2026 College Swimming Previews: #2 Cal Men Aiming To Stay Near The Top Despite Major Losses

It’s that time of the year again. SwimSwam will be previewing the top 12 men’s and women’s teams (and then some) from the 2025 NCAA Championships. Follow along with the College Swimming Preview Channel. Want to read even more? Check out the latest edition of the SwimSwam magazine. 

#2 California Golden Bears

Key Losses: Destin Lasco (48 NCAA Points, 4 NCAA Relays), Lucas Henveaux (48 NCAA Points, 1 NCAA Relay), Jack Alexy (42.5 NCAA Points, 4 NCAA Relays), Mewen Tomac (34 NCAA Points, 1 NCAA Relay), Gabriel Jett (32 NCAA Points, 1 NCAA Relay), Dare Rose (32 NCAA Points, 2 NCAA Relays), Bjorn Seeliger (14 NCAA Points, 3 NCAA Relays), Tyler Kopp (8 NCAA Points), Robin Hanson (4 NCAA Points), Frank Applebaum (2 NCAA Points), Matthew Jensen (1.5 NCAA Points, 2 NCAA Relays)

Key Additions: #16 Ryan Erisman (CA – free), #19 Kenneth Barnicle (NJ – free/back), HM Ian Platts-Mills (NC – free/IM), BOTR Caiden Bowers (MD – fly), BOTR Norvin Clontz (NC- free), Nathan Wiffen (Ireland – free), Casper Puggaard (Denmark – fly), Jack Brown (Great Britain – fly), JD Thumann (OK – free/fly/back), Martin Wrede (Germany – free), Eduardo Moraes (Michigan transfer – free)

GRADING CRITERIA

Over the years, we’ve gone back and forth on how to project points, ranging from largely subjective rankings to more data-based grading criteria based on ‘projected returning points.’ We like being as objective as possible, but we’re going to stick with the approach we’ve adopted post-Covid. The “stars” will rely heavily on what swimmers actually did last year, but we’ll also give credit to returning swimmers or freshmen who have posted times that would have scored last year.

Since we only profile the top 12 teams in this format, our grades are designed with that range in mind. In the grand scheme of college swimming and compared to all other college programs, top 12 NCAA programs would pretty much all grade well across the board. But in the interest of making these previews informative, our grading scale is tough – designed to show the tiers between the good stroke groups, the great ones, and the 2015 Texas fly group types.

• 5 star (★★★★★) – a rare, elite NCAA group projected to score 25+ points per event
• 4 star (★★★★) – a very, very good NCAA group projected to score 15-24 points per event
• 3 star (★★★) – a good NCAA group projected to score 5-14 points per event
• 2 star (★★) – a solid NCAA group projected to score 1-4 points per event
• 1 star (★) –  an NCAA group that is projected to score no points per event, though that doesn’t mean it’s without potential scorers – they’ll just need to leapfrog some swimmers ahead of them to do it

We’ll grade each event discipline: sprint free (which we define to include all the relay-distance freestyle events, so 50, 100 and 200), distance free, IM, breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly and diving. Use these grades as a jumping-off point for discussion, rather than a reason to be angry.

Also, keep in mind that we are publishing many of these previews before teams have posted finalized rosters. We’re making our assessments based on the best information we have available at the time of publication, but we reserve the right to make changes after publication based on any new information that may emerge regarding rosters. If that does happen, we’ll make certain to note the change.

2024-25 Lookback

Cal had an exceptional season last year, finishing 2nd at the Men’s NCAA Championships after outscoring their psych sheet seed by nearly 200 points, coming within 20 points of the Longhorn men and locking up their 15th consecutive top-two finish with 471 points.

The Bears’ NCAA team was led by fifth-years Destin Lasco and Lucas Henveaux, who both scored 48 points after ‘A’ finaling in all three of their individual events. They also had senior Jack Alexy bring in 42.5 points for the team, along with four relay swims for the Bears, including their NCAA record-setting 800 freestyle relay that became the first group to break 6:00 in the event.

Freshman Yamato Okadome was the highest point scorer who was not a graduating swimmer, bringing in 25 individual points with his 6th-place showing in the 200 breast and 7th-place finish in the 100 breast.

Fifth-years Mewen Tomac (34 points) and Dare Rose (32 points), and senior Gabriel Jett (32 points) were the other Bears to score more than 20 points at the meet.

Cal’s first year in the ACC saw them finish with the Conference title, racking up 1271.5 points to come in ahead of Stanford’s 1065. Jett led the individual points there with 86, followed closely by Henveaux at 85.5. Again, Okadome was the highest scoring swimmer outside of seniors and fifth years, bringing in 55 individual points in the 100 and 200 breast events

Sprint Free: ★

The theme throughout this preview will be the absolute decimation the Cal men’s team saw after last season, and one of the places this is felt most profoundly is in the sprint freestyle events.

Last season saw senior Jack Alexy as the top 50 freestyler on the team in 18.34. He ended up finishing 5th in the event at NCAAs, and he was joined by Bjorn Seeliger in the scoring positions, with Seeliger coming in 11th overall.

The fastest returning freestyler from last season is current sophomore Lucca Battaglini, whose fastest time in the event last season of 19.15 was about a tenth over the cutline of 19.02. Battaglini’s best time in the event stands at 19.06, and if he can swim close to that time again, he puts himself in a better position to earn an individual swim. He would still need to drop just over a tenth to earn a 2nd swim with the 16th-place time last season coming in at 18.92.

The 100 free is a similar story, with the Bears returning one of their six individual swimmers from last season in sophomore Nans Mazellier. He finished 31st at NCAAs, touching in 42.19. This was just over a tenth of a second from the best time of 42.07 he set at the Minnesota Invite in December. If he had gone his best, he still would have been almost half a second out of scoring position with 41.62, earning the 16th spot out of prelims. He also swam the 50 free at the meet, coming in at 19.37, a new personal best time to finish 40th overall.

Mazellier is also their top returning 200 freestyler with his 1:32.00 from ACCs, earning him an invite to the meet, where he ended up finishing 30th in 1:32.91. His best time would have been 18th overall, with 16th going to 1:31.88.

Keaton Jones also swam the 200 freestyle at last year’s NCAAs, finishing 22nd in 1:32.32, about two tenths off his best of 1:32.13 from 2024. It is not clear if he will keep the same schedule from the last two years, though, as his backstroke events saw major improvements over the summer and he could opt for the 100 back instead.

The Bears have a few recruits who have the potential to develop into strong sprint freestylers over the year, with #19-ranked Kenneth Barnicle coming in at 20.52/43.04/1:35.15, Michigan transfer Eduardo Moraes at 1:33.97, and Germany’s Martin Wrede with times that convert to 19.50 and 42.72 among the incoming class. None of them are currently in NCAA scoring position, but could develop there over the course of the year.

Distance Free: ★★★ ½

Cal will only return Keaton Jones from their distance freestyle group last season. Jones was one of four Bears in the 500 freestyle, ultimately finishing 18th in a personal best 4:13.62. He was less than half a second outside of scoring position with 4:13.15, taking the 16th spot out of prelims.

Jones saw some huge drops this summer in the backstroke events, but it is not clear if his freestyle has seen that same improvement. While the 200 freestyle seems slightly up in the air for him, the 500 freestyle is a relatively safe bet for the junior, and if he can replicate some of that backstroke speed, he could be a ‘B’ finalist.

The Bears also have Freddy Klein making his return this season after earning an invite in the 1650, but being unable to swim, presumably due to roster cap issues. He swam 14:48.74 in the mile at the Cal vs Stanford meet last season, which came in six-hundredths under the cutline of 14:48.80. His time would have been 20th last year, and while that is not in scoring position, he dropped 14 seconds in the event last season, and could end up in a scoring spot this year.

Distance free is one of the places where the Bears will get the biggest bump from their recruiting class, starting with #16 Ryan Erisman.

Erisman comes in with proven times of 4:14.50 and 14:57.76, but he had an electric summer, swimming 3:46.01 in the 400, which converts to 4:13.18, which puts him in scoring position in the event.

Joining Erisman in the distance events is Honorable Mention Ian Platts-Mills, who comes in at 4:23 and 15:01. These swims are both outside of qualifying position, but Klein dropped 14 seconds in the mile last year, which inspires confidence in the distance program.

They also have Eduardo Moraes coming in as a transfer from Michigan at 4:12.72, which is in scoring position in the event, and would have finished 15th at last year’s NCAAs. Moraes has a best time of 15:14.39 in the mile, but chose not to swim it at last year’s meet.

Finally, the team has Irish Worlds Team member Nathan Wiffen for this season, joining the Bears as a graduate student. He gets better as the distance increases, with his 400 freestyle time converting to 4:17.34 in the 500 and his 1500 time translating to a standout 1650 time of 14:32.02. He has never swum SCY before, and only has this season to figure it out, but if he makes the transition well, he could easily finish in the top eight in the mile at NCAAs.

The group will also get a training boost from Olympic champion Daniel Wiffen, who will be training at Cal this year. While he can’t compete for the Golden Bears, the NCAA team will get to train with one of the best distance swimmers in the world.

Backstroke: ★★★

Cal’s top four 100 backstrokers, Mewen Tomac, Destin Lasco, Bjorn Seeliger, and Gabriel Jett, all graduated after last season, but this will still be one of Cal’s strongest groups this season.

The top returning 100 backstroker, on paper, is fifth-year Evan Petty, who has a lifetime best of 44.97 from the Minnesota Invite last year. This was nearly three tenths under the NCAA cutline last year, and would have finished 13th in the event. Petty was slightly off at Nationals, coming in at 45.49 for 20th, but he has solid finals chances if he can repeat his best time.

In the 200 backstroke, they have Keaton Jones as their top returning swimmer, who is coming off a 12th-place finish at the World Championships in the event and a lifetime best at USA Swimming Trials. Jones was 9th last year, swimming 1:38.29 to win the ‘B’ final.

Jones had a strong summer, which included a new best time in the long course 100 backstroke in June. He dropped about a second from his previous best in the event, which could be hinting at a potential event change for him from the 200 free. He currently has a best of 46.85 from his freshman year, but, after he finished 4th at long course Nationals, he could be a threat to see some serious improvement this season.

The Bears will also return individual NCAA scorer Humberto Najera in the 200 back with his lifetime best of 1:39.30 also putting him comfortably in NCAA scoring position after he finished 13th at the meet last year.

In terms of incoming freshmen, they have Barnicle at 46.99 and 1:43.07 and early graduate JD Thumann at 47.81 and 1:44.51 as a high school junior. Neither are inside the NCAA cutlines, but they are young and a year of NCAA training under their belts could make a huge difference.

Breaststroke: ★★★★

There was only one swimmer who scored double-digit points for Cal at last year’s NCAAs who will be back for this season, and it’s sophomore breaststroker Yamato Okadome.

Okadome received just one sentence in our preview for last year and turned into one of the top swimmers for the Cal team, starting his season with a monster 1:52.85 in the 200 breaststroke in October. He only got faster from there, going on to score 25 individual points at NCAAs with two ‘A’ finals swims.

Okadome ended up finishing 7th in the 100 breast at 50.69, in a final that will only return two of the eight swimmers, and 6th in the 200 breast at 1:50.23, with every athlete ahead of him graduating. It is worth noting that Texas junior Nate Germonprez swam 1:49.71 to win the ‘B’ final, but Okadome is shaping up to be one of the top breaststrokers in the NCAA this season.

Double individual event qualifier Hank Rivers also scored points in a breaststroke event, finishing 16th in the 100 breaststroke at 51.63. He swam the 200 breaststroke as well, coming in 19th at 1:52.37, but his best time of 1:51.23 would have finished 14th in the event.

Butterfly: ★★

Cal had three individual 100 butterflyers and two individual 200 butterflyers at NCAAs last season, and they are all gone this year.

They will return junior Samuel Quarles, who was their 3rd fastest 100 butterflyer last season, swimming 45.85 at the SMU Last Chance Invite to miss NCAA qualification time of 45.12 by just over six tenths.

Sophomore August Vetsch is the top returning 200 butterflyer at 1:43.94, about two-and-a-half seconds away from an NCAA invite in the event.

Cal does have some strong butterflyers coming in, led by Denmark’s Casper Puggaard and Great Britain’s Jack Brown. Both come in as 51-second 100 butterflyers in long course, with Puggaard’s time converting to 44.92 and Brown’s converting to 45.26. Puggaard’s time would have been 16th at last year’s NCAAs in the event.

Puggaard’s 200 fly time of 1:58.18 converts to 1:43.32, which is outside of qualification but would come in as the fastest time on the team.

They also have Best of the Rest recruit Caiden Bowers coming in at 46.64 and 1:46.74.

IM: ★★

Humberto Najera swam both individual IM events at last year’s NCAA Championships and he will be leading the group that is missing ‘A’ finalists Destin Lasco and Lucas Henveaux and NCAA scorers Tyler Kopp and Mewen Tomac.

Najera scored 3 points in the 400 IM, finishing 14th overall in his lifetime best time of 3:39.99. In the 200 IM, he comes in with a lifetime best of 1:44.17, which he swam to finish 47th at last year’s NCAAs. In order to score in the event, he would need to drop more than two seconds with the 16th-place finish out of prelims, clocking 1:41.73.

Sophomore Carter Lancaster has lifetime bests of 1:45.01 and 3:46.65 and Zachary Tan comes in at 1:46.77 and 3:48.84. Neither athlete is under the NCAA cutline in their events, but they could end up as ACC scorers if they drop.

They have a few freshmen coming in with some IM prowess, primarily in the 400. Ryan Erisman (3:46.35) and Norvin Clontz (3:47.06) will both add depth to the group, though they will both have to decide between the 400 IM and the 200 free as, even in the extended ACC schedule, they are on the same day.

Ian Platts-Mills has the fastest proven time of incoming freshmen at 3:45.23, which is still above the cutline but would have scored at the ACC Championships in the ‘C’ final.

Finally, they have Kenneth Barnicle, who will help the 200 IM group with his time of 1:45.07, which is another potential ACC scoring swim, but off the NCAA cutline unless he can drop a little over two seconds to 1:42.65.

Diving: ★★

This is an area where the Bears have some room to improve. After scoring 21 points in 2024, last year, they only brought in one point withJoshua Thai’s 16th-place finish on the 3-meter despite not graduating either of their scoring divers.

Geoffrey Vavitsas was 5th-place in the platform event in 2024, but finished 18th last year to miss the final entirely. If he can get back to his freshman year form, Cal has some room to improve.

They will also return Thai for one more season, along with juniors Jack Clark and Scott Garman, with Clark scoring 38 points at ACCs last year.

Relays: ★★½

Note that the grading system doesn’t align perfectly for relays as double points.

Relay grading system:

• 5 star (★★★★★) – 31+ points per relay event
• 4 star (★★★★) – 22-30 relay points per event
• 3 star (★★★) – 12-21 relay points per event
• 2 star (★★) – 5-11 relay points per event
• 1 star (★) – 0-4 relay points per event

The Cal relays are a mess. They have just one swimmer from all five of their NCAA relays last year making a return for this season, Yamato Okadome.

This makes it nearly impossible to predict who will be on what relay, as every athlete will be fighting for a ton of open relay positions.

Here is how the relays looked last year:

The Bears lose every swimmer on all three of their freestyle relays and three of the four on both medleys. They had an exceptional relay performance last year, finishing top five in all five relays, but it will be very difficult to replicate this performance, particularly when considering that only one swimmer on the team was on NCAA relays last season.

The 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle relays are in a rough spot. Battaglini will likely take over roles on both relays as the fastest returning 50 freestyler at 19.06 and one of the top 100 freestylers in 42.60. Nans Mazellier is the fastest returning 100 freestyler at 42.07, and will also take a spot on both relays.

After that, it seems like the spots will go to a few incoming freshmen who have incredibly similar times at the moment, including Dar Lavrenko, Maximus Goettsch, JD Thumann, Martin Wrede, and Kenneth Barnicle. Currently, Barnicle has the slowest 50 free time at 20.52, and doesn’t seem likely for the 200 freestyle relay, but he is in the mix in the 400 free relay at 43.04. Wrede has the fastest times with a converted 19.50 and 42.72, and if he can replicate that, he should be a strong addition to the relays.

The 800 free is a similar story with all four swimmers graduating. Mazellier and Keaton Jones are both returning swimmers who will likely take spots with Mazellier returning as the fastest 200 freestyler and Jones just behind him. In terms of newcomers, they can add any combination of Barnicle, Erisman, Moraes, Clontz, and Goettsch.

The medley relays are nearly impossible to predict with the incomers and returners. The only lock for these relays is Yamato Okadome.

Jones could swim the backstroke legs, though he wasn’t at his best leading off the U.S. mixed 400 medley relay in Singapore. The freestyle legs are a toss-up between the swimmers mentioned above, and the butterfly spots will likely be some combination of Puggaard and Brown, depending on who makes the transition better. Puggaard has a monster relay split of 50.80 under his belt from the European Championships, which converts to 44.23 in short course, making him the more likely choice for this relay.

It is hard to predict that the relays will score an exceptional number of points, especially because we have no clue what so many of their relay swimmers are capable of. It seems unlikely, though, that they won’t score points, especially with Cal’s history of finding a way to perform.

Total: 20/40

The Verdict

Cal has an uphill battle this year with most of their swimmers graduating after last season. Losing most of their relay swimmers and most of their individual point scorers would be hard for any team, but the pressure to perform is high for the Bears, who have finished in the top two at NCAAs every year since 2010.

More than any other team in the NCAA, Cal and Head Coach Dave Durden find a way to get it done when it matters most, whether that is huge midseason additions or developing their swimmers into superstars.

It is not clear if Cal will be able to maintain their streak this year, and they will heavily rely on performances from returners like Yamato Okadome and Keaton Jones, and the newcomers like Ryan Erisman if they want to stay in the top two for the 16th straight season.

While they only racked up half the available stars based on projected scoring, if any school will massively overperform, it’s the Golden Bears.

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