2019 MEN’S NCAA SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, March 27 – Saturday, March 30
- Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center, Austin, Texas
- Prelims 10 AM / Finals 6 PM (Central Time)
- Defending champion: Texas (4x) (2018 results)
- Psych Sheet
- Live Stream
- Live results
With 560 points and five event wins for the meet, the California Golden Bears captured the 2019 Men’s NCAA Championships, ending the four-year winning streak of the Texas Longhorns. Andrew Seliskar led the way for Cal with three individual titles and four key finals relay swims, including a stellar 18.40 anchor leg of the winning 200 freestyle relay.
Cal’s victory was truly a full team effort, with at least one athlete finishing in the top eight in every single event, and at least two swimmers in eight those events. After Texas smashed the 800 freestyle relay NCAA, U.S. Open, and American record on Wednesday night, the Bears managed to reverse momentum on Thursday, winning three of five swimming events, including a 1-2 finish in the 50 freestyle from Ryan Hoffer and Pawel Sendyk. The ball kept rolling in Cal’s favor Friday morning, with three swimmers qualifying for the 400 IM A-final, along with a clutch re-swim from Daniel Carr in the 100 backstroke. This morning, the Bears effectively closed things out after putting two swimmers into the A-final of each individual swim event.
While Cal broke Texas’ streak, there’s one person who continued a streak: assistant coach Chase Kreitler. He was a volunteer assistant on each of the last 2 Longhorn title-winning teams, and this year, as a full-time assistant with Cal, he wins his 3rd-straight title.
This is the 6th NCAA team title for California, and the 4th for current head coach Dave Durden. Now in his twelfth season at Cal, Durden has led the Bears on a remarkable run of 10 straight years with either a first or second place team finish. Given the youth on Cal’s roster, it’s more likely than not that trend will continue going forward.
2018-19 California Swimming and Diving Roster:
| Name | Year |
| Karl Arvidsson | Junior |
| Nate Biondi | Sophomore |
| Connor Callahan | Junior |
| Daniel Carr | Sophomore |
| James Daugherty | Sophomore |
| Shane Forker | Junior |
| Jackson Gabler | Sophomore |
| Sean Grieshop | Sophomore |
| Jarod Hatch | Sophomore |
| Ryan Hoffer | Sophomore |
| Michael Jensen | Junior |
| Chris Jhong | Freshman |
| Trenton Julian | Sophomore |
| Jared Kloos | Sophomore |
| Bryce Mefford | Sophomore |
| Kyle Millis | Freshman |
| Nick Norman | Senior |
| Daniel O’Connell | Freshman |
| Galen Penvenne | Freshman |
| David Puczkowski | Senior |
| Zheng Wen Quah | Junior |
| Johnny Robinson | Sophomore |
| Carson Sand | Senior |
| Andrew Seliskar | Senior |
| Pawel Sendyk | Junior |
| Andy Song | Junior |
| Ken Takahashi | Senior |
| Mike Thomas | Senior |
| Reece Whitley | Freshman |
| Jack Xie | Junior |
| Ethan Young | Junior |
Coaching staff:
| Name | Title |
| David Durden | Head Coach |
| Chase Kreitler | Assistant Coach |
| Derek Starks | Diving Coach |
| Nort Thronton | Head Coach Emeritus |
Source: Cal Athletics website
Congratulations California! You were phenomenal!
Anyone know if any of the seniors will keep swimming (other than Seli)? Specifically would love to see more of Mike Thomas.
Cal loses some top talent in their senior class: Seliskar (how do you replace him?) Thomas, Norman, Sand and some other decent swimmers like Takahashi. I just don’t know what to expect from incoming Frosh Destin Lasco and Dare Rose and, of course Hugo Gonzales.
Texas has loaded up again with another top incoming class and will be loaded for “Bear” (no pun intended.. We Cal fans will miss Seli for his fabulous career at Cal. BTW, I don’t think I want to watch this board when Dean is graduated from Harvard and his immense number of manic followers start jumping off bridges or slitting their wrists!
So it turns out is was Kris Kubick magic all this time.
A big shocker in some races is that the Texas swimmers simply didn’t get out touched they were crushed. It’s hard to see that in the results when you only look at place. Several of the top stars performed very poorly
Nate Biondi got something his dad never got: a team title at Cal😳
Please do an article on Shane Forker, the towel guy and hype man for Cal!!!
Chase Kreitler assistance coaches at Texas for years while they were winning NCAA’s…he moves to the Bears and suddenly they win…coincidence???
This man Seliskar is a freak and I really think he’s going to become the face and heartthrob of the 2020 team