The women from Georgia and the men from Cal-Berkeley have been crowned the DUAL MEET CHAMPIONS for the 2004-5 Division I Collegiate by the College Swimming Coaches’ Association. Although the teams hail from opposite sides of the country, they share unblemished, unbeaten dual meet records from the 2004-5 season and a lot of fast swimming between them.

The Georgia women finished the 2004-5 season with a perfect 9-0 record after finishing 11-0 in 2003-4 and #2 in that season’s dual meet ranking. The Bulldog women are now 18-0 in their home pool, The Gabrielsen Natatorium.

Quoting from the Georgia Bulldog website, Georgia Head Coach Jack Bauerle said, "We had a terrific dual meet season on both sides of the ledger. I am proud of our ladies finishing the season undefeated, especially with the schedule we faced.” The Lady Bulldogs faced and beat (ranking in quotations) North Carolina (16), Clemson (NR), Georgia Tech (NR), Florida (3), Auburn (2), Alabama (NR), Texas (4), and South Carolina (NR). Georgia had been in and out of the #1 slot of the 2004-5 Dual Meet Rankings for most of the dual meet season.

The Cal-Berkeley men on the other hand, were never ranked in the top spot of the Dual Meet Rankings until the very last polling of the season. That coaches’ poll took place after what might be the fastest collegiate dual meet ever. It was Saturday, February 19 at Cal’s Spieker Aquatics Complex when the Bears beat then undefeated and PAC-10 rival, the then #2-ranked Stanford Cardinal. It was the first time in 13 years that Cal had beaten Stanford—a number that ended up to be “Lucky 13” for the Bears.

At that dual meet, there were 27 swims that were either under the 2005 NCAA “A” cut or were fast enough to have been invited to the 2004 NCAA Championship meet. They were: Three Medley Relays- (two from Cal one from Stanford); Four 200 Freestyles; Three 50 Freestyles; Three 200 IMs; Three 200 Fly times; Five 100 Freestyles; One 500 Freestyle swim; Four 200 Breaststrokes; and, One 400 Free Relay (California- 2:52.87).

Cal finished their dual meet season at an unblemished 9-0 having met and defeated Florida State (22), Pacific (NR), North Carolina (20), UNLV (NR), Michigan (5), Arizona (8), Arizona State (NR), Southern Cal (9), and Stanford (2).Divers must all qualify at Zone Qualifying Meets held on this weekend across the country. Of the 211 slots left on the women’s side 41 women will dive in their respective Zone Qualifying Meets, March 10-12 and vie for an invitation to the NCAA Championships. For the men, there are 35 slots open for divers. They will also compete March 10-12 for those 35 slots and a shot at the Championships in March.

The CSCAA Dual Meet Poll is an indication of a team’s ability to win dual meets during the season and is not a predictor of any team’s end-of-the-season placement at the NCAA Championships-- although for most of the ranked teams there is a high correlation between their dual meet strength and the school’s ability to score at the Championship meets in March.

There were nine (9) dual meet polls this year produced every two to three weeks throughout the college swimming season, which is one of the NCAA’s longest continuous seasons of any of the NCAA sponsored sports. The swimming season begins in September and ends in late March for most of the NCAA schools that sponsor the sport.

This season’s NCAA Championships “March Mania”, college swimming’s version of “March Madness” will take place March 17-18-19, 2005 at Purdue University in Indiana for the women. The men’s championship will take place the following week March 24-25-26, 2005 at the University of Minnesota. The College Swimming Coaches’ Association (CSCAA) has sponsored the dual meet poll for 20 plus years now.

Rank	MEN’S DIVI RANKING( )- indicates #1 votes	March11, 2005
1	California      (Pac 10)	195 (5)
2	Auburn              (SEC)	192 (3)
3	Stanford          (Pac 10)	184
4	Florida               (SEC)	181
5	Michigan          (Big 10)	167
6	Minnesota       (Big 10)	161
7	Texas                  (Big 12)	152
8	Arizona                (Pac 10)	144
9	Southern Cal    (Pac 10)	135
10	Virginia              (ACC)	126
11	Georgia                   (SEC)	121
12	Kentucky                 (SEC)	114
13	Indiana                (Big 10)	104
14	Northwestern    (Big 10)	96
15	Purdue                 (Big 10)	88
16	Texas A&M        (Big 12)	79
17	Tennessee            (SEC) 	63
18	Wisconsin           (Big 10)	61
19	Hawai’i               (NIC)	53
20	North Carolina    (ACC)	        39
21	Notre Dame    (Big East)	34
22	Florida State        (ACC)	29
23	BYU                  (Mt. West)	28
24	Harvard                (Ivy)	19
25	Ohio State           (Big 10)	13
	Others receiving votes	
	SMU                      (NIC)	9
	Alabama                  (SEC)	8
	Georgia Tech      (ACC)	        4
	Arizona State    (Pac 10)       1

Rank	WOMEN DIVI RANKING( )-indicates #1 votes	March 11, 2005
1	Georgia                 (SEC)	200 (8)
2	Auburn                  (SEC)	192
3	Florida                  (SEC)	184
4	Texas                   Big 12)	176
5	Stanford              (Pac 10)	168
6	Arizona                (Pac 10)	159
7	SMU                    (WAC)	150
8	Wisconsin          (Big 10)	143
9	Texas A&M       (Big 12)        135
10	UCLA             (Pac 10)	125
11	California           (Pac 10)	124
12	Maryland          (ACC)	        113
13	Virginia             (ACC)	101
14	Penn State     (Big 10)	         99
15	Arizona State (Pac 10)	         88
16	North Carolina   (ACC)	         75
17	Michigan         (Big 10)	 70
18	Indiana           (Big 10)	 60
19	Hawai’i             (WAC)	 59
20	Florida State    (ACC)	         41
21	Washington     (Pac 10)	         32
22	Tennessee       (SEC)	         27
23	Minnesota       (Big 10)	 23
24	Purdue            (Big 10)	 20
25	Northwestern  (Big 10)	         15
	Others receiving votes	
	Notre Dame    (Big East)	  7
	Southern Cal    (Pac 10)	  6