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Swimmer Natalie Coughlin, born in Vallejo, raised in Concord and admired around the world will have to revise her athletic resume yet again next week when she is inducted into the Pac-12 Hall of Honor.
The honor will be bestowed March 15 in Las Vegas at the Pac-12 men’s basketball tournament, according to Swimming World Magazine.
Coughlin was dominant during her four years (2001-04) at Cal. She was both the NCAA and Pac-10 Swimmer of the Year from 2001-03. She was a four-time team MVP, compiling a 61-0 record in dual meets. She set a raft of records, including two butterfly standards that are still on the books.
She didn’t spend all her time at the pool. She was a three-time Pac-10 All-Academic team honoree.
She was inducted into the Cal Athletic Hall of Fame in 2014.
Coughlin used her time at Cal as a springboard to a stellar Olympic career. She earned five medals (two gold) in the 2004 Athens Olympics. She claimed six more (one gold) in Beijing in 2008, and one in London in 2012.
Joining Coughlin in entering the Hall of Honor will be longtime former Stanford tennis coach Dick Gould; USC defensive back Ronnie Lott; Washington State baseball star John Olerud; Arizona track and field star Meg Ritchie-Stone; Arizona State football coach Frank Kush; Utah wide receiver Steve Smith Sr.; Oregon State high jumper Dick Fosbury; Washington tennis great Patricia Bostrom; and women’s basketball greats, Lisa Van Goor of Colorado, Bev Smith of Oregon and Ann Meyers Drysdale of UCLA.
