Cal Swimming: Thirty-One Golden Bears Set For U.S. Olympic Trials in Omaha

Ryan Murphy returns as 2016 triple gold medalist; Nathan Adrian rebounds from cancer.

A total of 31 Cal swimmers — male and female, past, present and future Golden Bears — will compete for spots at the Tokyo Games beginning Sunday at the U.S. Olympic trials at Omaha, Nebraska.

Three-time Olympic gold medalist Ryan Murphy, 25, hopes the eight-day meet will position him to extend the United States’ decades-long dominance in the 100- and 200-meter backstroke at the Games.

He also is embracing the opportunity to compete in front of a crowd after more than a year without fans due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I mean, it will be fun to have some fans in the crowd. I absolutely love that part of the sport,” Murphy said in a Friday news conference. “It really does add a level of adrenaline behind the blocks and it makes us feel like we're doing something really cool when people are cheering, when they're invested.

“So I cannot wait to have some fans in the crowd and hopefully they're going to be cheering really loud.”

After Olympics were postponed a year due to the pandemic, the format of the U.S. swim trials was altered this year, split into two sections. The top two finishers in each event at the Wave I trials qualified to return to Wave II, where the top entries await this week.

The top two finishers in each event qualify for the Olympic team, although others will be added to fill the relay pools.

Preliminaries begin each day at 8 a.m. PT, with semifinals and finals beginning at 4:45 p.m. PT on June 13-17, 5:45 p.m. PT on June 18-19 and 5 p.m. PDT on June 20.

Prelims will be streamed on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app in addition to NBCSN televising the prelims sessions on a delay. Finals sessions will be televised nightly on NBC or NBCSN.

The full Wave II schedule of events can be viewed here.

Cal’s men and women routinely shine on the Olympic stage, and this year’s U.S. men’s team is led by Bears coach Dave Durden.

Murphy, who swept the 100 and 200 backstroke at the NCAA championships all four seasons at Cal (2014-17), did the same thing at the Rio Olympics five years ago.

That built on an incredible U.S. legacy in the event. The last time Americans didn’t win both backstroke events at the Olympics was in 1992 — three years before Murphy was born. Since then, eight different swimmers have won the 12 races at the six Games starting in 1996.

"It's not a lock that I even make the Olympic team. So if I'm not there, someone else has to take the mantle. Even if I'm there, someone else might take the mantle,” Murphy said earlier this spring after a meet in Atlanta.

All eyes will be when Murphy leaves the blocks on Tuesday (100 back final) and Friday (200 back final).

"I'm super-motivated," Murphy said. "I don't need anything else to motivate me. I'm about as dialed in as I can be this year.”

Nathan Adrian / Photo by USA Today

The list of other notable Cal swimmers begins with freestyle sprinter Nathan Adrian, the 32-year-old five-time Olympic gold medalist. Adrian, who also continues to train in Berkeley with Durden, won the 100 free at the 2012 Olympics and was a bronze medalist in the event at Rio.

He is not considered a favorite this year, partly because he is coming back from testicular cancer in 2019, which required two surgeries. But Durden is not counting him out and believes the added year will benefit Adrian.

“I think of our veteran most swimmer on our side in Nathan, this extra year has helped him,” Durden said. “Just further removed from cancer, further removed from battling that, further into his life as a husband, as a father, which gives you proper perspective on things. I mean, all those things are really, really good things.”

Another intriguing entry with Cal roots is Anthony Ervin, who hopes to be swimming in the 50 free final a week from Sunday. Ervin owns a silver medal in the event, which he won at Sydney 21 years ago. He is now 40 and pursuing his fourth Olympics.

“Anthony is awesome. I mean, I love that guy,” Durden said. “He has taught me about human potential and he's done so in a lot more eloquently than I just put it. He has -- every now and then I get a text from Anthony and it's always good to have conversation with Anthony.

“So I'm excited to see him race. I mean, I hope the smile on my face says that. I mean, I'm really excited to see him get up and compete against this group.”

On the women’s side, Abbey Weitzel, 24, will swim in the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle events. A silver and gold medal winner in relays at the 2016 Rio Games, Weitzel was the 2020 Honda Award winner as the nation’s top collegiate swimmer.

Kathleen Baker, 24, also is chasing her second Olympic team berth. She was a surprise silver medalist in the 100 back at Rio and earned a bronze in the 400 medley relay. Baker will swim the 100 and 200 back and the 200 individual medley in Omaha.

CAL ENTRIES AT THE OLYMPIC TRIALS 

Men Post-Graduates

» Nathan Adrian – 50 Free, 100 Free

» Anthony Ervin – 50 Free

» Ryan Murphy – 100 Back, 200 Back, 100 Fly

» Josh Prenot – 100 Breast, 200 Breast, 200 IM

» Andrew Seliskar – 100 Free, 200 Free, 200 IM, 100 Fly

» Tom Shields – 100 Fly, 200 Fly

Men Collegiate

» Daniel Carr – 100 Back, 200 Back

» Sean Grieshop – 200 Free, 200 IM, 400 IM

» Ryan Hoffer – 50 Free, 100 Free, 100 Fly

» Chris Jhong – 200 IM, 400 IM

» Trenton Julian – 200 Free, 400 Free, 100 Fly, 200 Fly, 200 IM

» Tyler Kopp – 400 IM

» Destin Lasco – 50 Free, 100 Free, 200 Free, 100 Back, 200 Back, 200 IM

» Jason Louser – 100 Breast, 200 Breast, 200 Fly, 200 IM, 400 IM

» Bryce Mefford – 100 Back, 200 Back

» Colby Mefford – 200 Back, 400 Free, 200 Fly

» Dare Rose – 100 Fly, 200 Fly, 200 Free, 400 Free

» Reece Whitley – 100 Breast, 200 Breast

» Zach Yeadon – 200 Free, 400 Free, 800 Free

Men Signees

» Jack Alexy – 50 Free, 100 Free, 100 Back

» Gabriel Jett – 200 Free, 400 Free, 800 Free, 200 Fly, 200 Back

Women Post-Graduates

» Kathleen Baker — 100 back, 200 back, 200 IM - alum

» Amy Bilquist — 50 free, 100 free, 100 back, 200 back – alum

» Madison Kennedy — 50 free - alum

» Katie McLaughlin — 50 free, 100 free, 200 free, 100 fly - alum

» Abbey Weitzeil — 50 free, 100 free, 200 free - alum

Women Collegiate

» Isabel Ivey — 50 free, 100 free, 200 free, 100 back, 100 fly

» Rachel Klinker — 100 fly, 200 fly

» Ayla Spitz — 100 free, 200 free, 100 back, 200 back, 100 fly

» Isabelle Stadden — 100 back, 200 back – (rising sophomore)

Women Signee

» McKenna Stone — 50 free

Cover photo of Ryan Murphy by Kelvin Kuo, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo