Cal Women's Swim: Bears Finish 4th at NCAAs, Ending Run of 11 Straight Top-3 Finishes
The Cal women’s swim team had its 11-year run of top-3 finishes at the NCAA Championships snapped on Saturday in Greensboro, North Carolina. But the Golden Bears secured fourth place — marking the 15th straight year they have landed among the top-5.
Winners of this year’s Pac-12 Championships, the Bears have been among the top 5 at nationals every year since 2006. No program in the country has such an enduring run.
Cal had won four NCAA titles during that span and earned runner-up finishes the past three years. Heavily favored Virginia was a convincing winner this week in Greensboro.
"I want to say how proud I am of the women here who represented us and the team as a whole," Cal coach Teri McKeever said. "Obviously, it's been a challenging year for everyone. To get back on the podium – I take that as a victory.
“We definitely had some ups and downs – the season has been full of ups and downs. We will continue to ride that out and celebrate all the things that we have to be grateful for. We look to learn from this and be ready for next year.”
Freshman Isabelle Stadden placed third in the 200-yard back in 1:49.66 on Saturday, improving on her personal best of 1:49.77 from earlier this season. Her new mark keeps her No. 5 all-time at Cal in the event.
Junior Isabel Ivey delivered a personal-best of 46.95 in the 100 free to take third, moving her up to No. 3 in school history in the event behind only Abbey Weitzeil (46.35) and Missy Franklin (46.66).
She had three top-4 finishes at the meet, including fourth place in both the 100 back and 100 fly.
Ivey was Swimmer of the Meet at the Pac-12 Championships, where she won the 100 free, 100 fly and 100 back and was part of four winning relay teams.
Virginia dominated the competition from Day 1. The Cavaliers finished with 491 points, easily outdistancing runner-up North Carolina State (354 points) and third-place Texas (344.5).
The Bears scored 290 points to place highest among Pac-12 teams. Stanford was ninth with 159 points.
Cover photo courtesy of Cal Athletics
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo