its eight seniors - swimmers Sims, Dagg, Wilson, Kelsey Hoff, Katie Kastes, Ellie Monobe, Sara Sun and diver Laura Sanford - who would be competing in the final dual meet of their collegiate careers.

In the opening 200-yard medley relay, the quartet of Tran, Leverenz, Sims and Jensen posted an NCAA B consideration time of 1:38.97 to give Cal the early lead.

Sims, the 2009 NCAA champion in the 100 butterfly, continued her winning ways by capturing the 200 and later the 100 butterflies. She posted her fastest time of the season and an NCAA B time of 1:56.25 in the 200 and swam an NCAA B time of 52.58 to win the 100.

The Pac-10 Swimmer of the Month for January, Leverenz extended her success to February with stellar performances that included a win in the 100 breaststroke in a Cal season-best and NCAA B time of 1:00.26. She set Spieker records in winning the 200 breaststroke in an automatic NCAA qualifying time of 2:09.45 and in taking the 200 individual medley in an NCAA B time of 1:56.95. Her IM time broke the previous pool record of 1:57.54 set by former Cal great Natalie Coughlin, who was in attendance.

Tran (53.25) edged Stanford's Betsy Webb (53.49) in the 100 back, as both swam NCAA B times.

The Cal divers collectively contributed 15 points towards the Big Meet victory. On the one-meter springboard, Cal's scorers included junior Molly Hayes, who posted an NCAA Zone E qualifying score of 267.52 to take second, Sanford, who was third with a score of 260.47, and sophomore Kelsey Heiken, who finished fourth with a score of 253.50. At three meters, Cal's scorers were Hayes, who placed third (286.80, NCAA Zone E qualifier), Heiken, who finished fourth (277.58), and freshman Lena Kardos, who took fifth (277.23).

Jensen, the 2010 NCAA champion in the 50 free, came within .04 seconds of tying her pool-record time in the 50 free, winning the sprint today in an NCAA B time of 22.22. She later sealed the 100 free by swimming an NCAA B time of 48.99.

Cal led 142-141 heading into the 400-free relay, meaning that whichever team won the race would claim the meet. The Bears emerged victorious by more than half a second over Stanford, 3:15.85-3:16.45.

A Look Back at the 2010 Pac-10 Championships
Junior Hannah Wilson won the 100-yard freestyle and senior Lauren Boyle won the 500-yard free and Cal withstood strong challenges from Arizona and USC to finish in second place at the Pac-10 Women's Swimming Championships on Feb. 27 at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool in Long Beach, Calif. The Bears were unable to repeat as Pac-10 champions but still produced strong performances at the conference meet along with the two Pac-10 titles. At the conclusion of the four-day competition, the Bears collected 1341 points to trail only conference champion Stanford, which had 1489 points. USC claimed third place (1298.5 points) and Arizona was fourth (1223.5).

The results included Feb. 27 Pac-10 Women's Diving Championship performances at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Complex in Federal Way, Wash. None of the Bears in Washington reached tonight's platform final, with junior Laura Sanford recording Cal's top prelim finish in 10th with a score of 216.30. Arizona State's Elina Eggers won the final with a score of 308.75.

In Long Beach, Wilson was one of three Bears to post NCAA-consideration times in the 100-free championship final, swimming 48.02 to win. Sophomore Liv Jensen took third in a time of 48.42 and junior Erica Dagg was eighth in 49.36. Wilson, the 2008 Hong Kong Olympian, won Cal's sixth 100-free title - and second straight - at Pac-10s. The other Bears to win the 100 free were Dana Vollmer (2009), Emily Silver (2007), Natalie Coughlin (2003-04) and Haley Cope (2001).

Cal's other conference title came from Boyle, who became only the second Bear - after Sarah Anderson in 1989 - to win the 500 free at the conference meet. Boyle swam a Cal career-best and NCAA consideration time of 4:38.77 to win the 500 free on Feb. 25. Bears senior Blake Hayter took fourth in an NCAA consideration or B time of 4:42.61 and sophomore teammate Sara Isakovic taking eighth in an NCAA B time of 4:47.93.

On the final night of the meet, Boyle had a shot at her second win and her straight third 1650-free title at Pac-10s, but the 2008 New Zealand Olympian took second in the 1650 with an NCAA-consideration and Cal season-best time of 16:09.72. Hayter placed seventh with her season-best and NCAA-consideration time of 16:25.78. USC's Haley Anderson won with an NCAA-B time of 16:02.53.

Senior teammate Heather White posted Cal's season-best time in the 200 backstroke, with an NCAA-B 1:57.85. Stanford's Julia Smit claimed the title with an NCAA-meet record and automatic NCAA-qualifying time of 1:50.76. That topped the previous conference-meet record of 1:50.90 set by Coughlin in 2002.

Bears finished 2-3 in the 200 breaststroke, with senior Alexandra Ellis clocking an automatic NCAA-qualifying time of 2:09.97 in second place and freshman Caitlin Leverenz swimming an NCAA B and Cal personal-best time of 2:10.51 in third. Leverenz's time also kept her in second place on the Bears' all-time record books behind Ellis' school-record 2:09.51. Stanford's Liz Smith won the race with an NCAA-qualifying 2:07.65.

Cal put two Bears - Isakovic (4th, 1:53.99, NCAA A) and junior Amanda Sims (6th, 1:56.44, NCAA B) - in the 200-butterfly final. Isakovic's time is also her Cal personal record and moved her past former Cal great Mary T. Meagher into fourth place in the Bears' all-time record book. USC's Katinka Hosszu won the 200 fly (1:52.71, NCAA A).

In the meet's final event, the 400-free relay, the Bears foursome of Wilson, Isakovic, Dagg and Jensen finished second behind Stanford (3:12.83, NCAA A) with the nation's third-fastest time. That time of 3:14.66 (NCAA A) ranked Cal behind only the Cardinal and Georgia (3:14.09, NCAA A) at that point of the season.

Next Time in the Water
The Cal divers compete in the NCAA Zone E Championships slated for March 10-12 in Minneapolis, Minn., and then the Bears head to the NCAA Championships scheduled for March 17-19 in Austin, Texas.