Courtesy: Cal Athletics
CAL WOMEN’S PREVIEW
The California women’s swimming & diving team is back at Spieker Aquatics Complex on Friday to host No. 3 Stanford in a triple distance meet. The first race is set for 1 p.m. PT.
The meet requires each swimmer to compete in three distances of the same stroke, with individuals racing the 50, 100 and 200-yard iteration of each event. Distance freestylers will race the 200, 500 and 1,000 while individual medley specialists will swim the 100, 200 and 400 versions of the event. There will also be relay events.
The Golden Bears are coming off a solid outing in their tri-meet with Stanford and ASU where they defeated the Sun Devils 233-107 but fell to the Cardinal 190.5-147.5. Cal won eight total events in the two-day meet, all of which were won by underclassmen.
Meet Information
Friday, Nov. 7
Cal vs. No. 3 Stanford | 1 P.M. PT | Spieker Aquatics Complex | Berkeley, Calif.
Live Stream: ACCNX
Live Results: Meet Mobile
WEINSTEIN NAMED ACC SWIMMER OF THE WEEK
Freshman Claire Weinstein earned her first ACC Swimmer of the Week award on Oct. 28 after a phenomenal weekend in Cal’s tri-meet with Stanford and Arizona State. The freshman won two individual races and helped her relay teams to a first-place finish and two second-place finishes.
Weinstein took gold in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:42.52, which was the seventh-fastest time in Cal history and the third-fastest in the country this season. She followed that up by winning the 500-yard freestyle with the fifth-fastest time in the nation this season at 4:39.23. Both marks are NCAA qualifying times. Weinstein added a third NCAA qualifying time by taking fourth in the 100-yard freestyle at 48.33.
Weinstein helped Cal turn in the top time in the nation this year in the 800-yard freestyle as she, Mia West, Teagan O’Dell and Ella Cosgrove won the event with an NCAA qualifying time of 6:55.18. Weinstein’s split of 1:42.90 was the fastest on the team.
The Las Vegas native found the podium twice more as she also led her team to a second-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:28.36) with the fifth-fastest time in the NCAA this season and in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:13.08) with the third-fastest time.
RETURNERS
Cal returns a handful of difference-makers this season like sophomore Mary-Ambre Moluh, a 2024 Paris Olympian for Team France, who etched her name into the program’s top 10 lists six different times as a freshman last year including the fastest 100 backstroke time in Cal history at 49.68. Her countryman, senior Lilou Ressencourt, also returns after a stellar 2024-25 in which she broke into the program’s top 10 in both the 100 and 200 butterfly. Abby Herscu is in her senior season and leads the breaststroke group after qualifying for the A Final at the 2025 NCAA Championships. She owns the third-best time by a Bear at 2:07.60.
NEW FACES
In addition to those familiar faces, a strong group of newcomers have joined the roster, including the top recruiting class the sport has ever seen, according to SwimSwam. Cal is bringing in three of the top five and five of the top 20 recruits in the country, headlined by U.S. National Team members Teagan O’Dell and Weinstein, who are ranked second and third, respectively, by SwimSwam. O’Dell comes to Berkeley with times that would already qualify for the NCAA A final in the 200 IM, 200 backstroke and 200 freestyle, and holds the top times in her class in four different events. Weinstein is coming off of a silver-medal finish at the 2024 Paris Olympics as the first leg of the 800 freestyle relay team and has a diverse skill set, being competitive in freestyle races of all distances.
Fifth-ranked recruit Annie Jia joins the Bears with impressive times in the 100 butterfly and 100 freestyle, and 12th-ranked Elle Scott comes as the fastest 100 breaststroker in the class. Ella Cosgrove, who is ranked 18th, shows promise in the 200 and 500 freestyle.
COMING IN AT NO. 5
The Bears began the season with their highest preseason ranking since 2019 at No. 5 in the CSCAA poll.
2024-25 RECAP
The Bears had their best season in three years, placing eighth at the 2025 NCAA Championships. Cal accrued 16 All-American certificates at the meet and set a school record in the 200-yard medley relay. Senior Leah Polonsky had a memorable meet with two top-five finishes, and her 38 total points scored was the third most by a Cal women’s swimmer at NCAAs in the past 10 years. In its first season competing in the ACC – arguably the top conference in the nation – Cal placed fourth in the team standings of the conference meet and produced five All-ACC performers. Senior Isabelle Stadden closed out a brilliant career with another strong season, including setting Spieker Aquatics Complex records in both the 100 backstroke and 200 backstroke.
CAL MEN’S PREVIEW
The California men’s swimming & diving team will host No. 8 Stanford for the annual non-scoring Triple Distance Meet on Friday at Spieker Aquatics Complex.
The Triple Distance Meet requires swimmers to compete in three distances of each of the six disciplines, which include sprint freestyle, distance freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and individual medley. Both teams will also compete in a pair of relay events.
FRIDAY, NOV. 7
Cal vs. Stanford | 1 PM PT | Spieker Aquatics Complex | Berkeley, Calif.
Live Stream: TBA
Live Results: Meet Mobile
LAST TIME OUT
Last time out, Cal fell to No. 3 Arizona State (139-198) and No. 8 Stanford (134-205) in the two-day tri-meet. The Bears earned four first-place finishes during the event. Despite a second-place finish, Ryan Erisman set the school record during the first day of the event after clocking a time of 8:43.48 in the 1000-yard freestyle, which is the fourth fastest time in the nation this season. Diver Jack Clark took the one-meter dive with a score of 324.40, which moves him up to fifth on Cal’s all-time top 10 list. Yamato Okadome took first in the 100-yard (51.11) & 200-yard breaststroke (1:51.66), which are both among the top two times in the country this year. Erisman clocked a 4:15.76 in the 500-yard freestyle to touch first with the fourth-fastest time in the nation this season.
AMONGST THE BEST IN THE NATION
500 freestyle – No. 10: Ryan Erisman (4:15.50)
1000 freestyle – No. 4: Ryan Erisman (8:43.48)
1650 freestyle – No. 2: Freddy Klein (15:17.06)
1650 freestyle – No. 9: Julien Rousseau (15:29.02)
200 backstroke – No. 10: Humberto Najera (1:41.61)
100 breaststroke – No. 2: Yamato Okadome (51.11)
200 breaststroke – No. 1: Yamato Okadome (1:51.66)
400 individual medley – No. 6: Ryan Erisman (3:44.88)
800 freestyle relay – No. 3: Ryan Erisman, Keaton Jones, Max Goettsch, Nans Mazellier (6:20.11)
REIGNING CONFERENCE KINGS
In its first season as a member of the ACC, Cal showcased its dominance throughout the 2024-25 season. The Bears won their first-ever ACC title in a wire-to-wire finish, which included six event crowns at the 2025 ACC Swimming & Diving Championships. Cal had nine student-athletes receive All-ACC honors in at least one event while in total the Bears finished among the top three in 12 different events. Cal also swept the conference’s swimming awards – Lucas Henveaux and Yamato Okadome were tabbed the ACC Swimmer of the Year and Freshman of the Year, respectively, while David Durden walked away with ACC Coach of the Year honors.
KEY RETURNERS
Cal returns 27 student-athletes from a season ago, eight of whom competed at the 2025 NCAA Championships, including Keaton Jones, Nans Mazellier, Humberto Najera, Yamato Okadome, Evan Petty, Hank Rivers, Joshua Thai and Geoffrey Vavitsas.
NEW BEARS IN TOWN
The Bears welcomed the fifth-ranked recruiting class of 2025, according to SwimSwam, featuring 14 freshmen. Ryan Erisman led the pack as the No. 16-ranked recruit, followed by No. 19 Kenny Barnicle. A trio of standout international swimmers, which includes Casper Pugaard, Jack Brown and Martin Wrede. Irish swimmer Nathan Wiffen, a two-time finalist at the European Aquatic Championships over the summer and the twin brother of Olympic champion Daniel Wiffen, has also joined the Bears for the 2025-26 season.
U.S NATIONAL TEAM
Seven current and former Bears were named to the 2025-2026 U.S National Team roster, announced by USA Swimming. The roster includes Jack Alexy, Ryan Erisman, Gabriel Jett, Keaton Jones, Trenton Julian, Destin Lasco and Dare Rose.
I wish they’d throw in 400 stroke to get some benchmark times. Stanford/Cal have 3 duel meets this season, why not have some goofy events?
Hopefully Derivaux and Erisman going to Berkeley
i know he graduated last year- but is Lasco still swimming?
I would hope he is, given that he’s on the Pan Pacs roster
I hope so, but maybe he’s taking a little time off? World Cup would have been a great set of meets for him
This is a good test for a Cal mens team that has not proven itself much this season yet. Ryan Erisman looks like the real deal.
Cal is a good team but they have no depth and not enough bases covered
They will struggle to be top 4 in March
Feel like they can’t wait until ACCs/NCAAs to swim fast at a meet, gotta see what they’ve got. Not like previous years where you know you can wait until NCAAs to unleash Lasco/Rose/Alexy/Seeliger
I remember watching them at the Minnesota invite every November and not believing how slow they would go.
100%
Totally. Typically the stars swim slow all season and the 2nd tier/fringe NCAA guys go for it at midseason invite (and also swim slow otherwise). But that’s the majority of the team now.
Not sure how many guys they can confidently hold back this year. Wiffen, Okadome, Keaton, and maybe Erisman? That may be it.
I was thinking Nans too, but those sprint free events are tough to make.
Holy smokes. Are Keaton Jones and Yamato the only scorers from last year that have returned?
Yeah – this is going to be a rough year.
Whoops, I forgot Humberto Najera who scored in the 2back and 4im last year and Hank Rivers who was 16th in the 100 breast.
But they lost 11 scorers and every leg of their relays other than Okadome’s breaststroke legs on the medleys. Even if they miraculously land 5 studs midseason that won’t replace what they lost.
Erisman has gone a best time almost everytime he has competed, which is wild
if he went best times without competing, that would be really weird
They will probably bolster the ranks with some mid season acquisition magic