Csq 2013 summer final complete for web

SUMMER 2013 1

Triple Threat 10When Hammed Suleman, Cal’s leading triple jumper, prepares to perform at a track & field meet, everyone in attendance seems to notice. Standing 6 feet, 3 inches tall, he simply commands the at-tention. Now after several injury-plagued seasons, including a redshirt year in 2011 that kept him on the sidelines for nine months, the rest of the track & field world should start to take notice, as well.

Species Preservation 14The hard-working, do-it-all mentality that served Kyle Marsh so well on the pitch has translated well to the classroom. The soccer player has parlayed his academic success into a Pac-12 Postgraduate Scholarship that he hopes will give him, and in turn others, a deeper understanding of the environment in order to protect and preserve endangered species.

Builders Among Bears 22The second of a three-part series on Builders of Berkeley recognizes three families whose commit-ments to Cal Athletics are made as testaments to a future vision of Golden Bear excellence. Across the board, these families understand the importance of the student-athlete experience for the well-round-ed individual and the vital role Intercollegiate Athletics plays in the spirit of the University of California.

DEPARTMENTSLETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS ................................. 2

SIDELINE REPORT .............................................................................. 4

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? ................................................................ 16

SEASON REVIEWS ........................................................................... 18

ATHLETIC DEVELOPMENT ............................................................... 22

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT .............................................................. 34

Early Riser 28You can describe Isaac Howell as a “morning per-son.” After four years of training as a swimmer at Spieker Aquatics Complex at 6 a.m., Howell traded his swimsuit for an oar and, as a fifth-year senior, made the trek from Berkeley to Briones Reservoir in Orinda for 7 a.m. men’s crew practice this past academic year.

The Base Paths Less Traveled 30Strolling across campus in a flowing tank top, high-wasted cutoff shorts and a pair of Chuck Tay-lors with her long, blond locks falling from a hip-pie headband across her forehead, Britt Vonk looks less like a softball player and more like she came straight out of a late-1960s Berkeley postcard. For the Netherlands native and Golden Bear infielder, Cal has been a perfect fit.

FEATURES

Summer 2013

CONTENTS

SPORTSQUARTERLY

Dog-Tired Achiever 8Lauren Hein has a dog back home named “Cholida,” which in Korean means “I am tired.” But the term just as easily could have applied to her. In addition to being a goalie on the Bears’ women’s soccer team, Hein recently graduated with honors in molecular and cell biology and worked at a nearby pet hospital. Now, she plans to attend vet school as the next step in her education.

ON THE COVER

2 CAL SPORTS qUARTERLY

Dear Friend of Cal Athletics:

With the summer months upon us, many of our student-athletes are taking well-de-served breaks from the rigors of the academic and competitive year. Yet, despite the fact that collegiate competitions are on hiatus until late August, training and preparation for the fall and beyond continue for most of our Golden Bears in

order to remain in top condition and be ready for what the upcoming seasons will bring.

Inside our offices at Cal Athletics, the hard work en-dures, as well. For us to grow as a department, we must constantly assess all facets of our operations to foster continuous improvement and look at what’s next. How can we do things differently? How can we do things bet-ter? This exercise is not for change sake, but for us to be-come more effective and efficient in everything we do.

And in so many ways, we are doing just that. Over the past year, we opened a beautifully renovated Memorial Stadium to the entire Cal community; helped launch the Pac-12 Networks; entered into a partnership with UREL around our Annual Fund solicitations; instituted our Gold Standard sales and service model; installed lights and a scoreboard at Evans Diamond, which helped attendance

and ticket income double from 2012; revamped our facilities financing plan for Memorial Stadium and the Simpson Center into a more diversified strategy that takes advantage of new revenue streams; launched a facilities master plan; and so much more.

All of these actions are intended with one objective in mind – to provide our stu-dent-athletes with the resources and conditions they need to excel in every aspect of their collegiate experience. In 2012-13, we extended our streak of having at least one national champion to 40 years in a row with a title at the Collegiate Rugby Championship 7s tournament, a victory by our women’s varsity eight at the NCAA rowing regatta, and a combined six individual NCAA crowns in men’s golf and men’s and women’s swimming & diving. On the academic front, our women’s golf team achieved the highest team grade-point average in our recorded history when it posted a 3.46 GPA for the fall semester. More stories about the aspirations and accomplishments of our student-athletes can be found in the following pages of this issue of the Cal Sports Quarterly.

Since its founding nearly 150 years ago, our campus has been a leader in innova-tion, and Cal Athletics should be no different. It is something we must search out every day. For only as we improve our service and support to our student-athletes and the entire Cal community will we meet the challenges that lie ahead.

I hope you have a great summer, and I’m looking forward to seeing you on campus when our teams return to the playing field this fall.

Go Bears,

Sandy BarbourDirector of Athletics

LETTER from Director of Athletics Sandy Barbour SPORTSQUARTERLY

General Manager: Mike Kohler

(510) 643-4825 [email protected]

The Cal Sports Quarterly is published four times per year by the University of California Athletic Department.

Issue 44 – summer 2013

ATHLETIC ADMINISTRATION

DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS:Sandy Barbour

DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS/CHIEF OF STAFF:Teresa Kuehn Gould

DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS/COO:Solly Fulp

EXECUTIVE ASSOCIATE AD/ DIRECTOR OF ADVANCEMENT:

Phil Esten

SENIOR ASSOCIATE AD/INTERCOLLEGIATE SERVICES:Foti Mellis

SENIOR ASSOCIATE AD/CFO:David Secor

EDITORIAL STAFF349 Haas Pavilion

Berkeley, CA 94720

EDITOR:Herb Benenson

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS:Scott Ball, Dean Caparaz, Doug Drabik, Miquel Jacobs,

Anton Malko, Kyle McRae, Tim Miguel, Jonathan Okanes, Mara Rudolph

DESIGN:Evan Kerr

PHOTOGRAPHY:John Todd (GoldenBearSports.com), Michael Pimentel, Michael Burns, Richard Ersted, Tim Binning, Joel Capra, Kelley Cox, Todd Drexler/SE Sports Media, John Dunbar, Doug Drabik, Evan Kerr, Don Feria, Patrick Merrill, Nathan Phillips, Casey Valentine, and Russ Wright among others

ATHLETIC DEVELOPMENT OFFICE195 Haas Pavilion

Berkeley, CA 94720 (510) 642-2427

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ATHLETIC TICKET OFFICE(800) GO BEARS

For daily updates on Cal Athletics, including schedules, press releases and player profiles, visit the depart-

ment’s official website at CalBears.com.

ON THE COVERA member of the Cal women’s soccer team, Lauren

Hein plans to go to veterinary school after graduating earlier this year with a 3.98 GPA in molecular and cell biology and earning an Oscar Geballe Postgraduate

Scholarship (photo by John Todd, GoldenBearSports.com).

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The Cal Sports Quarterly is published four times per year by the University of California Athletic Department.


Cal Athletic Hall of Fame Growing by 8 Members

key contributor to 2002 NCAA championship

sean Lampley (men’s basketball, 1998-2001) – a 2001 Pac-10 Player of the Year who was also voted

MVP of the 1999 NIT when he led the Bears to the titleHeather Petri (women’s wa-

ter polo, 1997-99, 2001) – the only athlete in school history to win a medal in four different Olympics

Trisha stafford-Odom (women’s basketball, 1989-92) – a two-time first-team All-Pac-10 selection who led the Bears to their first two NCAA Tournament berths

Todd steussie (football, 1990-93) – 1993 first-team All-American offensive tackle enjoyed 14-year NFL career

staciana stitts (women’s swim-ming, 2000-03) – 14-time All-American won a gold medal in the 400 medley re-lay at the 2000 Olympics

T. Gary rogers ’63 (Hall of Fame Ser-vice Award) – former Cal rower has been long-time contributor to the Golden Bear crew program

Games are More Fun with a Group

There’s nothing like hearing the Victory Cannon fire, watching the California Marching Band play, and

cheering your Cal football team onto vic-tory with your best friends at beautifully renovated Memorial Stadium.

Now you can make new memories and save money at the same time while sitting together with your friends, fami-ly or co-workers. The Cal football group tickets program is great for any event – alumni reunions, birthdays, anniver-saries, church group and team outings, community organizations, employee get-togethers, and more.

Groups of 20 or more receive a dis-counted ticket price, a video board wel-come and other benefits. For pricing in-formation and to book your group today, call our Gold Standard Sales and Service team at (800) GO BEARS (462-3277) and press 3 or visit CalBears.com/tickets.

Eight distinguished Gold-en Bears have been selected for enshrine-

ment into the Cal Athlet-ic Hall of Fame, a list that includes Olympic med-alists, NCAA champions, All-Americans, school-record holders and a conference player of the year.

Formal induction ceremonies are scheduled for Friday, Oct. 18, at the an-nual Hall of Fame banquet at the Greek Orthodox Church Conference Center in Oakland, and the new inductees will be introduced at halftime of Cal’s Oct. 19 football game vs. Oregon State at Memo-rial Stadium. Information on tickets to the banquet, which is open to all Cal fans, can be found online at bigcsociety.org.

Joining the Hall as the 28th induction class are:

rick Brown (men’s track & field, 1971-74) – four-time Pac-8 champion still holds school record in 800 meters after 41 years

Candace Harper (softball, 1999-2002) – All-American third baseman was

Golden Bear teams and student-athletes added to Cal’s long list of national championships in 2012-13, capped on June by a triumph by

rugby at the National College Championship 7s tour-nament and a one-second victory by the women’s varsity eight at the NCAA rowing regatta.

The first Bears to step to the top of the victory platform this year were swimmers, who wrapped up their seasons in late March. Caitlin Leverenz (200-yard individual medley), Rachel Bootsma (100 backstroke) and Elizabeth Pelton (200 backstroke) won in the women’s races, while Tom Shields captured both the 100 and 200 butterfly in the NCAA men’s meet.

In golf, Max Homa finished three shots clear of the field at 9-under par to become the first Cal male to win medalist honors at the NCAA Men’s Golf Championships.

Overall, Golden Bears have secured 85 national team titles in 15 different sports in their history, as well as a combined 264 crowns in swimming and track & field relays, tennis doubles, rowing boats and individual events.

Bears Run National Championship Streak to 40 Years in a Row

Max Homa

Rachel Bootsma

SUMMER 2013 5

More Water Closer to Becoming a Reality

On May 15, the UC Board of Regents approved a plan to build a new aquatics facility on campus, a project that will benefit Cal’s swimming & diving and water polo

programs, as well as the entire campus and area swimming communities that currently use Spieker Aquatics Complex.

Fundraising for the $15 million center is well underway and work will begin once the entire amount has been committed. The pool will be located in a parking lot west of the Tang Center between Bancroft Way and Durant Avenue on a site approved by the campus Capital Projects Committee.

As one of only three NCAA schools to sponsor four aquatics teams – men’s and women’s swimming & diving and men’s and women’s water polo – the Bears are constrained by a lack of water with only the current Spieker pool available. Once the new facility opens, it will host the majority of the teams’ practices, as well as

some competitions, which will free up time for recreational, PE and master’s swimming at Spieker. The majority of Cal’s meets and matches will remain at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

2013 FOOTbALL HOME SCHEDULEAug. 31 Sat Northwestern 7:30 p.m. ESPN2

Sept. 7 Sat Portland State 2:00 p.m. Pac-12 Networks

Sept. 14 Sat Ohio State 4:00 p.m. FOX

Oct. 5 Sat Washington State* TBA TBA

Oct. 19 Sat Oregon State TBA TBA

Nov. 2 Sat Arizona TBA TBA

Nov. 9 Sat USC# TBA TBA

*Homecoming#Joe Roth Memorial GameKickoff times and television selections for TBA dates will be announced either 12 or six days prior to each game

Cal Community Encouraged to Buy Tickets Early

A s the Cal football season approach-es, tickets are expected to be in high demand for the 2013 season,

specifically for the season opener against Northwestern, Ohio State two weeks later and the match-up with USC. Cal fans are encouraged to buy single-game tickets as early as possible to beat the rush.

“With limited inventory, we’re calling on our donors and season-ticket holders to use their benefits and buy additional single-game tickets during their presale dates so we can own our turf and create a true home field advantage at Memorial

Stadium,” said Rob Kristiniak, Cal’s direc-tor of ticket sales.

Current season-ticket holders, donors to Cal Athletics and letterwinners will receive priority access to buy single-game tickets before the general public. In addi-tion, these groups will enjoy “locked in” pricing that will not fluctuate. Single-game tickets for the general public will be subject to dynamic pricing that will increase based on a variety of factors.

For more information on single-game tickets, pricing and seating, visit CalBears.com/tickets.

Single-Game Ticket On-Sale DatesTuesday, July 23 at 9 a.m.

ESP participants and 2013 season-ticket holders (MBB/WBB/FB/VB) who are do-nors at the $10K+ level

Wednesday, July 24 at 9 a.m. 2013 season-ticket holders (MBB/

WBB/FB/VB) who are donors at the $1,200+ level

Thursday, July 25 at 9 a.m. 2013 season-ticket holders (MBB/

WBB/FB/VB), Cal Athletic letterwinners and donors at the $5,000 level who are not season-ticket holders

Friday, July 26 at 9 a.m.Donors to Cal Athletics at $4,999 and

under, e-newsletter subscribers, social media fans, CAA member presale (via promo code subject to dynamic pricing)

Tuesday, July 30 at 9 a.m.General Public (if available)


Cal Athletics recognized the best and brightest of its nearly 850 student-athletes with a host of

awards and postgraduate scholarships at the annual Academic Honors Lun-cheon held May 7 at Haas Pavilion. The event is co-sponsored by the Big C Soci-ety and the Athletic Study Center.

The Tom Hansen Conference Medal, presented to the top male and female senior student-athletes at each Pac-12 school, went to men’s swimmer Tom Shields and Layshia Clarendon of wom-en’s basketball. Shields was a multi-time NCAA champion during his career, including victories in the 100- and 200-yard butterfly this year, while Claren-don led the Golden Bears to the Final Four for the first time in school history and earned the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete

of the Year award for women’s basketball this past season.

Lindsey Ziegen-hirt, a senior softball player, provided the student-athlete ad-dress to the crowd and spoke about the

unique experiences she has had at Cal over the past four years.

“From the rigorous academic work-load to the intense competition of the Pac-12 Conference, Berkeley stu-dent-athletes are continuously chal-lenged,” Ziegenhirt said. “But challeng-es define us, and overcoming them gives us the courage to take on more. It’s this courage that separates Cal athletes from all the others.”

Golden Bear Team awardHighest cumulative GPA

Women’s Golf – 3.46 GPa

BiG C mosT imProved Team awardMost improved team GPA

Softball

Tom Hansen ConferenCe medalOutstanding senior

male and female student-athletemale – Tom Shields

(men’s swimming) female – Layshia Clarendon

(women’s basketball)

neufeld sCHolar-aTHleTe awardsHighest GPA among graduating student-athletesmale – Michael Perretta (men’s crew)

female – Lauren Hein (women’s soccer)

PaC-12 PosTGraduaTe sCHolarsHiPs

$3,000 awards for graduate workIsaac Howell (men’s swimming)

Caitlin Leverenz (women’s swimming)Kyle Marsh (men’s soccer)

Robin Rostratter (volleyball)

osCar GeBalle PosTGraduaTe sCHolarsHiPs

$5,000 awards for graduate workLauren Hein (women’s soccer)

Sara Isakovic (women’s swimming)Lindsey Ziegenhirt (softball)

Jake GimBel Prize and anna esPensCHade award

Exemplifying Golden Bear spiritmale (Gimbel) –

Marin Balarin (men’s water polo) female (espenschade) –

Caitlin Leverenz (women’s swimming)

JosePH mCdonnell kavanaGH award

exception improvement in academic pursuits

Tierra Rogers (women’s basketball)

walTer a. Haas Jr. CommuniTy serviCe award

Contribution to community serviceLeilani Alferos (women’s gymnastics)

Golden Bears Saluted at Honors Luncheon

SIDE

LIN

E REPORT

Summer in the Country for Several Golden Bear Teams

Several Cal teams are spending parts of their summer

break traveling, training and competing interna-tionally, including the Bears’ women’s water polo squad that will rep-resent the United States at the World University Games in Russia.

The first team to take to the air was women’s soccer, which left Berkeley im-mediately after spring final exams to vis-it Costa Rica May 20-29. Later this sum-mer, the Cal women’s basketball team will travel to China Aug. 17-25.

Perhaps the most significant trip will be the one taken by women’s water polo, which will be in Kazan, Russia, from July 6-17. The Bears will send a team of 13 and compete under the USA banner at

the World University Games against squads from seven other countries.

“To represent your country is a huge deal,” Cal coach Richard Corso said. “It’s not only a great trip for training and competition, but it gives a chance for the young players to play at a very important tournament.”

Under NCAA rules, teams can take an international tour once every four years, and each of these trips were privately funded.

Lindsey Ziegenhirt

Cal’s Golden Bear Award winners for having the highest GPA on their respective teams in 2012-13.

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Lauren Hein has a dog back home named “Cholida,” which in Korean means “I am tired.”

Looks like the residents at the Hein household may have been misidentified.

Hein recently completed an impressive and exhausting ca-reer at Cal. In addition to being a goalie on the Bears’ wom-en’s soccer team, Hein took a rigorous academic workload and graduated with honors with a degree in molecular and cell bi-ology. In addition, she worked nearby an emergency pet hos-pital, oftentimes working late shifts and then showing up to soccer practice the next morning.

“I’d have practice in the morning, go straight from practice to class, and then go straight from class to work. I was exhausted,” Hein said. “I took a lot of naps. Naps were the best thing ever.”

Oh, and by the way, Hein also found time to study – a lot. She completed her degree with a 3.982 GPA, which earned her the Neufeld Scholar Athlete Award for having the highest GPA of any graduating female student-athlete on campus. Hein was also the recipient of an Oscar Geballe Postgraduate Scholar-ship, which recognizes devotion to Cal and the combination of scholarship and athletic competition.

“Every athlete at Cal deserves recognition,” women’s soc-cer coach Neil McGuire said. “But as far as the combination of academic standards and character, I don’t think I’ve coached a

Dog-Tired AchieverAspiring Veterinarian Lauren Hein Worked, Studied and Played Around the Clock at Cal

By Jonathan Okanes


SUMMER 2013 9

“Every athlete at Cal deserves recog-nition. But as far as the combination of academic stan-dards and charac-ter, I don’t think I’ve coached a finer athlete than Lauren. She’s the unsung hero of Cal women’s soccer”– head coach Neil McGuire

Hein’s retirement lasted until the second day of fall camp. Backup goalie Kat Messinger, a former club teammate of Hein’s, suffered a sea-son-ending knee injury. Hein had already decid-ed she was going to go visit the team that day. It ended up being a more permanent return.

“I was talking to the team, trying to figure out how we were going to move forward. I remem-ber thinking that I wish Lauren were still here,” McGuire said. “Then I saw her walking through the gate.”

Hein agreed to come back for her senior year. She started one game and shut out Nevada on Sept. 23. It meant an-other season of juggling soccer, schoolwork and animals.

“I don’t understand how she did it,” Messinger said. “Not only was she saving ani-mals, she would come to practice every morning and had the highest GPA in one of the toughest majors. Just from a personal standpoint, Lauren Hein is a person I aspire to be like academ-ically and athletically. It’s inspiring to look at someone who worked so hard. For a number of us, she was a person to look up to.”

Like her teammates, Hein made an impression on her co-work-ers as well. In the short time she volunteered at the Berkeley Animal Shelter, Hein was put in charge of mentoring new volun-teers. She also got involved with the “Bad Rap” program, which focused on socializing pit bulls.

Despite no professional experience, Hein immediately start-ed performing a variety of duties as soon as she started her job at PETS. She restrained animals, placed catheters, adminis-tered injections and took X-Rays.

“I hate to gush, but I thought she was really one of the most mature pre-vets I’ve worked with,” said PETS head registered vet technician Lisa Phoenix. “What she brought to us was just an amazing sense of teamwork. She was so easy to work with and so truly helpful. She was there to support the team. I was always disappointed when she had a soccer game and couldn’t work.”

And Hein saw the team concept at PETS as well, comparing the dynamic at the animal hospital to the one she regularly saw on the soccer field.

“It’s a team. There’s the receptionist, the techs and the doc-tor – and they all have to work together for a set goal of win-ning, which is saving the animal’s life,” Hein said. “I feel like the doctors are the goalies. As a goalie, I was always the one directing people where to go. I was the final end-all.”

finer athlete than Lauren. She’s the unsung hero of Cal wom-en’s soccer.”

Hein fondly refers to her childhood home in Tustin, Calif., as “The Zoo.” She grew up with dogs, cats, turtles, snakes and rats, among others creatures. Hein said as early as age 7, she was telling people she wanted to be a veterinarian.

One thing was for sure: Hein seemed destined to wind up in the medical field in some capacity. Her mother, Susan, is a nurse and her father, Mike, is an x-ray technician. Hein said she considered going to medical school when she was in high school, but when she got to Cal and started volunteering at the Berkeley Animal Shelter, it reinforced her childhood dream to become a vet.

“I was surrounded by the health practice,” Hein said. “I knew I loved science and math, so medicine it was. I didn’t know if I wanted humans or animals. My mom always told me I was going to end up with animals. She could tell that I had a special passion for the animals.”

During winter break of her freshman year, Hein got the op-portunity to shadow a vet in Newport Beach, Calif., who was a friend of the family. That motivated her even more to get more experience. She joined the Cal Pre-Vet Club, and it was there she met another student working at PETS, an emergency ani-mal hospital in Berkeley. Hein contacted the clinic and got a job as a tech assistant.

Hein would either work from 4-midnight or 6 p.m.-2 a.m., making for some bleary-eyed 8 a.m. soccer practices.

“I had people telling me I was incredibly crazy,” Hein said. “I would take one- or two-hour naps on the days I had work so those nights I wasn’t too exhausted. But there were sometimes I was so exhausted and they could see it. I lost a little bit of focus. It wasn’t something that concerned them because I al-ways had the right attitude at practice. I busted my butt. Even if I only got four or five hours of sleep the night before, I was trying my hardest during conditioning.”

Hein started seven games as a sophomore in 2010, but when Emily Kruger won the No. 1 job the following season, it became apparent her playing time was diminishing. Hein was the maid of honor at her sister’s wedding in September of last year, and with the preparations for that, along with her strenuous aca-demic obligations, Hein decided not to play her senior season.

“I think toward the middle of my junior year, I started to re-alize that soccer wasn’t my end-all,” Hein said. “Making sure I could get the grades I wanted and get the experience in order to continue as a vet was what was important. Soccer wasn’t stopping me from that. So soccer became fun. Not that it wasn’t fun before, but when the pressure was off that I don’t need to play to have fun, it was actually really nice.”


Triple¯ThreaT

Hammed Suleman Has Overcome Injuries to Become One of the Best Jumpers in Cal History

By Herb Benenson

wWhen Hammed Suleman, Cal’s leading triple jumper, prepares to perform at a track & field meet, everyone in attendance seems to notice. Standing 6 feet, 3 inches tall, he simply commands the attention. And when he raises his arms and encourages others to start rhythmically clapping before he starts down the runway on his way to the sand pit, fans and competitors alike heed his wishes.

Suleman returns their participation with a smile, and the support appears to drive him to hop, skip and jump as far as he is able. He is engaged with the fans, and they with him.

Through three competitive seasons at Cal, Suleman ranks as one of the best in school history in the triple jump, and for much of the 2013 season, he was No. 2

in the country in the event having leapt 53-4.50 at the Texas Relays in March. Yet that distance provides only a glimpse at what is possible for the junior out of Deer Valley High School in Antioch.

“He has a great combination of speed and power,” director of track & field Tony Sandoval said. “If you look at triple jump-ers, they get better with age. I see him as an elite international triple jumper down the road. I think the fact that we finally got him healthy is going to bode well for his future.”

Given the inner drive he possesses to reach his potential, a

Hammed Suleman

healthy Suleman could become a fig-ure on the triple jump scene for many years down the road. And after several frustrating seasons, including a redshirt year that kept him on the sidelines for nine months in 2011, Suleman appears headed towards such accolades.

Suleman arrived at Cal after capturing the state high school triple jump title in 2009, and as a freshman in Berkeley, he was a conference finalist in both the triple jump and long jump. The following year, he captured the MPSF indoor title in the triple jump with a then-lifetime-best effort of 52-10.75. He later placed 12th at the NCAA Indoor Championships and expected much more out of himself once he turned his attention out-doors.

However, a hard-to-diagnose ailment put Suleman on the shelf by mid-March 2011 with pain in his lower leg. After ini-tially believing the injury was a stress fracture, then a muscle problem, Cal’s medical staff determined Suleman had nerve entrapment and soft tissue compression, which put pressure on a nerve and resulted in painful takeoffs.

Although Suleman had success in the interim – he returned to become the 2012 Pac-12 runner-up in the long jump and also qualified for NCAA regionals in the triple jump – he just started coming around in 2013 after undergoing several surgi-cal procedures to relieve tension in his leg.

Continued on page 13

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POPE DENTAL

SUMMER 2013 13

“I’ll give them encouragement and try to be a younger coach and kind of relate to them,” Suleman said. “I have a good relationship with the teachers and the princi-pal. It’s always a good feeling when I go back and feel welcome.”

While a student at Deer Valley HS, Suleman took up track & field

because his older sister ran for the team. At first he tried a lit-tle bit of everything before an assistant coach encouraged him to become a jumper. His first year, he managed only 16 feet in the long jump (“Nothing impressive,” he said). He improved to 22-6 in the long jump and 46 feet in the triple jump by the end of his junior year, but he still wasn’t where he wanted to be.

“I was so motivated to be the best that I can, that whole sum-mer I got on a regimen,” Suleman said. “I was on the track by myself running stairs. I couldn’t be on the bottom like I was the year before. It really motivated me to see what I could do, to see how much work I could put in and see what the effects were.”

Adding to the incentive was a conversation Suleman had with Cal associate head coach Ed Miller. Suleman asked if Cal would recruit him, and Miller replied that the Bears would take a look once he reached 49-50 feet.

In Sandoval’s words, Suleman “exploded” his senior sea-son, picking up an extra five feet in the triple jump and reg-istering a best of 51-2. Although Cal was late to get into the recruiting mix, Suleman eventually chose to become a Gold-en Bear and is taking advantage of his time in Berkeley. Not only is he relishing the teaching he receives from his event coaches, but he constantly scours the internet for videos of triple jumpers to pick up as many tips as he can.

“Is it going to work for me? How does it work for them? I try to diagnose everything about it,” Suleman said. “What muscles are they using, are their arms parallel to their legs, how much speed, what is their strength-to-weight ratio? I just try to break everything down. The triple jump is a very technical event. Do one little wrong thing and you feel so much pain. When every-thing goes right, it feels very good.”

With one more season at Cal and hopefully many more com-petitive years after that, Suleman hopes that the triple jump feels good to him for a long time.

Suleman still has good and bad days, but overall, he believes the disappointment of the past two years is behind him.

“It’s been a winding road, up and down,” Suleman said. “But I’m still blessed to be here and trying to stay positive and live out every day the best that I can.”

In particular, Suleman’s 53-foot jump at the Texas Relays earlier this year assured him that he can do so much more.

“It gave me a lot of confidence knowing that on that particu-lar jump, I put my hand back (on the landing), which took more away from the jump,” Suleman said. “To have done that tells me I’m on the right track. I’m just staying positive.”

Suleman continued his upward trajectory at the Pac-12 Championships. On the opening day, he captured the confer-ence title in the long jump with a distance of 25-11.50, and a day later, he was runner-up in the triple jump. In June, Suleman qualified for the NCAA meet in the long jump, as well.

Suleman’s natural upbeat attitude translates very well to his social welfare major and intended career path. Although he would like to train and compete after he graduates next year, a master’s degree in social work is a clear goal.

“I love talking to kids and giving them my experiences and try to make it easier for them so they don’t make the same mistakes I did,” Suleman said. “I try to help them understand certain things that they’re going through. I try to help them get the most of this position in their life, especially under-privileged kids. How are you going to help yourself? How are you going to get better? What if this doesn’t work out? I try to give them the best advice that I can. There are certain dis-tractions in the community that can sidetrack you from what you need to do.”

Suleman speaks from the experience of regularly returning to his high school in Antioch and talking with members of the current track & field team about the challenges that lie ahead.

One of the top jumpers in school history, Hammed Suleman believes he will only get better with time.

POPE DENTAL

Continued from page 10

“I love talking to kids and giving them my experiences and try to make it easier for them so they don’t make the same mistakes I did. I try to help them get the most of this position in their life, especially underprivileged kids. There are certain distractions in the community that can sidetrack you from what you need to do.”

– Hammed Suleman


SpecieSpreServationT he hard-working, do-it-all mentality that served Kyle Marsh so well

on the pitch has translated well to the classroom. The soccer player has parlayed his academic success into a Pac-12 Postgrad-uate Scholarship that he hopes will give him, and in turn others, a

deeper understanding of the environment in order to protect and preserve endangered species.

A product of Santa Rosa High School, Marsh played for three seasons – and redshirted one year due to injury – on the Golden Bear team. He graduated with his degree in conservation and re-source sciences this past May.

Marsh came to Cal completely focused on soccer. He dreamed of someday play-ing professionally, as head coach Kevin Grimes’ lauded program has produced several players who are still active at the next level. Over the years, Marsh watched as many of his former team-mates, including A.J. Soares, Servando Carrasco and Hector Jimenez, left Cal to become pros.

A speedy mid-fielder/defender, Marsh appeared in a total of 38 games for the Bears and start-ed 20 times. An inju-ry sidelined him in 2010, forcing him to the sidelines when

Cal produced arguably its best season in program history with a berth into the NCAA quarterfinals. Personally, Marsh had his most outstanding year in 2011, when he started 11 games and scored the first two goals of his career. This past fall, he started in nine of 15 games played and scored twice more – in a 4-1 win over Central Florida and a 5-0 rout of Houston Baptist.

But over the years, his focus changed. Despite seeing many of his teammates

advance to the next level, Marsh realized that reaching the pro ranks was going to be a long shot.

“That was my aspiration in the begin-ning,” Marsh said, “and obviously it shift-ed to a more realistic future for myself and something that I can control a lit-tle bit better with schoolwork and hard work than I could with soccer. Once I got here I found another passion. That’s when it started to shift a little bit more towards education and my classes.

“Actually, it was a big shift,” Marsh ad-mitted. “I was always super passionate about soccer, and that’s what pushes any athlete to be their best. And then when you find a passion in school, it’s pretty

similar, and you work as hard in both. Athletes are usually pretty competitive, so doing the best you can always is just kind of a mindset you’re stuck in.”

Marsh worked in two different re-search positions as a senior. One en-tailed analyzing data about coyote activity over the previous four years. The other position was part of the Undergraduate Research Apprentice

Kyle Marsh

Kyle Marsh Hopes to Make the World a Safer Place by Better Understanding the Environment

By Dean Caparaz ’90

Kyle Marsh (center) celebrates on Goldman Field with Cal teammates Tony Salciccia (10) and Kyle Lunt (23).

SUMMER 2013 15

Like many newcomers in Berke-ley, Marsh became aware of academic pursuits he didn’t know existed be-fore arriving on campus. And a class he took as a freshman not only piqued his interests, but sent him in a direction that will shape his post-Cal career and inspired him to try to do his part of make the world a better place to live, a sentiment shared by so many others on campus.

“In my freshman year I had a sem-inar class that was on environmental issues and green energy, and that kind of sparked my interest because I didn’t know that was an actual area of study until I got to college,” Marsh said. “And then that led to taking Biology 1B. My GSI (graduate student instructor) was a conservation biologist from Madagas-car, and he was talking to me about his research and everything that he’d been doing. That definitely opened my eyes to a possibility that I didn’t know existed. It was definitely something that I was very interested in, and that’s shot me on this path.”

With conservation biology serving as Marsh’s favorite area of concentration within his major, his “path” has led him towards protecting wildlife and the en-vironment.

“To be able to prevent a species from going extinct is a dream of mine that I will always strive for, and with the education I received here I know that it is possible,” he said.

Now a young Cal alumnus, Marsh is spending his summer in Yosemite National Park, though he’s not sight-see-ing, at least not in the conventional sense. He is assisting a Cal graduate stu-dent in her research of Dark-eyed Juncos, “which are these tiny birds,” March said. “We’ll be catching them, taking DNA sam-ples, banding them and watching them. [We’re] doing a study on how clutch size (the number of eggs that a bird lays in one nesting) goes down or how clutch size changes as elevation changes.”

Marsh hopes to take at least one year off from school to do research, prepare for the GREs and decide what he wants to pursue in graduate school before re-newing his studies.

“My ultimate goal is to earn a Ph.D. in bi-ology or ecology,” he said. “After graduate school all I know is that I want to be us-ing my knowledge to better our society’s understanding of our natural world and prevent species from going extinct.”

Program (URAP), in which he assessed the quality and catalogued the sound recordings of East African Sunbirds for the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology as well as for the Ph.D. student he worked with.

Marsh’s emphasis on his schoolwork resulted in him claiming Pac-12 All-Aca-demic honorable mention notice in 2011 and 2012. He also earned the conference

scholarship, along with swimming’s Caitlin Leverenz, volleyball’s Robin Ros-tratter and Isaac Howell, who competed in swimming and crew. In collecting his Pac-12 award, Marsh rubbed shoulders with other high achievers in both the ac-ademic and athletic realms.

“It’s pretty impressive,” Marsh said. “It makes me pretty proud to be part of this group of people.”

United States and moved to the Los Angeles area in 2002.

While he was there, like most aspiring ac-tors, he did lots of jobs to make ends meet.

“I’ve never gone to my tax lady with less than 6 or 7 W-2’s, ever,” said Jackson, who admitted that many of those were for jobs not in the acting profession. “Many days I looked at it and said ‘I have a degree from Berkeley and I’m doing this.’ But you do what you have to do to survive.”

Finally in 2007, Jackson got his big break when he landed a role in the Ice Cube movie First Sunday and then did a series of television shows and movies.

“At one point, people were telling me that it seemed like they were seeing me on TV every week,” Jackson said.

There have been ups and downs but a mostly steady stream of work since, including a recent gig earlier this year on Law & Order: SVU, which films in the New York City area where Jackson moved recently.

Jackson has more projects in the works and is positive about his future.

“I always say choose something that you’re into and everything else will fall in place,” Jackson said. “Do what you love.”

That’s something Jackson has been doing for a long time.

audition,” Jackson said. “When you’re on the field, you know there are 70,000 people in the stands, but you don’t see them or hear them because you’re just so tuned in to what you’re doing. Walking into an audition or being on stage or on set is similar.”

The multiple roles Jackson played while at Cal were just a beginning. After spending five months teaching English and doing some modeling work in Santiago, Chile, following gradua-tion, the aspiring actor returned to the

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

When Roy Jackson was a high school senior at nearby St. Mary’s College High School in Berkeley, he was a standout linebacker on the school’s football team. By the time he had graduated from Cal in 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in

American studies, Jackson was a three-year letterwinner who had seen action at linebacker, safety, rush end and fullback.

But those are far from the only roles the one-time walk-on has played.

“When I came to Cal I always knew I wanted to do something in entertain-ment,” said Jackson, who eventually earned a football scholarship.

It didn’t take long for Jackson to figure out that he wanted to become an actor.

“The bug bit me,” Jackson said. “I found my calling and I knew what I wanted to do.”

Although Jackson never officially changed his major to theater, dance and performance at Cal, it wasn’t long until he was taking drama classes and quickly immersed in the field. Jackson not only studied the craft on the Berkeley cam-pus, but he also trained at the American Conservatory Theater and performed with the African-American Shakespeare Company in San Francisco.

Now, Jackson can draw parallels be-tween football and acting.

“Playing football at Cal prepared me for getting on stage and going into an


Roy Jackson Loving His Role

By Kyle McRae

Roy Jackson in an episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

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BAsEBALL

Cal baseball, with up to five freshmen in its starting line-up, won five extra inning games and had six

walk-off wins in 2013. The Bears, (23-31, 10-20), were led offensively by junior catcher Andrew Knapp, who bat-ted .350 with a team-leading 16 doubles, eight home runs and 41 RBI. Knapp, a third-team All-American and second round draft pick, also paced Cal with 22 multiple hit games and 11 multiple RBI games. Two Bears who have bright futures are 6-7 freshman right-hander Ryan Mason, Cal’s No. 1 starter (5-3, 3.76 ERA), and fresh-man center fielder Devin Pearson (.302, eight doubles, two home runs, 17 RBI, seven stolen bases). Evans Diamond saw some major upgrades in 2013, as well, with the installations of lights and a new video score-board.

MEn’s BAskETBALL

Under the direction of Mike Montgomery, Cal com-pleted its winningest five-year stretch in more than

50 years with a 21-12 record. A top-two finish in the Pac-12 for the second consecutive season culminated with a third-round appearance in the NCAA Tournament. After opening with a victory over UNLV, Cal was elimi-nated by Final Four participant Syracuse, 66-60. Junior Allen Crabbe became Cal’s third Pac-12 Player of the Year in the last four seasons. A third-team NABC and Sporting News All-American, he averaged 18.4 points and 6.1 rebounds to also earn first-team All-Pac-12 honors. Crabbe declared for the NBA Draft following the season, ending his decorated collegiate career. The Bears welcome back four of five starters in 2013-14, including two-time All-Pac-12 guard Justin Cobbs, along with the addition of a top-20 recruiting class. Montgomery enters his 32nd year of collegiate coach-ing as the NCAA’s ninth-winningest active Division I coach with 656 victories.

WoMEn’s BAskETBALL

The 2012-13 season turned into a record-breaking one that culminated in Cal winning the first Pac-12 regu-

lar-season title in program history and advancing to the NCAA Final Four with a 32-4 record. Head coach Lindsay Gottlieb was named a finalist for the Naismith National Coach of the Year award in addition to being named the Pac-12 Coach of the Year by the media after leading her team to a 17-1 conference record that included a 67-55 win at Stanford to end the Cardinal’s 81-game confer-ence winning streak. The Bears earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament behind the play of senior Layshia Clarendon’s 16.4 points and 4.0 rebounds per game that ultimately led to her being selected No. 9 by the Indiana Fever in the 2013 WNBA Draft. Clarendon, as well as junior Gennifer Brandon, earned All-America honorable mention honors.

MEn’s CREW

A young Cal men’s crew program overcame several challenges throughout the season to earn podium

finishes in four of the five grand finals and place third overall at the IRA National Championships in Lake Natoma in early June. Cal’s varsity eight finished fifth, while the Bears placed second in the varsity four, and third in the second varsity eight, freshman eight and open four. Earlier, Cal captured the Copley Cup at the San Diego Crew Classic and posted victories against Wisconsin and Oregon State in dual action. The Bears secured a Pac-12 title in the varsity four and finished second as a team at the conference championships in May. For 2014, Cal returns the entire varsity eight crew, including All-Pac-12 selections Cole Reiser and Jovan Jovanivic, and all but two in the second varsity eight boat.

WoMEn’s CREW

The Bears capped another stellar season with an NCAA championship in the varsity eight in early June

in Indianapolis. Coupled with a second-place finish by the second varsity eight and petite final win by the var-sity four, Cal placed second overall as a team in the NCAAs – just two points shy of a team title. The Bears continued a remarkable run of six straight top-three finishes at the NCAAs and nine of the last 10. Guid-ed by wins in the second varsity eight and varsity four, Cal earned its sixth consecutive Pac-12 team crown. Juniors Kara Kohler and Agatha Nowinski collected all-league honors for the second season in a row, while se-niors Lynn Anderson and Maggie Simpson were named coaches’ association National Scholar-Athletes.

MEn’s CRoss CoUnTRY

Cal’s young roster was comprised of several first-year Golden Bears, including seven freshmen.

Among their results during the fall, the Bears placed ninth at the Pac-12 Championships and 13th at NCAA West Regionals. Sophomore Chris Walden paced the team in two of the four events he competed in, placing 23rd overall in Virginia and 62nd overall at the NCAA Regionals. With top returner Collin Jarvis redshirting, Cal received contributions from freshmen Leland Later and Matt Carpowich, as well as first-year Bear in junior transfer Agustin Alva. The senior trio of Matt Petersen, Renaud Poizat (paced Cal with second-place finish in Sacramento) and Simon Schmidt also contributed to Cal’s lineup throughout the season.

WoMEn’s CRoss CoUnTRY

Cal’s young squad, which featured only one senior and one junior in the regular lineup, showed great

promise with top finishes in several races in the fall. Among their races, the Bears won the USF Invitational and the Hornet Jamboree, placed fourth at the Panora-ma Farms Invitational in Virginia, 10th at the Wisconsin Invitational, and eighth in the Pac-12 Championships. Sophomore Kelsey Santisteban represented Cal at the NCAA Championships in Louisville, Ky., after posting a season-best time of 19:15 in the 6,000-meter course in the NCAA Regionals. The second-year standout placed 70th overall at NCAAs. Santisteban earned All-Pac-12 second-team honors after finishing ninth overall at the conference meet.

FiELd HoCkEY

Cal finished third at the NorPac Tournament under 18th-year head coach Shellie Onsted and went

8-12 on the year. Sophomore Lara Kruggel was named to the NFHCA All-West first team and was tabbed the NorPac West Offensive Player of the Year after leading the Bears with 18 goals and 44 points. Kruggel fin-ished 11th in the nation in points per game at 2.20 and already holds down the 10th position on Cal’s all-time points list at 67 with two seasons remaining. Junior Shannon Elmitt earned second-team All-West honors after tallying nine assists on the season, and senior Rachelle Comeau was named to the NorPac All-Tour-nament team. The Bears also featured nine players on the NFHCA National Academic Squad.

FooTBALL

Despite a 3-9 final mark, Cal’s 2012 season was not without highlights as the Golden Bears returned to

a renovated Memorial Stadium with much fanfare. Cal drew a sellout crowd of 63,186 to its first game back in Strawberry Canyon on Sept. 1, and although the Bears dropped a 31-24 decision to Nevada, there was tre-mendous enthusiasm about the arrival of football back in Berkeley. The highlight of the season came against UCLA when the Bears put together their best game with a 43-17 dismantling of eventual Pac-12 South Di-vision champion Bruins on a night in which Memorial Stadium was rededicated. The most notable individual highlights included Keenan Allen becoming the school’s all-time leader in receptions and Brendan Bigelow’s 81-yard touchdown run in a hard-fought 35-28 loss at Ohio State that was the longest by an opponent in the stadium’s history.

Andrew Knapp Allen Crabbe Layshia Clarendon

Cole Reiser Kara Kohler Chris Walden Kelsey Santisteban Lara Kruggel

SPORTS REViEWS

2012-2013


SUMMER 2013 19

MEn’s GoLF

Cal completed a historic season in 2012-13, so strong that despite falling in the NCAA Champion-

ships’ match-play semifinals, the Bears were still the nation’s No. 1 team according to final rankings by Golf-week and Golfstat. Cal set a modern-era NCAA record by winning 12 of 14 stroke-play events, including the stroke-play portion of the NCAA Championships. Michael Kim earned National Player of the Year honors and was joined as a first-team All-American by Max Homa and Michael Weaver. Joël Stalter and Brandon Hagy also earned sec-ond-team All-American recognition. Homa became Cal’s first-ever individual medalist at the NCAA Champion-ships and added a Pac-12 individual title. Five players – Homa, Kim, Weaver, Stalter and Hagy – were individual medalists at least once during the season and earned All-Pac-12 honors. Head coach Steve Desimone was the National Coach of the Year and Pac-12 Coach of the Year.

WoMEn’s GYMnAsTiCs

The Golden Bears opened the season with their high-est score in two seasons, a result that propelled

them into the national top 25 for nearly half the year. Cal finished the regular season by setting the second-high-est team score in program history in Haas Pavilion on Senior Night, a 196.525. At the Pac-12 Championships, where the Bears finished seventh, first-year head coach Justin Howell was honored with the Pac-12 Gymnastics Coach of the Year award, and freshman Serena Leong received the program’s first-ever Freshman/Newcomer of the Year title. Senior Mariesah Pierce and junior Ali-cia Asturias were named to the All-Pac-12 second team, while seven Bears earned Pac-12 All-Academic honors. The squad capped off its most successful season in re-cent history with its first team berth to NCAA Regionals since 2007, where Howell was recognized by his peers as the West Region Coach of the Year.

WoMEn’s GoLF

Head coach Nancy McDaniel’s team earned its 14th consecutive bid to the NCAA Regionals in 2013,

where the Bears finished 18th with a youthful lineup that will return four of five regulars next season. Junior Nicola Rössler paced Cal with a top-25 finish at the Pac-12 Championships and a top-40 showing at the NCAA Regional, finishing with a team-best 75.0 stroke aver-age. Freshman Hannah Suh had a team-high six rounds of par or better and shot 75.3 in her first collegiate season that included a round at the NCAA West Region-al where she shot a one-under 70. Suh led the Bears with two top-five finishes on the year, and her 69 at the Spartan Invite was the lowest round of the year for the Bears. Cal also had another freshman, Carly Childs, in the lineup as well as sophomore Morgan Thompson, who earned one top-five finish on the season.

MEn’s GYMnAsTiCs

The young 2013 Cal men’s gymnastics squad fin-ished the season ranked seventh in the country

following a trip to the NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Champi-onship’s 12-team Qualifier. Six Golden Bears advanced to the individual event preliminaries, with freshman Takahiro Kawada and sophomore Jonathan Liu earning spots in the finals and receiving All-American status. Earlier in the season, Cal took down defending national champion Illinois, 427.00-425.650, at home in Haas Pavilion in the final contest of the regular season. At the MPSF Championships, the Bears finished third, and junior Matthew del Junco and sophomore Jonathan Liu were recognized as MPSF All-Academic selections.

LACRossE

Senior attacker Megan Takacs ended her Cal career with another outstanding season, winning the MPSF

Player of the Year award for the second straight year, as well as being named to the West All-Region first team for the second consecutive season. In the Bears’ final game, the semifinals of the MPSF Tournament, Takacs became Cal’s all-time leader in career goals, wrapping up her tenure with 148 goals. Fellow senior Melissa Humphrey paced the Bears with 29 assists, which ranked 24th nationally, and she wound up her career No. 2 on Cal’s all-time list with 74. Junior goalie Megan McGinnis, a first-team All-MPSF selection and ended the campaign sixth in the country in save percentage and 10th in total saves. Under the tutelage of head coach Ginger Miles, the Bears enjoyed a stretch of six straight games without allowing more than 10 goals, finishing the season with a record of 9-7 and 6-2 in conference play.

RUGBY

The Bears capped head coach Jack Clark’s 30th year at the helm and the team’s return to Witter

Rugby Field after a two-year absence with their first 7s title at the 2013 Collegiate Rugby Championship, which followed an undefeated regular season in spring 15s. Cal won the inaugural season of the PAC Rugby Conference, took its eighth straight UCLA Tournament and swept UBC for its seventh straight “World Cup” series. In the spring postseason, Cal defeated Navy in the semifinals of the Varsity Cup National Champion-ships, then fell just three points short to BYU in the final for an overall spring 15s record of 21-1. In June, the team won the program’s first 7s championship in its fourth trip to the CRC, where teams showcased the Olympic code of the game heading back into the\ Summer Games in Rio for 2016.

summer 2011 19

MEn’s soCCER

Cal ended the year with a winning record at 8-7-3 and with several Pac-12 accolades for performances on

and off the pitch. Senior Tony Salciccia garnered an All-Pac-12 first-team selection, while junior defender Ryan Neil, sophomore goalkeeper Kevin Peach and sopho-more midfielder Seth Casiple collected second-team placement. Cal’s midfield general, Salciccia led the Bears in points (16), tied for first in goals (5) and ranked second in assists (6) – setting career highs in each category. Senior defender Ted Jones, sophomore defender Christian Dean and sophomore forward Ste-fano Bonomo earned All-Pac-12 honorable mention. Sophomore midfielder Omid Jalali (3.90 GPA) earned a Pac-12 All-Academic first-team spot, with Salciccia taking a position on the second team with six others gaining honorable mention status.

WoMEn’s soCCER

Cal garnered a slew of accolades – including forward Ifeoma Onumonu’s Pac-12 Freshman of the Year

award and spot on the All-Pac-12 first team – during a season that concluded with a run to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Bears won at Pepperdine, 1-0, in the NCAA first round before falling at San Diego State, 2-1, to finish 16-6 overall. Onumonu led Cal in points (28), goals (11), assists (6) and game-winning goals, also pacing all Pac-12 freshmen in points, goals and gamewinners. Senior midfielder Betsy Hassett joined Onumonu on the all-conference first team after totaling points (17), goals (6) and assists (5). Hassett also earned a spot on the NSCAA Scholar All-America first team. Four Bears claimed All-Pacific Region status: Onumonu (first team), Hassett (first team), junior de-fender Emi Lawson (second team) and junior midfielder Kaitlyn Fitzpatrick (third team).

soFTBALL

Following a 2-2 start in opening weekend, the Cal softball team tore through its schedule and pro-

duced a 22-game winning streak before opening Pac-12 play with a sweep of Utah. Against the Utes, senior ace Jolene Henderson became the winningest pitcher in program history after notching her 120th victory. The Golden Bears went on to win conference series against Arizona and Oregon State and earned their 28th con-secutive postseason bid – the longest active streak in the country. The Bears fell to hosting Michigan at the Ann Arbor Regional, finishing 38-19 overall, but were recognized with numerous awards. Henderson was lauded as a Top 10 finalist for USA Softball Player of the Year and the Senior CLASS Award, while Lindsey Ziegenhirt was named Capital One Academic All-Ameri-can and the Pac-12 Softball Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Takahiro Kawada

Megan Takacs

Keenan Allen Max Homa

Seamus Kelly Tony Salciccia

Nicola Rossler

Ifeoma Onumonu

Serena Leong

Jolene Henderson

20 CAL SPORTS qUARTERLY20 cal sports quarterly

WoMEn’s TEnnis

Cal, seeded eighth, reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championships after winning three straight

postseason matches. The Golden Bears ended the season with a 19-6 record, after posting a 9-1 (sec-ond place) Pac-12 mark. Fifth-ranked sophomore Zsofi Susanyi, eighth-ranked junior Anett Schutting and 43rd-ranked freshman Klara Fabikova all compet-ed in the NCAA singles championship, with Susanyi reaching the round of 16. Both Susanyi and Schutting earned All-America honors in singles, along with All-Pac-12 first-team status. Amanda Augustus earned the Wilson/ITA Northwest Coach of the Year award, while Tayler Davis was named the Senior of the Year and Fabikova claimed the Player to Watch honor for the ITA Northwest region.

MEn’s sWiMMinG & divinG

The Cal men’s swimming and diving team, under the direction of 2013 Pac-12 Coach of the Year David

Durden, placed second at the NCAA Championships, falling just shy of a third consecutive national title. Senior standout Tom Shields won 2013 NCAA crowns in the 100 and 200 butterfly to conclude his career with 11 national titles and 17 Pac-12 championship victories. The Bears captured the 2013 Pac-12 meet, upending Stanford’s streak of 31 straight conference team titles, and also finished the 2012-13 dual meet season a perfect 7-0, including a dual-meet win over the Cardinal for the first time since 2005. Freshman Josh Prenot, who won the conference title and set a new school record in the 400 individual medley, was named the 2013 Pac-12 Newcomer of the Year.

WoMEn’s sWiMMinG & divinG

Cal posted its eighth consecutive top-five finish at the NCAA Championships by taking second place

at the national meet in Indianapolis. The Bears collect-ed three individual titles at NCAAs – Caitlin Leverenz won the 200 individual medley, freshman Rachel Bootsma claimed the 100 backstroke and freshman Elizabeth Pelton broke her own American record to win the 200 backstroke. Pelton took home the Swimmer of the Meet award for her exploits, which included seven All-America honors. At the Pac-12 Championships, the Bears compiled victories in the 200 breaststroke (Lev-erenz), 200 backstroke (Pelton), 200 IM (Pelton), 100 backstroke (Bootsma), 200 butterfly (Bootsma), 200 freestyle (freshman Rachael Acker) and 400free relay. Pelton also claimed the Pac-12 Swimmer of the Meet honor. The Bears ended the regular season with a 7-2 dual-meet record, capped off by a win over Stanford in the Big Meet.

MEn’s TEnnis

Cal reached the NCAA Championship round of 16 for the third consecutive season, but for the second

straight year, Virginia ended the Golden Bears’ post-season run. The Bears wound up with a 16-10 overall record and finished at 5-1 (third) in the Pac-12. Juniors Ben McLachlan and Campbell Johnson competed in the NCAA singles tournament, falling in the round of 64, while Johnson and senior co-captain Christoffer Ko-nigsfeldt fell in the round of 32 in the NCAA doubles championship. Konigsfeldt and Johnson claimed the Pac-12 Doubles Team of the Year award. Johnson – a transfer from Georgia – earned the Pac-12 Newcomer of the Year honor and the regional ITA Norwest Player to Watch accolade. Senior co-captain Riki McLachlan, who sat out much of the spring with an injury, made an inspirational return to the court at the start of NCAAs.

MEn’s TRACk & FiELd

The Golden Bears produced a pair of Pac-12 cham-pions during the 2013 season in Ray Stewart and

Hammed Suleman. Stewart captured the 110-meter hurdles crown in a personal-best 13.43 seconds to keep him as the No. 2 performer in school history. He also won the 2011 title before missing all of the next season due to knee surgery. Suleman, meanwhile, won the long jump with a lifetime-best 25-11.50 while he was also runner-up in the triple jump. Earlier in the year, Ethan Cochran set a Cal freshman record in the discus with a throw of 188-8. As a team, the Bears defeated Stanford in the annual Big Meet and took first place a home triangular meet against Virginia and Michigan. On the conference level, Cal was third at the MPSF Cham-pionships and eighth at the Pac-12 outdoor meet.

WoMEn’s TRACk & FiELd

Two Bears qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Champi-onships in long jumper Malaina Payton and triple

jumper Amanda Hunter. Payton placed 10th in the com-petition with a mark of 20-7, while Hunter established a personal best with her distance of 43-3.25 to take 12th. Both athletes finished third in their respective events at the Pac-12 meet. During the Big Meet at Stanford, Shelby Ashe set a Cal freshman record with a throw of 201-10 in the hammer. Among other highlights, Kelsey Santisteban ran the No. 3 5000-meter time in school history when she was clocked in 15:50.18 at the Pay-ton Jordan Invitational, and Charnell Price moved into Cal’s all-time top five in both the 100 meters (11.46) and 200 meters (23.55). During the indoor campaign, the Bears were eighth at the MPSF meet, and they took ninth at the Pac-12 outdoor meet.

voLLEYBALL

The Bears set a program-record by making their 11th straight trip to the NCAA Tournament, where they

lost in the first round to North Carolina. Cal finished an injury-plagued season 15-16 with a handful of land-mark moments. The biggest came in November when the Bears went on the road and defeated No. 2 Oregon in a five-set thriller. Cal also knocked off No. 8 Hawaii in Honolulu during a preseason tournament. Individu-ally, senior middle hitter Shannon Hawari emerged as one of the top players in the Pac-12, earning All-Pac-12 first team honors after ranking fourth in the conference with a .370 hitting percentage and tied for ninth with 1.20 blocks per game. She also ended her career as Cal’s all-time leader with a .367 hitting percentage. Se-nior middle hitter Kat Brown, meanwhile, became the Bears’ all-time leading blocker with 509 in her career.

MEn’s WATER PoLo

Head coach Kirk Everist’s squad finished the 2012 campaign 17-8, winning seven of its last eight

matches, including upending No. 2-ranked UCLA, 12-9, in the MPSF tournament semifinal. The Golden Bears had six players named All-Americans, led by first-team selection Collin Smith. As a junior, Smith led the Bears in scoring with 61 goals and had a team-high 31 as-sists. He was twice named MPSF Player of the Week during the regular season, including Oct. 20 after scor-ing six goals in a 14-8 Big Splash victory over Stanford. Sophomore Aleksa Saponjic, who won a bronze medal competing for Serbia at the 2012 London Olympics, was a second-team All-American, while senior Marin Balarin earned third-team honors. The Bears also had three honorable mention All-Americans – Hunter Gettelfinger, Jon Sibley and Colin Mulcahy – and 10 players who were ACWPC All-Academic honorees.

WoMEn’s WATER PoLo

The Bears had another successful season under head coach Richard Corso, compiling a 17-7 record

and ending the year ranked No. 5 in the country. Senior All-American Emily Csikos returned from a one-year hi-atus to train with the Canadian National Team and led her Cal squad with 49 goals, giving her a 2.04 average which ranked seventh in the MPSF. Csikos also finished her career with 216 goals, making her the all-time scoring leader in school history. Junior Ashley Young, who was a third-team All-American as a freshman, had another strong campaign with 36 goals. Sophomore Savanna Smith averaged 6.16 saves per game in her first season as the Bears’ starting goalie, and Pippa Saunders was one of the top freshmen in the MPSF with 13 goals. Cal defeated 11 ranked teams during the season. The Bears also hosted the MPSF Champi-onships, in which the Bears finished fifth.

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In this, the second of a three-part series, we continue to recognize crucial members of the campus community who have made Cal Athletics a significant part of their giving

history. These Builders of Berkeley, so called for their total gifts to the University in excess of $1 million, are among the names etched in granite on a monument outside of Doe Library for their comprehensive commitments to California.

challenge of saving Cal baseball from elimination in 2010-11.

Gordon and the Friends of Cal Baseball have since done even more than come to its financial res-cue; in 2013, the team played night games for the first time under the lights at Evans Diamond with a new scoreboard showing balls, strikes and high-definition re-plays, thanks to this for-ward-thinking group.

“I am really proud of that,” Gordon said. “I can’t tell you how rewarding that is for me. The difference is amazing, the abundance of kids after the game shaking hands and talking with the players and coaches. What inspires me is the feeling that I’m contributing

More Builders Among BearsWithin Legions of Bear Backers Are Builders of Berkeley

By Anton Malko

Stu Gordon received his bachelor’s degree in political science in 1962 and Juris Doctor from Berkeley Law in 1965. A senior partner at Gordon & Rees LLP, he put his Cal education to perhaps the ultimate test when he undertook the

and knowing that I’m doing the best I can at everything I do.”

Gordon, who became a Builder of Berkeley in 2003, is first and foremost an alumnus of the University. But his devotion to Cal baseball has also earned him an enshrinement in the Cal Athletic Hall of Fame as a Service Award recipi-ent in recognition of his lasting and vital support of Cal Athletics.

A founder of the Bear Backers program and member of the Athletic Director’s Advisory Board, Gordon also received the Chancellor’s Citation for Leadership and Contributions to the University of California in 2012. Three years earlier, his law school awarded him the Boalt Alumni Association’s Citation Award.

Cliff Higgerson came west from Illi-nois to the No. 1 public university in the world and was in Berkeley for less than a day when he decided he would stay. He called enrolling at Cal for his MBA, which he received in 1966, “the best decision I ever made. I was in Berkeley about nine hours and I said, ‘I’m never going to live east of Grizzly Peak Ridge again.’ That was in 1965 and I’ve lived up to it.”

Higgerson arrived thanks to the in-spiration of his wife, Judith, who herself had fallen in love with the area after

Stu and Florianne Gordon


supports people of all economic back-grounds,” he said. “Cal got more charita-ble contributions last year than any year in history, and that was great.”

The Steinys have committed long-term support to Athletics through the Endow-ment Seating Program. “I consider it an honor to be a part of the ESP program for the next 40 years,” said Steiny, who also sits on The Cal Parents Board, is a CAA Cal Advocate and a member of mul-tiple committees with the UC Berkeley Foundation.

Steiny echoed a common refrain that the true and ongoing builders of excel-lence at this University are its students who strive to achieve on a daily basis with amazing results. “Those are the kind of kids you want to hire and put to work in your company, because they’re going to be so driven,” he said. “Cal is so impactful on these young people and that’s what makes me so excited about giving. I love to donate to help people purpose their own path to success.”

Each year another “class” of inductees has its names etched in granite outside of Doe Library to recognize them as the newest Builders of Berkeley. They will join the ranks of other cherished donors whose goal remains the same: to provide

support to the mission of the University in its pursuit of excellence.

To learn more about the Build-ers of Berkeley, please contact Nancy McKinney, Director of Donor Steward-ship for University Relations, at (510) 643-7664 or [email protected]. To deepen your commitment to Cal Athletics, contact the Office of Athletic Development at (510) 642-2427 or email [email protected].

visiting with her father from the East Coast. “She was the prime mover and I thank my lucky stars that she wanted to live in the Bay Area,” he said. Togeth-er they went on to become Builders of Berkeley in 2005.

While it was the weather that initial-ly captured Higgerson, the academic vi-tality of Berkeley was the second blow that left him smitten. “Cal’s intellectual commitment, its open-mindedness, was the second reason that I never wanted to leave,” Higgerson said.

A no-nonsense individual who works as a venture capitalist partner at Palo Alto’s Walden International and lives in Menlo Park, Higgerson contends with a lot of pride from friends and colleagues who root for a rival institution located closer to his daily life on the peninsu-la. That proximity to Stanford only re-inforces his belief in the importance of the flagship campus for the public universities in the state of California, among whose merits are Intercollegiate Athletics.

“Athletics represents people and teaches discipline,” Higgerson said. “To succeed you have to be disciplined and get organized, which everyone at Cal has demonstrated to become part of that community. In the long term of life, that discipline is ultimately important.”

The Higgersons maintain season tick-ets to both men’s basketball and foot-ball, and were significant donors to the Simpson Center for Student-Athlete High Performance. Higgerson is bullish on Golden Bear football entering 2013 because head coach Sonny Dykes strikes him as “the kind of leader that can be successful,” while down at Haas Pavilion,

he views men’s basketball head coach Mike Montgomery as “a very sound investment.”

Higgerson supports Cal Athletics for uncomplicated reasons. “I give to Athlet-ics because I enjoy it and think it worth-

while,” he said. “I want to help do what it can on the athletics side to be suc-cessful. I’m going to keep contributing and I’m glad the athletic department is working so hard to drive new donors.”

The first in his three-generation Stan-ford family to attend Cal, Richard Steiny received his bachelor’s degree in political economy in 1979. Three years later, his wife, Lisa, received her degree in mass com-munication and in doing

so, joined her parents and sisters as Cal graduates.

The Steinys’ gifts to Cal Athletics have been tremendous, but that sup-port does not constitute the majority of their giving to the University, which made them Builders of Berkeley in 2008. While that honor goes to Social Sciences, the Steinys’ ongoing love af-fair with the Golden Bears makes it crystal clear the importance Cal Athletics holds in their lives.

“The funding of Ath-letics is the spirit behind our giving to academics,” explained Steiny, who is a co-chairman of Genworth Financial Wealth Manage-ment. “Without the cama-raderie of Athletics, we would have a hard time getting gifts to the aca-demics side. If it weren’t for my ties to Cal through Athletics, I just wouldn’t be as engaged with the school.”

Once engaged as donors, the Steinys have never wavered in their role to main-tain Cal’s reputation, and they are heart-ened to see more people take on that same responsibility. “People are starting to understand that the state is not our primary source of revenue any longer and that we need to keep our public mis-sion of being a fantastic University that

Cliff and Judith Higgerson

Lisa and Richard Steiny

SUMMER 2013 23

Richard N. and Rhoda H. GoldmanJohn L. and Margaret B. GompertzElizabeth Marsteller GordonStuart M. GordonFrederick L. and Roberta O. GreenleeGlenn and Robin W. GulvinEvelyn D. and Walter A. Haas Jr.Peter E. and Mimi HaasColleen and Robert D. HaasElise S. and Walter A. HaasMichelle and Cyrus HadidiThe William W. Halford Jr. FamilyJean H. and Will C. HallThe Harry and Betsy Hathaway FamilyClarence E. HellerThe Hellman FamilyThe Leo and Florence Helzel FamilyWilliam A. and Sally M. HewlettClifford H. and Judith D. HiggersonKen and Jean HofmannRussell D. and Lydia P. HoganThomas R. and Ruth Ann HornadayPreston B. and Maurine M. HotchkisJames V. and Betty R. HuhnGrant and Suanne InmanJudith Woolsey IsaacStacy and Paul JacobsJeffrey A. and Deni D. JacobsThe Stephen F. Keller and Sarah Mage Keller FamilyDolorous and Kenneth C. Knight Mary Dee Artal KarpDaniel E. and Yvonne C. KoshlandJames M. and Catherine P. KoshlandThe Marian E. and Daniel E. Koshland Jr. FamilyRobert J. Lalanne and Millicent C. LalanneDoris S. and Theodore B. LeeGeorgia LeeEdward H. and Lynn B. LittleIrving and Shirley LoubeWilliam and Iona MainOra Main-GeyerBrian L. and Jennifer A. MaxwellRoss and Irma G. McCollumJeffrey and Ashley McDermottJanet A. McKinleyGeorge A. MillerLaurie Cockburn Morrison

The Ralph E. and Marla H. Andersen FamilyTrudy L. and William F. AusfahlMel and Vera BacharachBarbara and Gerson BakarDado and Maria BanataoDwight and Nancy BarkerKathy and Frank BaxterRichard H. and Carolyn P. BeahrsStephen D. Bechtel Jr.Kenneth E. and Patricia R. BehringRobert B. Beim and Nancy C. BeimRichard C. Blum and Dianne FeinsteinWilliam E. Brown and Sharon Bonner-BrownRobert L. and Alice M. BridgesBarbara BurnhamBryan CameronBeverly B. and Arlington C. CharterAlice V. and Michael N. ChetkovichNatalie CohenJohn E. Cook Jr. and Sandra G. CookKathleen G. Correia and Stephen A. EvansPaul and Judith CorteseJanet M. and William F. CronkFrithjof Jon and Ellen Giusti DaleMilt and Carol DavidFrederick J. and Kathi De GroszThe J. DeBenedetti FamilyWiiliam S. and Mary Jane DetwilerPatricia L. and James W. Dieterich Jr.James K. and Jean S. DobeyShannon M. Drew and Marilyn Shehan DrewRoger C. Dunn and Lou Curtice DunnMarji and Phil DunnDavid R. Eckles and Allene H. WongDavid J. and Jane EpsteinRobert J. and Christine FeibuschDoris and Donald G. FisherThe William S. Floyd Jr. FamilyWilliam F. and Grace H. FordDonna and Gary FreedmanDavid A. Friedman and Paulette J. MeyerPhyllis K. and Howard A. FriedmanJohn Burdette Gage and Linda Schacht GageTheodore H. and Frances K. GeballeDouglas E. and Lisa M. Goldman

Richard H. MorrisonClara B. and Daniel B. MulhollandNoel W. and Penelope B. NellisS. Victor and Leta H. NelsonKent and Patricia NewmarkRobert G. and Sue Douthit O’donnellDavid H. and Phyrne M. OsborneLisle and Roslyn PayneLawrence E. and Mary PeiranoThe Edward H. and Barbara B. Peterson FamilyWilliam V. PowerKenneth B. RawlingsLinda Erickson RawlingsDavid L. Redo and Judy L. RedoIn Sik and Isabel RheeThe Tahir FamilyHelen Wills RoarkT. Gary and Kathleen RogersRichard V. and Ellen SandlerFrank J. and Mary SchlessingerBetty H. and Eugene A. ShurtleffNat Simons and Laura Baxter-SimonsBarclay and Sharon SimpsonNadine M. Tang and Bruce L. SmithBarbara C. and Larry W. SonsiniCarol and Warren E. Spieker Jr.Catherine and Tod SpiekerRichard and Lisa SteinyPaul H. Stephens and Elle Mcadam StephensJohn P. StockCleo C. and Robert A. StokerThe Katharine Wallace Thompson FamilyJohn L. and Margaret P. TormeyMichael and Nancy TorresCharles N. and Elizabeth H. TraversCharles T. and Louise H. TraversCatherine M. and Eugene E. Trefethen Jr.Tomas S. VanasekPaul and Linda WhiteJan and Buzz WiesenfeldH. Michael and Jeanne WilliamsRobert W. Witter and Marilyn A. WitterThe Witter FamilyDouglas H. and Jane E. Wolf

Running through the bedrock of support for the University are the Build-ers of Berkeley, who have in each case donated $1 million or more to Cal. Many of these generous donors support Cal athletics in a significant

way. Listed below are those who have given at least $50,000 of their University lifetime contributions to Intercollegiate Athletics. Across the board, these indi-viduals and families recognize the importance of the student-athlete experience for the well-rounded individual, the merits of Athletics as a pillar in pursuit of excellence and the vital role Intercollegiate Athletics plays in the spirit of the University of California. We thank these donors, listed here alphabetically, for their vital support and apologize for the incomplete list that accompanied Part I of this three-part story in the spring issue of Cal Sports Quarterly.

CALIFORNIA ATHLETICS BUILDERS OF BERKELEY


Untitled-22 1 11/1/11 1:25 PM

Jim French was unflustered when he arrived at Cal in 1965 from his home-town of Garberville, Calif. (population

913 in the 2010 U.S. Census). He joined the the University of California Marching Band that fall and became its Drum Major in 1968. In 1969 he received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science as a Phi Beta Kap-pa and then earned his Juris Doctor from Berkeley Law in 1972.

French knew the lay of the land in Berke-ley because it was already ingrained in his family tree, with Cal degrees also held by his mother, father, uncle, his uncle’s wife and both of Jim’s brothers. Once enrolled,

French displayed much of the resolve toward accountabili-ty that defines the student-athlete experience, striving for excellence without shirking challenges. He seized opportu-nities to travel with the band, including its 1968 tour of Cal-ifornia and its 1970 tour of Japan as well as its bicentennial tour in 1976.

Beyond the circle on his calendar around Sept. 14, when The Ohio State University Marching Band is scheduled to join the Buckeyes as they play the Golden Bears at Memorial Sta-dium, French is generally excited about the direction of Cal Athletics under the leadership of Director Sandy Barbour.

“I have just have nothing but admiration for Sandy Barbour and what she’s done for the program in terms of bringing excel-lent coaches to the Athletic Department, people that understand how to motivate kids and get results while at the same time bal-ancing academics,” he said. “I’m looking forward to a very excit-ing football season because we could see things we haven’t seen before including, hopefully, a Rose Bowl on the horizon.”

Jim FrenchFormer Drum Major Loves Cal’s Tempo

faces in the crowd

You can describe Isaac Howell as a “morning person.” After four years of training as a swim-

mer at Spieker Aquatics Complex at 6 a.m., Howell traded his swimsuit for an oar and, as a fifth-year senior, made the trek from Berkeley to Briones Reservoir in Orinda for 7 a.m. men’s crew practice this past academic year.

“Rowing workouts were almost like sleeping in relation to swimming,” Howell

joked. “I woke up at 6 a.m. instead of 5:20 a.m. It was nice to get a little late start to the day.”

Howell played an important role in Cal’s two national championships in his four seasons in the pool. After his NCAA eligibility in swimming expired in March 2012, he headed for a new chapter in his life.

Howell had planned to spend his fifth year of school as a regular student without the daily grind of practices, but his competitive drive needed a new challenge. He chose to exercise an NCAA rule that gives student-athletes a five-year window to compete with a maximum of four years allowed in each sport. With his swimming career com-pleted, Howell decided to move from racing in a pool to racing on a much larger body of water.

“Being an athlete has developed into a lifestyle for me,” Howell said. “I enjoy training and enjoy competing, and I wasn’t ready to give that up. I felt I still had room to grow athletically.”

Howell’s transition from swimming to rowing didn’t occur overnight. He entertained the idea after a number of friends suggested he would succeed in crew and introduced the sport to him.

“I was interested in rowing at the beginning of last summer, but I wasn’t sure if I would feel the same way at end of the sum-mer,” Howell explained.

With his future plans on the water undecided at the time, Howell’s focused on learning more about the architecture

Early Riserafter four years as a swimmer, isaac Howell makes the Transition to rowing

world. He grew up with a deep interest in architecture, but athletics captured his focus for much of his childhood and extended into college. That changed with his collegiate swimming career complete, and he ventured to Harvard, enrolling in a six-week architecture introductory summer program.

“I realized last year I wanted to do architecture … I remem-bered I liked it,” Howell explained. “The Harvard program was a simulation of what first semester of grad school was like and I loved it. After I finished that program, I created a portfolio and applied to the top architecture programs in the country to see what would happen.”

Howell, who is a multiple Pac-12 All-Academic honoree, designed a creative portfolio in a short period to submit along with his graduate school application. In just weeks, he was of-fered enrollment in the highly-regard-ed Taubman College graduate program at the University of Michigan.

“I am so excited for this opportunity,” said Howell, a Long Beach, Calif., na-tive. “I made my first trip there in April and got to meet with some of the archi-tects. It is very similar and at the same time very different from Berkeley. I am looking forward to the challenge.”

This spring, Howell was one of four Cal student-athletes to receive a presti-gious Pac-12 Postgraduate Scholarship, which awards him $3,000 towards his graduate studies at Michigan.

Howell, who graduated from Cal in May, plans to utilize his bachelor’s degree in political economy in his ar-chitectural work, having focused on

economic development in his major. “It is really interesting how you can use architecture to af-

fect economic growth,” Howell said. “By designing different landscapes, you can create environments that have positive ef-fects on urban areas. I want to concentrate my work on large-scale projects in urban environments that affect the greatest number of people.”

Isaac Howell


With his swimming eligibility complete, Isaac Howell took up rowing for his final year at Cal.

By Doug Drabik

Applying his educational background and skills from politi-cal economy to architecture should come easy after complet-ing a seamless transition from swimming to rowing at an elite level. A two-time NCAA qualifier and conference finalist in multiple events as a swimmer, Howell made one of Cal’s top three boats in less than a year rowing.

“I think what helped me was the concepts of the sports are very similar,” Howell said. “You are moving something through water, either your own body or a boat. You need length, you need connection to the water, and you need to have power and drive. There is a recovery motion in both swimming and crew. While the concepts are sim-ilar, the application of those con-cepts is very different. Rowing is such a unique motion that is not re-ally applicable anywhere else. I felt very humbled my first time on the water.”

After beginning some light train-ing on the erg throughout the summer to stay in shape, How-ell contacted the coaches and ex-pressed his interest in trying out for the crew program when classes resumed last fall.

“I figured ‘let’s try it out.’ There is nothing to lose,” How-ell said. “I was very apprecia-tive to the coaches for letting me try out and have an opportunity.”

Howell has been a member of the novice eight this season, winning all but one race entering the Pac-12 Championships.

“He did a really good job and improved every week,” men’s crew coach Mike Teti said. “He is exactly what we want, a mod-el student, a model citizen and a really good rower. We were really happy to have him on the team.”

Associate head coach Luke Agnini, who oversees the novice eight boat, sees a lot of potential for Howell in the sport.

Early Riserafter four years as a swimmer, isaac Howell makes the Transition to rowing

“I think it was an easy transition for him because he was well-trained,” Agnini said. “Isaac had a ton of core strength coming in which helped him on the erg. A lot of people have a hard time with the erg right away and Isaac didn’t, which helped his confidence and caught our attention.

“I’m trying to convince him to keep rowing,” Agnini added. “He is strong enough physiologically and his numbers are good enough to be on the national team. It will take a couple years for him to figure it out rowing-wise, but I think someone that is as diligent and consistent as him will figure it out. I think he is limitless.”

Howell’s Cal rowing career ended at the IRA national cham-

pionships on June 2, but he didn’t have much time to reflect on his latest athletic challenge with orientation at Michigan June 25 in Ann Arbor, Mich.

“My experience at Cal was not how I planned it to be, but it couldn’t have been any better,” Howell said. “What learned in the pool, in the classroom, in the weight room, and in the boathouse helped me grow and had a tremendous impact on the person I am today.”

His time at Cal also impacted his internal alarm clock, which is now set for sometime between 5:20 and 6 a.m.

SUMMER 2013 29

“Being an athlete has developed into a lifestyle for me. I enjoy training and enjoy competing, and I wasn’t ready to give that up. I felt I still had room to grow athletically.”

– Isaac Howell


meditating, and especially loves meeting new people at area food-truck gatherings.

“It’s something that reminds me of home,” Vonk said. “There’s a bunch of people that I don’t even know, and we all come to-gether and eat food. Everyone is welcome.”

Now preparing for her senior year, Vonk has settled in to her American home and gets to play the sport that she describes as her life every day while getting a world-class education. But it didn’t always seem that Vonk would be able to play softball and attend a university simultaneously. It took a journey from Holland to the U.S. and China to make it happen.

Vonk’s global expedition began at age 10, when she tagged along to a friend’s softball practice with the Tex Town Tigers in her hometown of Enschede, a city nearly 100 miles from

The Netherlands transplant moved halfway across the world for her athletic scholarship after turning heads in Europe for her impressive performances with her club team and the 2008 Dutch Olympic squad. Instead of meeting Berkeley’s eccentric-ities with culture shock, she welcomed them. It was perfect fit when you consider that Vonk’s journey has been less about “finding herself,” and more about embracing it.

“There are so many different types of people here,” Vonk said. “It was very different, very new, and I liked it from the be-ginning. I’ve always been free-spirited, but it grew more when I got here. I’ve met so many new people – so many great people – that are on the same page and feel the same way about hav-ing a free spirit and inner peace. Berkeley’s the perfect place.”

Vonk loves the surrounding nature, which is perfect for

Strolling across campus in a flowing tank top, high-waisted cutoff shorts and a pair of Chuck Taylors with her long, blond locks falling from a hippie headband

across her forehead, Britt Vonk looks less like a softball player and more like she came straight out of a late-1960s Berkeley postcard. It’s easi-er to imagine her lying in the sun on Memorial Glade reading a book than picture her speeding along the base paths around a softball diamond.

THAT’S GOOD

Continued on page 33

The Base Path Less TraveledSoftball’s Britt Vonk Finds Berkeley the Perfect Place to Be

By Mara Rudolph

THAT’S GOOD


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SUMMER 2013 33

Amsterdam on the German border. Growing up, Vonk’s life was surrounded with sports. Her father, Theo, was a professional soccer player and is now a head coach; her mother, Tanja, was a professional water polo player; and her brother, Kaj, and two half-brothers played soccer.

“My parents never pushed me into a sport, they just allowed me to pursue whatever I wanted to do,” Vonk said.

Softball caught on, as did track & field in high school. But unlike the American youth sport culture, sports weren’t included in Vonk’s daily curriculum.

“Here in the U.S., you play so many different sports in school,” Vonk said. “Back home, the school system is very different. We don’t include sports in school, so I used to go to school and then play for my club team in my spare time. It was always kind of a struggle be-cause I was playing at a pretty high level, sometimes traveling, and they didn’t have a combination of both. They treated me the same as every other student while I put so much other time into sports.”

By 2006, Vonk was playing with the Dutch Junior Team. She loved softball, and when she heard about combining school and sports as student-athlete in the United States, she was excited but unsure if it was an option for her. She only knew of a handful of Dutch players who were recruited by American universities.

“When I look at all of my team-mates here, they had probably already committed when I was just learning about the possibility of being a collegiate athlete,” Vonk said. “It wasn’t something I had dreamed about my whole life. It was something I wanted to do but didn’t know if it was possible for me.”

Her athletic prowess proved it was possible. Vonk was 16 when coaches approached her to ask if she would be interest-ed in stepping up to practice with the Dutch National Team af-ter she was awarded “Best Hitter” following the MastenBroek Tournament.

With just a week before the national team was set to leave for a month-long training session in the United States, one of the athletes injured herself. Coaches asked Vonk if she’d like to fill in for the injured player. Most of the team members had trained together for four years to try to make the Olympic squad, but when Vonk stepped onto the diamond for the team’s American tour, she was the one turning heads. She made her debut in the opening game against the Philadelphia Force as a pinch-hitter. As pinch-hit in the following day’s game, she collected her first base hit and scored her first run. By the third game, Vonk was a starter in the middle infield, reaching base three times and scoring once.

“I played in a way where I had no pressure,” Vonk said. “All those girls, they were nervous. They still hadn’t finalized the

team yet. People were still getting cut, and everyone was feel-ing the pressure. I didn’t think I would even get a chance. It helped me play really well. I hit crazy numbers, played really well on the field.”

Scheduled to play with the Dutch junior squad in the 2008 European Championships in Germany, Vonk assumed that when she landed in Holland, it would be the end of her run with the national team.

“The next day, I got the call to join the Olympic team. I cried,” she said.

Vonk was one of 15 softball players named to the Dutch Olym-pic delegation at the 2008 Beijing Games. At 17, she was the young-est of the 240 Dutch athletes in China.

“I wasn’t truly aware of the scale of what I was doing,” Vonk said. “My teammates practiced for it for four years. I came in three months before the Olympics, and I didn’t have that same dream. Going to the Olympics was a far-off goal, but it all happened so fast that I came back and I don’t think I fully realized the magnitude of it. You can’t compare that experience to anything.”

Though she hadn’t grasped the magnitude of her accomplish-ment, others did. Linda Wells, one of Vonk’s coaches with the nation-al team and head coach at Arizo-na State from 1989-2005, recom-mended Vonk to Cal head coach

Diane Ninemire. In the fall of 2009, Ninemire sent assistant coach John Reeves to scout Vonk in Huntington Beach, Calif., where Vonk’s team traveled for a weekend showcase.

“Coach John was the only coach from all the schools who approached me personally,” Vonk said. “I connected with him right away, so that first impression of Cal was already really good.”

She signed in the spring of 2010, hopped on a plane and ar-rived in the Bay Area a day before classes started in August. Though initially she was homesick, once softball practice started she embraced her new life, finishing the season with a .415 batting average, which was good for fourth in the Cal sea-son record book. Vonk was also tabbed Pac-10 All-Freshman, all-region and second-team all-conference. She has since car-ried that success into subsequent seasons, and along the way has found plenty of moments of “inner peace.”

“Part of my free spiritedness is about living in the now,” Vonk said. “Experiencing everything we have at this moment and just being present in the present. One day, I walked up to the C painted on the hill overlooking the stadium. On that walk up there, you can see everything. There’s a swing on a super big tree, and you can swing and feel like you’re swinging into Berkeley. You see the whole Bay Area. It’s beautiful. How could I not feel blessed and happy with my life?”

Britt Vonk has been a fixture in the Cal infield during her first three seasons in Berkeley.

Continued from page 30


“Education is a privilege.”Those aren’t exactly the words you expect to hear from a

24-year-old NCAA champion who also happens to be the first person from Slovenia to win a medal in swimming at the Olym-pic Games. More likely, you might expect something along the lines of “competing is a privilege” or “representing your coun-try is a privilege.” Yet those first four words are something that Sara Isakovic has lived by her entire life.

Isakovic grew up as a world traveler, learning four languages while living in In-donesia, Malaysia, Dubai and Slovenia. As a child, she didn’t fully comprehend that the reason her family moved around so much was a result of the Yugoslav wars that prevented her Serbian father from en-tering her mother’s home country of Slo-venia due to the lack of a passport. All that mattered to the young girl was swimming

in the hotel pools and the vast seas that make up the Indian Ocean while her pilot father shuttled her brother, mother and herself across Europe and Asia.

Traveling the world also had other effects, as she saw and learned things that would alter her outlook on life.

“As a little kid, it struck me to see the poverty in some coun-tries and how the children were in the streets,” Isakovic said. “It was always built in me to not take school for granted and that you get to learn (compared to what others had the oppor-tunity to do). It was also an influence from my parents, but to be in those environments and able to see it for myself as a little girl, I always thought that I am so lucky that I get to go to school to learn.”

The family eventually left Dubai after five years and returned to Slovenia where Isakovic could have an actual swimming coach and team after learning under her mother. Despite her great successes in the pool, she knew from the start that her endgame was to use the sport as an opportunity to come to the United States and continue her education. A pair of friends on the California swim team made Berkeley the runaway choice and sole option as a place of higher learning.

“I decided to come to the U.S. because this is the only place

Sara Isakovic

in the world where you can combine athletics and academ-ics,” said Isakovic, who won an Olympic silver medal in the 200-meter freestyle in 2008 and an NCAA title in the 100-yard butterfly in 2012. “It doesn’t exist in Europe. It doesn’t exist anywhere else with a campus environment where you swim here, live here and go to school here. In Slovenia, you either decide to be a professional athlete or a student. A lot of very good athletes across this globe never finish school. It breaks my heart because I feel like as an athlete, we’re capable people in all fields.

“That whole concept just shaped me into really believing that education is the biggest privilege,” Isakovic continued. “No one can take your education away from you. I know no one can ever take my swimming successes away from me, but it’s not ever-lasting. It’s ‘I’ve done what I’ve done,’ but the other 60 or 70 years in my life I want to do something that I’m also really passionate about.”

Isakovic credits the U.S. system not only for giving athletes the opportunity to study and compete concurrently, but also for the passion that professors display to students that en-courages the learning process and makes it “easier” than the

Sara Isakovic Takes Advantage of the ‘Privilege’ of Attending Cal

By Miquel Jacobs

ACADEMiC ACHiEVEMENT

SUMMER 2013 35

authoritarian type of learning that exists in Europe.

“The European ste-reotype is that school in the States is ‘easier,’” Isakovic said, “but it’s ‘easier’ because we are the luckiest students in the world to have such awe-some relationships with professors who are approachable and willing to help. In Europe, students don’t enjoy the process of learning as much or engage in the material because there is no relationship between professors and students.”

That relationship factor, as well as the ability to take classes and learn what it is that interests you – as opposed to the Eu-ropean method of declaring an area of study right out of high school – is something that has allowed Isakovic to discover her thirst for psychology. As a freshman at Cal, Isakovic took the breadth of her core requirements while also signing up for and falling in love with psychology. She credits professor Kaiping Peng with jumpstarting her interest in the field, and further work in Dr. Silvia Bunge’s neuropsychology class, “The Devel-oping Brain,” in the fall 2012 semester solidified her career

goal of discovering more about the intricate workings of the human brain as it relates to successful athletes.

Isakovic regularly attended Bunge’s office hours and spoke of obtaining research experience before going to graduate school, a conversation that led to joining Bunge’s research lab beginning with the January 2013 semester.

Another stroke of luck came during a holiday break when she got in contact with accomplished neuroscientist Justin Feinstein, who loved Isakov-ic’s idea of finding out what makes some athletes resilient while others crash in the face of adver-sity. Feinstein put her in touch with Dr. Martin Paulus at UC San Diego, whose “Opti-Brain” re-search is in the process of conducting studies on elite performances in stressful situations with an emphasis on Olympic athletes, U.S. Navy SEALS and U.S. Marines. The goal is to discover whether there is something in the brain that allows some people to push to extreme limits, a subject that hit close to home with Isakovic, who herself has com-peted at the highest levels.

“It always fascinated me that no matter what rank you are in the world, there is always a point where some people just drop off and they aren’t able to cope with the stress and pressure at all,” Isakovic said. “It’s all mental, and I’m fascinated about this connection of mind and body. A single thought of doubt could choke up and freeze your body. Some athletes dedicate their whole life to their sport, but one tiny mental breakdown or doubt, even something subconsciously from pre-vious experiences, doesn’t allow you to perform. I want to solve that. It is my dream of trying.”

Isakovic’s primary goal is to find out whether there is an area of the brain that helps define this resilience so that it can be trained, much like the resilience training that Cal swimmers endure un-der head coach Teri McKeever. Isakovic credits the success of the program on this brand of training at the outdoor Spieker Aquatics Complex compared to the controlled, indoor pools that most athletes in the country use.

Isakovic’s dedication to athletic and academic ex-cellence has led to her being honored with an Oscar Geballe Post-graduate Scholarship, an award given to three seniors at Cal each year that recognizes devotion to Cal and the belief in the value of combining scholarship and intercollegiate athletic competition.

After studying under Dr. Paulus in La Jolla and hopefully helping to uncover how the brain works in elite performers, Isakovic will use the Geballe Scholarship to pursue clinical psy-chology with a focus on neuropsychology. And as she’s done her entire life, she will take every advantage of the privilege that is education.

“I’m beyond grateful for my scholarship at Cal,” Isakovic said. “For me, that is the biggest reward through swimming that I could have possibly imagined. I wouldn’t change my scholar-ship education at Cal for 50 gold medals. I tell that to every-body. Without coming to Berkeley, none of this would have happened.”

Sara Isakovic is leaving Cal as an Olympic medalist, NCAA champion and recipient of an Oscar Geballe Postgraduate Scholarship.


Perhaps making the award more special is the fact that Balarin’s nomination came from freshman teammate Colin Mulca-hy, a rare instance when the vast majori-ty of recommendations are submitted by coaches or academic advisors. The Gimbel Prize, which has been presented since the 1930s, recognizes a graduating male stu-dent-athlete for successful integration of

academic and athletic pursuits.“The Jake Gimbel Award is just a fantastic honor for Marin,”

Everist said. “He tried every position except goalie and was always been willing to battle for a spot and learn. For him to become a starting player and team captain as a senior was so great to watch. He is a leader and someone whom I am very proud to have coached.”

Born in Zagreb, Croatia, Balar-in moved to Berkeley as a one-year-old when his father, Felice, was earning his doctorate at Cal. After attending Berkeley High School, where he was one of the Yellow Jackets all-time top water polo players with a school-record 210 goals, Balar-in chose to attend Cal and major in applied mathematics.

Despite being a star at Berkeley

For senior water polo player Marin Balarin, the old adage “hard work plays off” certainly rings true in the summation of his career at Cal. Considered the heart and soul of the 2012 squad by head coach

Kirk Everist, Balarin earned the 2013 Jake Gimbel Prize as the best exam-ple of the true Golden Bear spirit among this year’s class.

Hard Work Pays Off in the End

High, Balarin had to work his way up the ranks on the Bears’ water polo team to see any playing time. After scoring two goals as a redshirt freshman and competing in 11 matches as a sophomore, he had a break-out year as a junior, totaling 19 goals with

28 ejections earned and was the recipient of the Peter J. Cutino Award as the team’s most improved player.

Then as a senior captain, Balarin became one of the top play-ers in the MPSF and a third-team All-American. He was select-ed to the MPSF All-Tournament Team after helping Cal win sev-en of its last eight matches, including upending No. 2-ranked UCLA, 12-9, in the conference tournament semifinal. Balarin finished the 2012 campaign leading the team with 51 ejec-tions earned and third in goals with 41. He concluded his Cal career with 68 goals, and was selected national and conference All-Academic three straight years.

“It was wonderful to be recognized by my team,” said Balarin. “I knew coming to Cal that I didn’t have as much experience as

the other guys who had played for the U.S. National Team or in Europe, but I knew that Cal had a great combination of athletic and academic excellence that would help me grow. There were moments when I felt like giving up because water polo is an ultra-competitive sport, but I kept on pushing and working on making sure the coaches knew that I wanted this more than anything. And the coaches kept their promise that if I kept on working hard I would get an opportunity. It all worked out well for me.”

Marin Balarin

By Scott Ball

The Balarin family on Senior Day (from left): father, Felice; Marin; sister, Zanna; and mother, Vera

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