Counting Down Cal's Top-50 Transfer Athletes: No. 22 Hugo Gonzalez

We rank the mid-career arrivals in Berkeley who have had the greatest impact on the Golden Bears

Hugo Gonzalez | Photo courtesy of Cal Athletics

The transfer portal era in college athletics seems like it’s been with us forever. Likewise, most fans can recall less turbulent times when transfers happened, they simply didn’t look like a stampede to the 1849 California Gold Rush.

We thought it was time to rank the best transfers Cal teams have attracted, most of them in recent seasons but also including a few OGs from yesteryear. 

We limited our ranking to transfers from four-year colleges.

Here is the next athlete in our countdown: 

22. Hugo Gonzalez 

Sport: Swimming

Arrival year at Cal: 2018-19

Previous school: Auburn (Set three school records, was the SEC Male Freshman Swimmer of the Year and a two-time All-American in 2017-18)

Contributions at Cal: 

—  After sitting the 2018-19 season as a transfer, Gonzalez earned All-America honors in the 200 breast and 400 individual medley, winning the latter event at the Pac-12 championships in meet record time, the fastest in the country that season. His 36 points helped the Bears win their third straight conference team title.

— The NCAA meet was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic, but a year later Gonzalez won his first national title as the anchor to Cal’s victorious 400 free relay at the NCAAs. He also placed second in the 200 IM, scored 42 points, earned All-America status in four events and helped the Bears to a runner-up finish in the team competition. 

— In 2022, Gonzalez had three top-seven finishes in individual events at the Pac-12 meet and helped Cal to a school record and victory in the 400 free relay, climaxing the Bears team triumph.

— At the NCAAs that season, he secured All-America status in four events, bumping his three-year Cal total to 10, and led the Bears to the NCAA championship. 

— Gonzalez represented his native Spain at the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Standout performance: As a senior, Gonzalez capped his collegiate career with a victory in the 400 IM at the NCAA championships, clocking a time of 3:32.88 that established NCAA and U.S. Open records.

Impact on his team: In three seasons at Cal, Gonzalez powered the Bears to three Pac-12 team titles, an NCAA runner-up finish and a national championship as a senior.

Previously on our list: 

No. 23: Julia Vander Hoeven

No. 24: Dai Dai Ames

No. 25: Julia Leontini

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