It should be no surprise that the Cal men’s swimming and diving team sits atop the national rankings.
And it should be no surprise that the team is led by a group of fifth-year seniors.
The Golden Bears have finished first or second at every NCAA men’s championships since 2010, including winning six national titles.
The Cal swimmers want to be a part of as much of the magic as possible, and that is why so many fifth-year seniors return each year.
Former All-American Reece Whitley summed up the reason for this after the 2023 national title.
“This is exactly why I came back. To be with these guys – I couldn’t not. It was a really easy decision after thinking about it for a while. This one definitely means the most. There were a lot of challenges this year,” Whitley said last year. “We really do hold each other accountable. It is an incredible lineage of world-class gentlemen – all those guys in bear suits, that is who I wanted to be when I committed to Cal. I am a Bear for life.”
This year’s fifth-year seniors include Frank Applebaum, Matthew Jensen, Tyler Kopp, Destin Lasco, Dare Rose and Bjorn Seeliger.
That is a lot of “extra” points that the Bears can score this year. Lasco, Rose and Seeliger are NCAA title winners and can score a slew of points, with Jensen and Kopp returning NCAA qualifiers and Applebaum an NCAA Division III champion at Claremont Mudd-Scripps.
The fifth years might be the difference between an NCAA title and a runnerup finish.
Last year, fifth-years included Liam Bell, Colby Mefford and Sebastian Somerset – key contributors.
Two years ago it was Whitley, Olympians Hugo Gonzalez and Patrick Callan and Spencer Daily, Lucas Heneveaux, Chris Jhong, Luke Rodarte and Bora Unalmis – all contributing to the second of back-to-back NCAA championships.
The first of those titles saw Daniel Carr, Sean Grieshop, Trenton Julian and Will Roberts stay to help secure the title.
That group set the tone as most of the star swimmers remained for all years of eligibility, including the extra COVID-19 year, in pursuit of NCAA titles.
It could very well happen again this year with a core of national champions returning.
They know how to win, and they are passing that down – five years at a time.
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