The Cal men’s breaststroke problem looks like much less of a problem now than it did 24 hours ago.
That’s because Harvard’s Chuck Katis will be transferring to Cal, and the plan is for him to arrive at the semester to bolster the Cal breaststroke group. Katis announced the decision to his team on Monday afternoon, and the coaches confirmed the news shortly thereafter.
Katis’ best times as a sophomore at Harvard last year in the breaststroke races were 52.49 and 1:54.08 over 100 and 200 yards, respectively. Those times were both done mid-season, and reports were that he took ill at NCAA’s, causing his times to slide.
With the graduation of Trevor Hoyt, and junior Christian Higgins no longer listed on Cal’s roster, they were left with Ryan Studebaker as their lone real breaststroke option for the medley relays; he was a 53.21 at Pac 12’s in 2013 in a time trial.
Studebaker has been solid this year, though it’s always hard to tell where he’s at given that he’s a big taper swimmer.
Cal also had sophomore Josh Prenot, who is a great 200 breaststroker and an improving 50 and 100 breaststroker, and sophomore Scott Haeberle at their disposal. In the least, the addition of a swimmer of Katis’ versatility and quality should help push that whole group.
At most, Katis, is a double NCAA A-finalist in the breaststrokes who can bring 30+ individual points and make Cal’s medley relays NCAA title worthy with no obvious weakness. Though nobody has pulled away as a favorite for this year’s men’s NCAA title, with this news, Cal has to start looking like a slight favorite.
We were unable to reach Katis for comment as of posting.
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I went to high school with Chuck and – believe me – he is not the type to transfer out because of academic challenge… Which makes me all the more curious as to the reasons behind his decision! Best of luck to you Chuck I think you’re going to love California!
Is chuck sitting out this semester in terms of swimming at Harvard?
calswimfan – yes. Chuck won’t swim the first semester and then will swim at Cal his second semester.
Thanks Braden!
Reading the academic versus athletic environment arguments above, reality is that it is a personal decision, no matter how other people critique it. Harvard and Princeton offer unique academic and degree value, forever. Aside from this personal decision, H and P have challenging and competitive swimming programs and there are other very strong swimmers at all of the Ivy schools. The swimming program, training and focus at CAL are surely much more oriented towards the sport, than the classroom. That shouldn’t be debated. It’s factual in the overall swim times across the entire team, compared to the academic credentials of each of the swimmers at these schools. Leaving mid-semester of one’s junior year, with only 3 semesters left to receive… Read more »
not sure what happened to higgins …wasn’t he a top 5 recruit when he came out of high school
and things obviously didn’t work out at cal
would be interesting to know if katis thinks this is the best chance to make the olympics or if he was struggling with work at harvard …american breaststokers are young and not much experience so i would say 2016 is pretty wide open so there are probably 15-20 guys that have a chance at 2 or 4 spots in 2016
Chuck is a really talented guy in the pool and in the classroom and I doubt he was struggling with his work. I imagine his decision was made with his swimming career in mind as a Harvard degree probably offers more opportunity than many. In terms of swimming however, Harvard is a far cry from Cal.
Did Christian Higgins quit the Cal Bear swim team? Is he transferring to another school? Anyone know the story? He was a very talented swimmer.
It is all about balancing between academic and athletic, especially in IVY colleges If one side is not supporting other part, it would be obvious that his or her goal in the college has no point.
Second, it is very strange why all of sudden head coach Murphy left to Penn State and then Chuck goes to Cal. Something happened!!!
Nothing happened, Chuck and Tim were unrelated. Kevin Tyrell actually coached Chuck. Tim wanted a new environment and Chuck wanted to focus more on swimming than school
Implying that he doesn’t need to focus on academics as much at the #1 public university in the world?
Yes. After personally going through the Harvard program and having friends swim for every major state school, I can say for a fact that the academic load is drastically different at Ivy League schools versus state schools.
Nice argument. More than 50% chance it deserves an ‘A’ in Cambridge.
It is a lateral move in terms of academics.
Harvard has struggled with grade inflation and academic scandal at the undergraduate level. More than half of grades awarded are ‘A’s. While its still the standard for graduate level discourse and research, Harvard(along with Yale and Brown) have tarnished their brand for the future in exchange for the immediate success they are gifting their current undergrads. Departments are already catching on, as I have witnessed Brown applicants get their apps tossed solely because of a 3.70 ugpa – which is below average in Providence. This is what happens when the bottom line of a uni president is to build the endowment. This is disheartening from an academic perspective. Princeton is… Read more »
Average GPA has no correlation to academic rigor and workload. The facts are that the university does not see student athletes as separate from the general student population. There are no athlete only classes, no private tutors for Ivy Leaguers when they are common place for student athletes at state schools. So it makes sense for Katis to transfer to a school that places more priority on athletics than Harvard.
Aqualung-
One of the things I appreciate most about my Cal education is that it taught me the importance of respect; accordingly, I won’t waste my time disparaging other people or universities with anecdotal statements. The truth is that at most challenging colleges your education is what you make of it. It’s unfortunate that you think it’s appropriate to assert that a young student athlete attempting to make the best decision for his future is simply too lazy to excel at what you perceive as a superior university. I know there are many Ivy leaguers on here that prove the stereotype of having a superiority complex false and I hope that you will join them.
Theoretically, possibly, yes, you could be correct. In reality there is a very distinct and direct correlation.
‘Fact’ doesn’t seem to be a word that you should be wielding until you can firm up your grasp of its meaning. You are just sharing your opinion. To paraphrase one of my favorite authors: everyone isn’t entitled to an opinion, everyone is entitled to an informed opinion. Nobody is entitled to be ignorant.
By the way, there are a number of prominent names on your faculty leading a crusade against these tactics. I’m sure you are aware of that though, as it is has been a point of embarrassment for the alums that I know, since it has made headlines from… Read more »
Oh how I enjoy academic superiority snobbery arguments. I was a better than average student at a very good public high school. I went to the good ol’ state flagship university. I studied very hard to keep up and it was not easy for me but I prevailed and graduated.
In my next life I want to grow up in a wealthy family and go to one of the “top rated” schools ranked by US News and Word Report. I want to see what it is like to be better than anyone else. Is it fun?
Take a moment to go back and read my post, you will see you are rebutting non-existent claims. I said academic “load” not difficulty, pointed out the difference between the perks athletes receive at the two schools, and never said the swimmer of concern couldn’t handle academics. Read and comprehend before getting ahead of yourself.
Oh, I get it now! There is a “different” “work load” so you have to work [differently?] but it’s not more difficult.
“Chuck wanted to focus more on swimming than school.”
Sorry your comment doesn’t make sense. Work load is defined by time, which can be measured tangibly. Difficulty is subjective and has not been introduced as a factor in my posts. I find it humorous you kids revert to personal insults while trying to maintain the essence of class.
I don’t mean to pry, but you don’t by chance happen to have six fingers on your right hand? And yes, I always begin conversations this way.
‘Rigor’ is a word, like ‘fact,’ that you used, but I do not think it means what you think it means.
You know you probably mean no harm, but you’re really very short on charm.
Private tutors are unfortunately not commonplace at public universities for athletes, also I’d hardly consider your many friends as sources for your statements about state schools, I’d just as easily cite my many friends for fictional statements about the Ivys. Katis did indeed ‘transfer to a school that places more priority on athletics than Harvard’ but you imply that Cal places less priority on academics than Harvard. Average GPA in fact does correlate with the academic rigor, mediocre work is rewarded higher, unless of course the entire sample, in this case Harvard, is actually 0.2 grade points point better than Berkeley. If you believe this than that actually explains a lot.
Wow. I just stumbled into this old discussion. While it’s very possible no one cares anymore, I’ll share my personal experience.
I swam at University of Illinois (UIUC) as a freshman. One of the reasons I chose the school is that it was, at that time back in 1992, regarded as one of the very top engineering schools in the country. I was in the honors program and I had a sizable workload. I did have the help of private math tutors supplied by the athletic department (I could have had help from tutors for other classes but I didn’t need them; maybe these days that’s not commonplace at public universities, but I believe it was back then and in… Read more »
Andrea Kropp sat out a year after transfer from Princeton
What happened to Higgins?