Competitor Coach of the Month is a recurring SwimSwam feature shedding light on a U.S.-based coach who has risen above the competition. As with any item of recognition, Competitor Coach of the Month is a subjective exercise meant to highlight one coach whose work holds noteworthy context – perhaps a coach who was clearly in the limelight, or one whose work fell through the cracks a bit more among other stories. If your favorite coach wasn’t selected, feel free to respectfully recognize them in our comment section.
First off, it’s September, which is not a busy month for most American programs. That means most coaching resumes for our September Coach of the Month are going to be relatively light, and most NCAA rankings aren’t going to be very deep.
That said, Cal’s men showed up in full force at the King of the Pool competition, and they currently dominate the national rankings in the five events swum at that meet.
The King of the Pool meet has every swimmer take on 100s of fly, back, breast, free, and IM. The best composite time of all five 100s wins the “King of the Pool” crown. Currently, Cal men sit #1 in all four of those 100s (the NCAA rankings don’t track the 100 IM).
Coach Dave Durden‘s men swam lights out at NCAAs last year, winning the title in dominant fashion. They did graduate Swimmer of the Year Andrew Seliskar and face questions about whether they can hold off a reloaded Texas team this year. But the Golden Bear men definitely kept themselves as the early-season favorites based on their performances. Here’s a look at the Cal men who rank top 5 nationally as of today:
100 Fly
- #1 Zheng Quah – 46.34
- #4 Pawel Sendyk – 48.77
100 Back
- #1 Zheng Quah – 46.52
- #2 Daniel Carr – 47.76
- #3 Andy Song An – 48.68
- #4 Hugo Gonzalez – 49.85
100 Breast
- #1 Reece Whitley – 53.59
- #3 Hugo Gonzalez – 54.92
100 Free
- #1 Zheng Quah – 43.80
- #3 Ryan Hoffer – 44.47
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