Oct. 14, 2009

Complete Release in PDF Format

On the Pool Deck
California (1-0) heads to Southern California to train and swim in a relay meet with San Diego State at 10 a.m on Saturday, Oct. 17, at the Aztec Aquaplex. The Golden Bears will also train and compete in an exhibition with UC San Diego on Thursday, Oct. 15, at Cathedral Catholic High School and, as part of their training, swim in the Pacific Ocean on Friday, Oct. 16.

Saturday's competition is not a dual meet, though it marks the first meeting between Cal and San Diego State in women's swimming.

Scouting the Golden Bears
Cal is coming off a 158-87 dual-meet victory over Pacific on Oct. 10 at Spieker Aquatics Complex in Berkeley. Four Bears won individual events, with impressive freshman Caitlin Leverenz winning in NCAA B qualifying times in the 200-yard breaststroke and the 400-yard individual medley. The Tucson, Ariz., product swam a time of 2:13.13 in the 200 breaststroke and a time of 4:13.96 in the 400 IM.

Senior Heather White, junior Erica Dagg and sophomore Sara Isakovic also won two events each against the Tigers. White also posted an NCAA B qualifying time (4:19.12) in the 400 IM. The local product from Oakland, Calif., won the 100 breaststroke (1:05.08) and 200 backstroke (2:03.33).

Dagg, from New Orleans, led a top-four Cal sweep of the 100 backstroke (56.71) and later claimed the 100 freestyle (50.76). Isakovic, the 2008 Olympic silver medalist from Bled, Slovenia, won the 200 freestyle in an NCAA B qualifying time of 1:47.45.

The Bears opened the 2009-10 season on Sept. 18 at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, Calif., where Leverenz won the title of the Queen of the Pool after swimming the lowest combined time in a pentathlon of 100-yard events.

Scouting the Opposition
The Mountain West Conference's annual coaches poll predicted that San Diego State, which will open its season against Cal, would finish third behind BYU and UNLV in the conference this season. SDSU welcomes back 11 letterwinners from a team that compiled a 9-6 mark and set 13 school records during the 2008-09 season. Second-year head coach Mike Shrader shared the MWC Coach of the Year award after leading the Aztecs to a sixth-place finish, its highest placing since the 2001 campaign, at last season's league championship meet.

San Diego State's all-MWC returnees include senior Elena Karpeeva (100 IM, 100 back, 200 back), juniors Allison Hall (200 fly) and Brooke Vessey (100 fly) along with sophomore Shaida Solimani (100 back, 200 back). The Aztecs' roster includes transfers Emilee Jennings and Petra Radovic from the now defunct program at Washington. Jennings was an honorable mention All-American as part of the Huskies' ninth-place 200-medley relay at the 2008 NCAA Championships.

Next Time
Cal hosts Fresno State, where head coach Teri McKeever previously coached the men and the women, in a dual meet at 1 p.m. on Nov. 5 at Spieker Aquatics Complex. The Cal divers and first-year head coach Ben Herdt will see their first action of the season against the Bulldogs and then compete at the USC Diving Invitational Nov. 6-7 in Los Angeles.