From NCAA titles to Olympic medalists, Cal has a winning tradition in the pool.
This summer, several swimmers with Cal connections are heading to the Paris Olympics.
With a second place finish in the 100-meter freestyle at the Olympic Trials, Jack Alexy realized a dream come true by punching his ticket to the Olympics.
"It's just awesome and just amazing," he said.
His Cal teammate, Keaton Jones, qualified in the 200-meter backstroke. Both are first-time Olympians.
"We're trying to fill the shoes of giants and keep the legacy going," Jones said. "To do it at a place like Cal, to do it with this historic program, it means the world."
They are two of six Team USA swimmers with ties to Cal. In total, 16 Golden Bears – men and women – will be in the pool representing 10 different countries at the Olympics.
Cal men's head coach Dave Durden, who was the Team USA head coach at the Tokyo Olympics, will be an assistant coach in Paris. He's working with his Cal swimmers.
"That's going to be the nice thing about this trip is not thinking about 26 bodies but thinking about six athletes that we're trying to advance to the Olympic podium," he said.
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Included in that group are a couple of Golden Bear legends: four-time Olympic gold medalist Ryan Murphy and four-time Olympic medalist Abbey Weitzeil.
Both qualified for their third straight Olympics.
"I have the same expectations for myself and those are expectations that I felt like I built within myself throughout the course of the year of training," Murphy said. "I feel really confident that I can go in there and do what I want to do."
"I'm super honored, I'm super excited and I'm ready to go to Paris," Weitzeil said.
