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Celina Li from the Pleasanton Seahawks and Foothill High School (less than an hour’s drive away) has committed to Cal, giving the two-time defending champion Cal Bears their second mega-recruit in the last week.
Li is a member of the United States Junior National Team for the 2012-2013 season after finishing 6th in the 200 IM at the Olympic Trials in June.
The high school senior, who is on the younger end of this class, comes in with IM bests of 1:58.34/4:06.94. That makes her the #2-ranked 200 IM’er in the class and easily the best 400 IM’er (this year’s 400 IM class is pretty weak nationwide after a few great ones in a row).
That time in the 400 would have left her 11th at NCAA’s last season. The opportunity to train with senior Olympian Caitlin Leverenz (who will likely be a Cal postgrad after this season) will be invaluable to Li’s development, though the two swim very different races. Whereas Leverenz has an explosive breaststroke, Li has taken a much more balanced approach to her race.
It will be interesting to see if like she did early Leverenz’s career, Cal head coach Teri McKeever encourages Li to focus on attacking her primary stroke. Li comes in with bests of 52.7/1:56.8 in the 100 and 200 flys, both of which would have put her very close to B-Finals last year at NCAA’s as well.
Li has some international experience already, having traveled to the FINA World Cup Series in both 2010 and 2011, and is the California North Coast Section record holder in the 100 fly. She joins Kristen Vredeveld in giving a verbal commitment to McKeever and the Golden Bears. Interesting to note is that Li and Vredeveld both visited Cal on the same weekend as the biggest high school recruit ever: Missy Franklin.
And Janardan Burns to Cal…….
More recruiting news, sprinter Eric Risolvato just committed to the University of Arizona
I kind of feel sorry for Celina Li. Shouldn’t our comments be something along the lines of Congratulations Celina?
Completly agree. great swimmer who deserves much praise. she will hop in and do exceedingly well in overtaking the IM baton from caitlin leverenz. cant wait to track her progress!
no doubt. been watching her for years back as far as when she lived and swam in Arizona. Great swimmer and competitor. She’ll do very well in college.
Why feel sorry for Celina? She will be a stud for CAL. Swimming with Olympians.Congrats to her!
All the “my college is better” comments are fun too. Especially from the UC-Missy Guy.
Braden- Maybe you should consider starting a “Why my (swim) college is superior” blog.
I feel bad for her because an article announcing such an important part of her life has been littered with 75+ comments of where Missy Franklin is going to school and why the job potential/ economies in TX and GA are better than in CAL.
Obviously the comparative strengths of places & programs are important to readers.
Surely she would be freaked out if she garnered 100 + comments herself. No?
Happy for Celina! I agree that it would be funny to see a blog like that. Can you imagine…UNC vs. NC State, Texas vs. A&M, UGA vs. GT, and Cal vs. Stanford or another school! Great idea Anonymous.
Speaking of Long Course, the 2013 World ChampTrials standards are posted at http://www.usaswimming.org/_Rainbow/Documents/e5208f24-bfb6-4067-b0b5-a1acb28edc28/2013_wc_trials.pdf
The 1500 was swum Long Course at the 1956 NCAA’s at Yale University. Not quite never as stated by Braden. A World Record was set. The swimmer hadn’t trained long course in a year and a half and only 2 months total career up till then.
By George Block, right? Same initials as you Coach GB!
George isn’t that old as he graduated Notre Dame ’73 and the school didn’t have the same rep now a D III. Only a great coach.
Or it could be George Breen….who would have been swimming around that time and was one of the worlds best at 1500m
That’s right — George Breen at SUNY Cortland in 18:05.9.
And “Doc Counsilman” was there 5 years and recieved his nickname from his first Physyology of Exercise class in fall ’52.
Well, college recruitment is different. California has almost the same demographics as Texas but isn’t creating the jobs and the cost of housing and lack of jobs is driving people to Texas and other nearby states, JG is correct, Texas has an advantage now on jobs and so forth.
Unless you neither like the politics or climate in Texas. For some people, cheap housing isn’t the most important thing, and there are plenty of jobs left in California – particularly if you are qualified and bother to “show up” to work. All the money and cheap housing in the world would never convince me to live in Texas – no thanks.
Many many places in the USA are beautiful .
You are right about thinking what politics suit you because Texas is solid R & Cali solid D & these are not changing in the next 5 years. There are opposing enclaves in each but you would be friendless outside these zones.
It also depends if you want to have a family in the future. The numbers of children in the Bay area has been shrinking severely & taking with them the teaching jobs & medical. The SF Mayor is wondering why – DUH.
Also it might be hard to find someone of the opposing chromosones.
California is a BIG state, JG. There are other places to live in the “Golden State” other than the SF Bay Area. In case you didn’t know, Oakland/Berkeley is on the OTHER side of the SF Bay, and there are an awful lot of places in between both North and South. Several distinct climates – unlike Texas where you get hot/hot or hot/cold/snow and that’s pretty much it. People are leaving, but they are still coming and not just from South of the Border (which, btw is a problem in Texas as well). As long as there are jobs and plenty of beach/sunshine they will keep coming.
I have lived in 4 different countries, and seven different states in the… Read more »
Yes I understand all that. The OWS crowd have made the north side quite infamous .
I lived in LaJolla myself . However a young person starting out in a uncertain political & economic climate could think about state tax liabilities already piled up just waiting for a new ..sucker.
All the schools discussed here are great places to get an education. The reality is, an engaged, motivated student will get a better education at ANY school they go to than a disinterested student will get at the best school in the country. It is about best fit, and that can be different for everyone.
Absolutely agree with you. Plus, I believe that any disinterested student athlete would quickly change his mind if he gets the opportunity to study in a great school like Harvard or Standford. So you now have a motivated student and a happy athlete.
Jim get your facts straight! Cal is more difficult to get into; they have a much higher yield of acceptances. Ucla has more students than Cal; Ucla have to admit a lot more students for more spaces available.Also, Cal also has a favorable student teacher ratio which means larger classes at Ucla! Applications are simply a symptom of being located in one of the population centers in North America
Yes LA is a huge population center. However, out of the top 10 most applied to schools 3 of them are in much lower populated areas. 2 are in San Diego a market of 3 million (SDSU and UCSD) and 1 in Louisiana (Tulane). So Benny your theory holds no water. It may just be that UCLA is the most desirable school to attend. Westwood is a clean (as opposed to Berkley) beautiful area close to the beach and UCLA is a top public institution. Maybe that’s a part of the equation. Better weather, hardly any bums, beach close by and a great school with balance athletically and academically. Don’t know what else there is to say.
When was the last time you were in Westwood, Jim? There were sure plenty of bums when I was there last weekend. If you can even get there (“carmageddon” anyone?). The traffic around Westwood is the worst in the world. I am very happy to say I won’t be needing to go anywhere near there again any time soon.
You are right about something. I think it’s notable that most of the “most applied to” schools are in California. We must be doing something right.
I was there on Tuesday. In Westwood 2-3x a week as I have a big client there. Agree that the traffic is horrific. Bums? nothing like up north.