Kathleen Baker “Queen of the Pool” as Cal Women Return to Competition

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Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

Cal’s women opened their competition schedule Friday with a short-format dual meet against Cal Poly. Competing in five 100-yard events (fly, back, breast, free and IM) and going for the top cumulative time, Olympic gold medalist Kathleen Baker took first place overall.

It was Baker’s first time racing sicne she led off the American 400 medley relay at the Olympics in Rio. Abbey Weitzeil also made her Cal debut in San Luis Obispo after she deferred enrollment to train for the Games (where she won two medals of her own). Other Cal veterans making their season debuts included Amy Bilquist, Celina Li, Katie McLaughlin and Farida Osman.

Read the full press release from Cal below.

Baker Crowned Queen of the Pool

SAN LUIS OBISPO – Sophomore Kathleen Baker, racing for the first time as a Golden Bear since winning two Olympic medals in Rio over the summer, captured the Queen of the Pool title in Cal’s opening meet of the 2016-17 season Friday.

The unique competition, featuring teams from Cal and Cal Poly, tests the swimmers on their versatility, with each person taking part in five 100-yard races – freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly, backstroke and individual medley. All times are combined, and the one with the fastest overall time is declared the queen.

Baker’s total time for the five events was 4:43.28, just ahead of senior Celina Li‘s 4:44.91. Li had earned the title each of her first three years with the Bears.

Individually, freshman Abbey Weitzeil, also a two-time Olympic medalist, claimed the 100 free in 49.81 as well as the 100 breast in 1:04.56. Sophomore Amy Bilquist won the 100 back in 53.25, while Baker took the 100 fly (54.11) and the 100 IM (55.79).

Entering the IM, Li held a slight 0.31-second lead. But Baker completed the final race in 55.79 to Li’s 57.73 to wrest the crown away.

Following Baker and Li, Bilquist was third overall in 4:45.24, with Weitzeil fourth in 4:45.46 and sophomoreKatie McLaughlin fifth in 4:52.10.

After an Oct. 7 visit to Oregon State, Cal returns to Berkeley to host Washington State Oct. 21 at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

Click here to view full results from the meet.

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