Cal Freshman Teagan O’Dell Dealt with “Multiple Injuries” At the Start of the NCAA Season

Cal freshman Teagan O’Dell revealed on Instagram last week that she dealt with “multiple injuries and mental battles” at the start of her first NCAA season earlier this year.

The California women’s team had their highest finish since 2021 at this year’s NCAA Championships, and their freshmen class, including O’Dell, was huge in that finish. O’Dell was the 2nd highest scoring swimmer on the team, bringing in 46 individual points and swimming on four relays.

O’Dell finished 3rd in the 400 IM and raced a dirty double on day four of the meet, swimming the 200 IM, where she finished 2nd, and the 200 back, where she was 6th overall. Her 200 IM (1:52.76) and her 200 back (1:49.51) were new season best times and her 400 IM (3:59.43) was a new lifetime best.

On March 22, O’Dell posted a few photos from NCAAs along with a video of her slipping during a backstroke start with the caption “‘Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall’

Transitioning into college brought an immense amount of responsibility, commitment, and energy that I was not quite prepared for. In the beginning of the season I struggled with multiple injuries and mental battles that took some time to overcome. If it weren’t for the incredible coaches, staff and athletes at CAL, I would have never been able to step behind the blocks this past week with confidence in my ability to perform for this team. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to represent CAL and be honored to be a bear.”

O’Dell’s early season times did not appear out of the ordinary for an in season freshman. She opened the season at the Triton Invitational, where she swam the 200 back (1:55.72) and the 400 IM (4:10.33) along with leading off the 200 medley relay in 24.26.

Just two weeks later, she raced in the Stanford vs ASU vs Cal tri-meet in Palo Alto. At that meet, she swam 52.59 in the 100 back, 1:51.83 in the 200 back, 1:55.19 in the 200 IM, and 4:07.94 in the 400 IM. These swims were a little off her pre-college bests of 50.70 in the 100 back, 1:49.16 in the 200 back, 1:52.61 in the 200 IM, and 4:05.22 in the 400 IM.

This meet also appears to be where the video of the slip came from, as O’Dell split 26.16 leading off the medley relay, more than half a second slower than the 25.57 she swam on the opening 50 of her 50 backstroke.

O’Dell sat out the Cal vs Stanford “Triple Distance” meet on November 7, which requires athletes to swim three different races of the same stroke, but she was back in action at the Minnesota Invite in the beginning of December, though she only swam season best times in the 100 back and the 200 IM.

Through the rest of the season, O’Dell set new personal best times in the three events: the 100 back short course, swimming 50.51 in January at the Cal vs Stanford dual meet, the 200 fly long course, touching in 2:15.48 at the Pro Swim Series stop in Austin, and in the 400 IM short course, where she swam 3:59.43 at the NCAA Championships.