Davis, Calif. - UC Davis announced the induction of seven new members to the Cal Aggie Athletics Hall of Fame this week.
Flora Bare (gymnastics, 2000-03), Daniel Descalso (baseball, 2005-07), Linda Hermann (swimming, 2007-11), Mike McGee (men's water polo, 2004-07), and Jonathan Peterson (track and field, 2008-10, 2012) make up the 2022 participant class. Former men's basketball head coach Bob Williams (1990-98) was inducted as a non-participant and track and cross country standout Kim Conley received the 2022 Student-Athlete Legacy Award.
This year's participant inductees were chosen from a pool of 31 nominations.
Flora Bare - Gymnastics (2000-03)
Bare was a nine-time USAG All-American during her career as an Aggie and won the 2001 all-around title.
She's one of a short list of just three Aggies along with Jill Henrie and Michelle Kulovitz to win the national all-around title and joins Ericka Ruelas as one of two Aggies to earn All-America distinction three times in the all-around.
She set was at the time an all-around school record of 39.200 in 2001 and through 2022 still owns shares of the school vault and floor records with current Aggie Kyla Kessler equaling her 9.950 floor mark this past season.
Bare battled injuries throughout her career but often was able to recover and return to form in time for the national championships. She recovered from stress fractures to become a USAG All-American in all-around and floor in 2000 and did so again in 2002, coming back from an injury to score 9.900 on her floor routine at nationals and was a USAG All-American in all-around, vault, beam and floor that year.
Bare went on to earn an MFA from UC Santa Cruz in 2005 and furthered her education at the Accademia dell'Arte in Tuscany and the London International School of Performing Arts.
She's currently an adjunct professor at Columbia College Chicago and DePaul.
Daniel Descalso - Baseball (2005-07)
Descalso has gone on to post the most successful post-collegiate career of any Aggie baseball alumnus but the baseball record book is dotted with his name from his time at UC Davis.
He was the first Aggie to collect his 200th career hit before his senior year and finished among the school top-10 lists in at-bats, hits, and doubles despite only playing three years.
Though he was never able to earn an all-conference award due to playing during UC Davis reclassification to Division I, he was named All-Division I Independent First Team in 2007. He batted .397 that season, third in school history behind only Ty Kelly, another future Major Leaguer, and David Nix. He finished with a mammoth 1.043 OPS in 2007 and led the Aggies in doubles, runs, RBI, total bases and walks as well as striking out just 17 times in 269 plate appearances.
Despite missing time early in the 2006 season due to an injury, he retured to start 41 of the 43 games he played that season and bat .284.
He was an All-Division I Independent Second Team selection in 2005, playing in all 56 games and leading the team in average (.320), at-bats (225), hits (72), and total bases (92). He became the first true freshman to lead the team in batting average since Gary Schlagenhauf in 1967.
Of a possible 164 games over his career, Descalso appeared in 155.
Descalso was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the third round of the 2007 MLB Amateur Draft and made his debut three years later in 2010. He went on to a win a World Series with the Cardinals in 2011, a season where he set a career-high for games played with 148 and batted .264. He was instrumental in that 2011 World Series, batting .667 in the five-game series against the Texas Rangers.
He went on to have a nine-year career in the Major Leagues with the Cardinals, Colorado Rockies, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Chicago Cubs.
Descalso is currently enrolled as a student at UC Davis finishing his degree and is a frequent sight in the dugout during Aggie home games.
Linda Hermann - Swimming (2007-11)
Hermann still stands as one of the all-time winningest student-athletes in program history.
She was a three-time individual conference champion during her time at UC Davis, winning two in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and one in the Big West as well as three relay titles. She continues to rank among the program's all-time leaders in the individual medley, 200 backstroke, 1000 freestyle, 200 freestyle, and 500 freestyle. She was also part of a school-record 3:20.66 400 relay team in 2011 along with Kayleigh Foley, Heidi Kucera, and Ashley Chandler.
She was named the W.P. Lindley Award winner at UC Davis during her senior year, an honor given to an outstanding student-athlete at UC Davis each year that takes into account athletic, academic, and community contributions.
Hermann was also a CollegeSwimming.com Mid-Major All-America Honorable Mention in 2010-11 as well as the MPSF Swimmer of the Year. She won individual conference titles in the 200 free and 200 IM and was second in the 200 back in addition to being on winning 400 free, 800 free, and 400 medley relay teams. She also anchored the runner-up 200 medley relay team to come away with five titles and seven top-two finishes at the 2011 MPSF Championships.
In UC Davis' last year as a member of the Big West for swimming in 2009-10, she won a conference title in the 200 free, hitting an NCAA 'B' standard time of 1:48.78. She helped the Aggies 800 free and 400 medley relay teams to titles that year and took second in the 200 IM, 200 back, and 200 free relay.
The 2008-09 season marked Hermann's first conference title, an 800 free relay win at the 2009 Big West Championships. She was also a member of the second-place 200 free relay team with both squads setting school records, as well as setting a then-school record 4:58.86 in the 500 free. As a freshman in 2007-08, Hermann set the school 1000 free record with a time of 10:12.78 that is still fourth on the all-time list and scored 42 points at that season's conference meet.
Hermann graduated with a 3.72 GPA and went on to earn her M.S. from Western University of Health Sciences to become a physician assistant.
Mike McGee - Men's Water Polo (2004-07)
Few goalies in Aggie history have matched the resume that McGee built over four years.
He was the first Aggie, along with teammate Nick Arrigo, to earn higher than All-America Honorable Mention status in program history, not counting years with separate Division II awards. He was also the first UC Davis player to win WWPA Player of the Year and earn All-WWPA in three straight seasons.
Through the 2020 season, McGee still ranks second in program history in career saves with 1,140 behind only 2018 CAAHOF inductee Mike DeJong. He holds the school record with 168 career steals, a category that began to be tracked in 2004.
McGee was a force to be reckoned with in 2007, setting the then-single season school record with 330 saves, allowing just 194 goals with a .630 save percentage, the last of which being a record he still holds. He ranked second nationally in toal saves and won WWPA Player of the Year, ACWPC All-America Third Team and All-WWPA First Team awards.
He earned his first ACWPC All-America honor in 2006 with an Honorable Mention selection and All-WWPA Second Team for starting all 30 games with 288 saves. 2006 was also one of three seasons where he led the team in steals with 44.
2005 marked McGee's first conference award, an All-WWPA Honorable Mention selection in his sophomore season. He started 29 of the Aggies' 30 games and posted 271 saves, a total that was at the time the most since Matt DeJong's 291 in 1997. 2005 was also the start of three straight seasons in which he would lead the Aggies in steals with 34 but also led in assists with 20.
As a freshman in 2004, McGee started 30 of 31 games and had 251 saves, a total that still ranked 10th in school history entering the 2021 season.
After graduating in 2008, McGee went on to become a firefighter for the Santa Clara Fire Department.
Jonathan Peterson - Track and Field (2008-10, 2012)
"Petey" left UC Davis has one of the most decorated athletes in the program's history.
Peterson was the first UC Davis runner to qualify for the NCAA Championships, doing so in the 2010 and 2011 cross country seasons. He was UC Davis' first cross country All-West Region finisher, doing so in 2009, 2010 and 2011 and led UC Davis to its first Big West Conference cross country title in 2010 by becoming the program's first individual champion that season. Peterson was the 2010 Big West Athlete of the Year and through 2022 remains the only men's team member to earn All-Big West honors in three straight seasons.
Peterson made department history as the only athlete in any sport to win the Colby E. "Babe" Slater Award in two consecutive years, 2010-11 and 2011-12, and remains the only athlete to accomplish that feat.
He was just as decorated on the track, setting school records in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters in 2012 after redshirting the 2011 track season.
Peterson's final collegiate season in 2012 saw him win Big West titles in both the 1,500 and 5,000 meters and qualify for the NCAA West Prelims in the 5,000 where he placed 21st.
He set a school record in the 5,000 of 13:46.66 at the Portland Track Festival that June in addition to setting the school 10,000 meter record at 28:50.45 in 2012. Both records still stand today. His 3:42.78 1,500 at the Big West Championships that year remains second all-time.
In 2010, Peterson finished third in the 1,500 and fourth in the 5,000 meters at the Big West Championships in 3:51.17 and 14:45.55 respectively. He broke the school 5,000 meter record for the first time that season and then lowered it at that year's Payton Jordan Invitational, running 14:03.25. He also set the school 3,000 meter record during the final season of men's indoor track and field at UC Davis in 2009, running 8:11.52 at the UW Invitational.
Peterson went on to run professionally for Team USA Minnesota after graduating in 2012 and announced his retirement from professional running in 2018.
Bob Williams - Men's Basketball (1990-98) | Non-Participant Award Winner
For many, Bob Williams and the 1997-98 Aggies will forever be what comes to mind when they picture UC Davis basketball.
Williams' final season as the head coach of the Aggies was arguably the most impressive in school history.
UC Davis went 31-2 that season, 17-0 at home and 14-0 during conference play. The Aggies won their final 22 games that season that included a playoff run culminating in the 1998 NCAA Division II National Championship. That team also featured current UC Davis Associate Head Coach
Kevin Nosek.
Williams was the driving force behind UC Davis' success in the '90s with a career record of 158-76 over eight seasons.
His 1997-98 squad is the only non-scholarship team in the history of NCAA Division II basketball to win a championship. At one point during Williams' tenure the Aggies won four straight league titles with just four conference losses in that span.
Even after moving on after the 1998 season, Williams has long called himself an Aggie at heart and returned to Bob Hamilton Court throughout the 2021-22 season to serve as a color commentator on ESPN Plus broadcasts of UC Davis home games.
Kim Conley - Track and Field (2004-09) | Legacy Award Winner
A two-time Olympian following her collegiate career in Davis, Kim Conley is the 2022 recipient of the Legacy Award.
Competing during the Division I reclassification era from 2004-09, Conley was a Division 1 Independent Champion twice - once in cross country and once in track in the 5,000 meters.
Through 2022, she still ranks fourth in school history in the 5,000 meters (16:17.51), fifth in the 1,500 meters (4:22.17), and second in the indoor 3,000 meters (9:19.16).
Conley's final collegiate season in 2009 saw her run her career-best 1,500 meter time and needed just one 5,000 meter race to qualify for the NCAA West Regional: that 16:17.51 finish that was a then-school record.
In fact, Conley broke the school 5,000 meter record three times in her career. She ran 16:30.22 at the Stanford Invite in 2008 and then later that season surpassed that mark on the same track at the Payton Jordan Invite with a 16:23.58 finish. Conley had the best individual finish by an Aggie at the 2008 Big West Conference Championships, a third-place run in the 1,500 meters, and was an NCAA West Regional qualifier for the first of two times.
The 2007 season saw Conley win the Division I Independent title in the 5,000 meters in 17:43.00 and was third in the 1,500 at the same meet that was run in lieu of a conference championship while UC Davis reclassified to Division I. She also became the first Aggie to race the 5,000 meters indoors during that year, running 16:59.44.
Conley was All-Big West in 2008 that cross country season, finishing seventh at the conference meet and helping lead UC Davis to its first NCAA Division I Championship appearance along with Kaitlin Gregg, a member of Davis distance running royalty in her own right.
In the 2007 cross country season she was the Aggies' top finisher at all five meets, including the Big West Championship meet and NCAA West Regional. She was All-Division I Independent in 2005, again UC Davis top scorer in every meet that season and was the 2004 Division I Independent Champion.
Conley went on to have one most decorated athletic post-collegiate careers in department history after graduating in 2009.
She entered the 2012 Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore. needing to meet the Olympic 'A' standard in the 5,000 meters and secure a top-three finish to book a spot in the London Olympics. In a thrilling finish that came down to the final meter, Conley passed Julia Lucas to take third by four hundredths of a second and hit the 'A' standard by .21 at 15:19.79.
She planned to make a run at qualifying in the 10,000 meters for the 2016 Games but was forced to bow out of the Olympic Trials after she was clipped by another runner in qualifying. She turned her focus again to the 5,000 meters, placing second at the Trials to earn her second Olympic berth.
Thank you to the Cal Aggie Athletics Hall of Fame Committee - David Nix, Heidi Kucera, Tony Kays, Dante Ross, Kim Newlin, Dana Allen, and Kelly Wilkinson - for their continued work to recognize our Aggie greats.
