August Vetsch will return to his home state as he transfers to Arizona State for his junior season. Vetsch spent the last two years at Cal.
Vetsch grew up in Queen Creek, Arizona, about a 40 minute drive from Arizona State’s campus in Tempe. He arrived at Cal in fall 2024 and was a Best of the Rest (BOTR) ranked recruit coming out of high school.
He finished his freshman season at Cal’s dual meet against Stanford in January where he swam a lifetime best 1:43.94 200 butterfly. He also swam a 46.88 100 fly. He dropped a second and a half during his freshman season in the 200 fly.
He returned for his sophomore season but only competed in one meet for Cal during the Triton Invitational in October 2025. He did not swim in any meets until March 2026 when he was Unattached at the 2026 Western Zone Senior Championships in Mesa, Arizona. There he swam a lifetime best 46.26 100 fly.
Vetsch’s Best SCY Times Are:
| High School | At Cal | |
| 200 fly | 1:45.41 | 1:43.94 |
| 100 fly | 46.54 | 46.66 |
| 50 free | 19.71 | 19.84 |
The Arizona State men finished 4th as a team with 328 points at the 2026 NCAA Championships, just ahead of the Tennessee men who finished 5th as a team with 272 points. Cal was 7th at the 2026 NCAA Championships.
Vetsch joins Cal Baptist diver Mario Del Valle and Nick Simons from Tennessee as transfers this fall. Simons was an NCAA ‘A’ finalist in the 200 backstroke in March.
Vetsch’s best time in the 200 fly would have been 4th on the roster this past season for the Sun Devils. He will have the chance to train alongside NCAA Champion Ilya Kharun who swam to a 1:37.66 to win the event in March. Kharun enters his senior season this fall.
Huge Cal fan, but they really have missed on a lot of swimmers: R Jones, Nans, Quarles, August, Lancaster, McMullan, Clontz. Luca, Humberto and Klein are up and down. K Jones, Erisman & Puggaard are doing well, but I feel they would be elite elsewhere. Dave needs to adapt. These swimmers need to be ready to swim fast a little more frequent than once or twice a year.
their 2023 class is brutal
Not to be too defensive, but this post is quite the exaggeration.
Let’s start with “Erisman would be elite elsewhere.” He was the #16 recruit in the class and scored 30 points at NCAAs as a freshman (4th in the class). The 6 guys ranked above him (#10-15 recruits) scored 30 points COMBINED. He has also emerged as a star in LCM – he just put up the 5th fastest 400 free time in the world this year (#1 American). That is as elite as it gets for a college freshman, especially one who was not a top 10 recruit.
Keaton Jones was an Olympic finalist after his freshman year at Cal. I’d love to see a single… Read more »
Unsurprising that Cal couldn’t develop him. Add him to the list.
-Hook EM
…so uneducated
Think it more so speaks to the times when even Cal has to be cutting people
He wasn’t cut. He left on his own. Probably would’ve been flyer on the medley or at least in contention.
So what’s going on at Cal where they’ve had multiple guys leave this year?
He also popped a 51.8 100 fly at the recent arizona LCM state championship in Tucson