Cal vs. Stanford (Women Only)
- January 31, 2026
- Spieker Aquatic Center, Berkeley, California
- Short Course Yards (25 yards), *Suited* Dual Meet
- Results on Meet Mobile: “Stanford vs CAL Women’s Dual Meet”
- Team Scores
- #2 Stanford def. #6 Cal, 154-145
Saturday afternoon brought the anticipated cross-bay showdown between ACC and Bay Area rivals #2 Stanford and #6 Cal in women’s swimming. The Stanford women came away with the victory in a close battle, 154-145.
The teams split the individual events, winning six apiece, with Stanford taking both relays.
Stanford senior Lucy Bell was the top performer for the Cardinal, as she swept the breaststrokes in addition to winning the 200 IM.
Her first win came in the 100 breast, where she touched the wall in 57.60 to win over Cal freshman Silje Slyngstadli, who clocked a new Cal school record in 58.21.
Next up was the 200 breast, where she threw down a time of 2:03.72 to win the event by over six seconds, undercutting the 2:04.28 former best time she posted to win the NCAA title last March.
The swim moved her from the 11th-fastest performer to the 8th-fastest performer in the event’s history, with her time checking in as #24 all-time.
Top 10 Performers All Time, Women’s 200 Breaststroke:
- Kate Douglass (Virginia) – 2:01.29, 2023 NCAA Championships
- Alex Walsh (Virginia) – 2:02.07, 2024 NCAA Championships
- Lilly King (Indiana) – 2:02.60, 2018 NCAA Championships
- Bethany Galat (Texas A&M) & Anna Elendt (Texas) – 2:03.26, 2018 & 2023NCAA Championships
- N/A
- Kierra Smith (Minnesota) – 2:03.55, 2017 NCAA Championships
- Sydney Pickrem (Texas A&M) – 2:03.65, 2019 NCAA Championships
- Lucy Bell (Stanford) – 2:03.72, 2026 Stanford vs. Cal Dual Meet*
- Sophie Hansson (NC State) – 2:03.75, 2022 ACC Championships
- Mona McSharry (Tennessee) – 2:03.84, 2024 SEC Championships
Bell ended the session with a two-second win in the 200 IM, clocking 1:52.50 to come within three-hundredths of her lifetime best 1:52.47 from last year’s NCAA meet.
Another senior, Torri Huske, picked up an additional two wins for Stanford. She took first in both sprint freestyle events, winning the 50 in 21.76 before doubling back to win the 100 in 46.62. Both swims were well off the 21.01 and 46.15 season-best national-leading times she set at the Texas Invitational in November, while her personal bests remain the 20.92 and 46.01 she produced at last season’s NCAA Championships.
Stanford’s final individual win of the day came in the 100 fly, where senior Gigi Johnson logged 50.76 to come within striking distance of her career-best 50.51 from a dual meet versus UCLA earlier this month.
Cal freshman Claire Weinstein was busy on the day, as she won the 200 free (1:42.13) and 500 free (4:38.65) in addition to taking third in the 100 free just 0.02 off her best time with a 47.72.
Her time in the 200 represented a new season best, while she’s been as quick as 4:34.81 in the 500 back in December at the Minnesota Invite. Her best times in those events remain the 1:41.10 she posted in December 2024 and the 4:29.38 she swam in December 2023 when swimming for the Sandpipers of Nevada.
Fellow Bear freshman Teagan O’Dell swept the backstroke events, winning the 100 in a personal-best 50.51 and the 200 in 1:51.13.
In the 200, she took down her season-best 1:51.83 with 1:51.13, while her personal best is the 1:49.16 she swam at the Winter Junior Championships just over a year ago. O’Dell’s former best time of 50.76 in the 100 was recorded at that same meet.
After trailing Stanford sophomore Bailey O’Regan through the first 100, Cal freshman Camille Henveaux (9:41.54) took the lead and won the women’s 1000 free over the sophomore (9:43.19), with Cal junior Kathryn Hazle (9:46.84) rounding out the top three. Henveaux’s lifetime best is the 9:38.18 she posted at a tri-meet in October, while O’Regan’s best time of 9:41.59 was set at a dual meet versus UCLA in January 2025. As for Hazle, her personal best of 9:43.55 was registered just two weeks ago at a meet against the Bruins.
Sophomore Mia West, who is having a breakthrough season after taking her freshman year to adjust to collegiate swimming, out-touched Stanford junior Caroline Bricker, the reigning 400 IM NCAA Champion and 200 long course fly national champion, by three-hundredths, 1:53.32 to 1:53.35, to win the 200 fly. She sliced just over half a second off her 1:53.94 best time from the Minnesota Invite in doing so.
The highly versatile Canadian is going to have a plethora of options of events to choose from heading into championship season, having already notched personal bests of 47.51, 1:41.74, and 4:39.75 in the freestyles, 1:54.77 and 4:04.91 in the IMs, 50.78 in the 100 back, and 51.12 in the 100 fly.
The first event of the day was arguably the most exciting, as just one-hundredth separated the two teams in the 200 medley relay. O’Dell built a near half-second lead over Stanford’s Alana Berlin with her 23.94 backstroke leg to Berlin’s 24.40, but Lucy Thomas began chipping away at the deficit on breaststroke, splitting 26.31 to Slyngstadli’s 26.53 to cut the Bears’ advantage to 24-hundredths heading into the butterfly. Huske flipped the script with a 22.38 fly split that outpaced Cal’s Annie Jia (22.84) by nearly half a second, giving Stanford a 22-hundredth lead going into the anchor leg. Freshman Annam Olawasere brought it home in 21.45, holding off a hard-charging Mary-Ambre Moluh who split 21.24 to nearly grab the win for the Bears.
The 400 free relay concluded the session, and Stanford’s squad of Olawasere (48.16), Johnson (47.11), Thomas (47.72), and Huske (46.61) took the lead at the halfway mark and never relinquished it, touching in 3:09.61. The Golden Bears’ quartet of West (47.97), Ambre-Moluh (47.51), Jia (48.04), and Weinstein (47.73) gave them a great race through the front half, but couldn’t match the Cardinal sprint depth.
NEXT UP
Both teams will next compete at the ACC Swimming and Diving Championships, Feb. 15-21 in Atlanta, Georgia. Diving runs Feb. 15-17, with swimming events following from Feb. 17-21.
Did a little dive on Mia West – 7 meets this year. PR in every individual race except 100 fr at Minnesota Invite (she scratched finals), and 100 fly here.
That’s crazy. Going to have a writer dig into this.
So; the Cal swimmers beat the Stanford swimmers, 132 – 130. It’s a good thing for the Cardinal that diving is an integral part of competitive swimming… but why isn’t artistic swimming also? Just kidding! Tradition is so important; like the Pac 8/10/12 & ACC mutations, and breaststroke dolphin kicks, etc. It’s all good….!?
Didn’t Stanford win both relays?
With the performance from the University of California, Berkeley in the W 4 x 50 yard medley relay, the University of Texas continues to sink further down the rankings.
Can you say tekSUCKS? Make sure to emphasize the second syllable.
Sir this is a Wendy’s
The Stanford University women’s swimming program has too many holes in the individual events (200 FR, 500 FR, 1650 FR, 100 BK, 200 BK) to beat the University of Virginia at the 2026 NCAA DI Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships. The breadth and depth of the University of Virginia women’s swimming program will be too hard to overcome (that’s even with Emma “the enigma” Weber).
As a footnote, the 200 FR is scheduled during the same session (Day 2) as the 100 FL (T. Huske) and the 400 IM (C. Bricker).
I hate that “Emma ‘the enigma’ Weber” made me laugh
Cal is missing the elite female freestyle sprinter (50 FR, 100 FR) unlike Stanford University (T. Huske) and the University of Virginia (S. Curtis, C. Curzan, A. Moesch). The missing elite female freestyle sprinter will hold back Cal on the shorter relays.
Agree… but she’ll be here in the fall! Next year is the year they launch into serious contention.
you are correct …BEARS on the rise