Courtesy: Cal Athletics
The California men’s swimming & diving team returns to the pool against a familiar opponent as it will face Stanford in the annual Triple Distance Meet on Friday. It will be the first meeting of the season and first as ACC opponents between the two teams.
The Triple Distance Meet requires the Golden Bears and the Cardinal to swim three distances of the same stroke, with individuals racing at 50, 100 and 200 yards in each event. Distance freestylers will race the 200, 500 and 1,000 while individual medley specialists swim the 100, 200 and 400 IM. Both teams will also compete in a pair of relay events.
FRIDAY, OCT. 18
Cal at Stanford | 1 p.m. PT | Avery Aquatic Center | Stanford, Calif.
Live Stream: None
Live Results: TBA
LAST TIME IN THE POOL
Last time out, Cal convincingly topped UC San Diego in a two-day meet after placing first in all 15 events at the Triton Invitational to secure a 389-167 victory. Freshman Yamato Okadome earned first-place honors in the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke, while six other Bears fill out the top seven spots in the 100-yard breaststroke. The Bears took the first five spots in three events, including the 200-yard breaststroke, 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle. Senior Ziyad Saleem claimed the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke, while junior Matthew Chai placed first in the 500-yard and 1650-yard freestyle. Graduate Student Matthew Jensen swept the 100-yard butterfly and 200-yard IM.
IN THE RANKINGS
On Sept. 26, Cal was ranked No. 1 in the CSCAA Preseason Top-25 Poll with 365 points. Rounding out the top five is Florida (356), Texas (343), Indiana (337) and NC State (319). The Bears finished the 2023-24 dual meet season ranked No. 3.
WELCOME BACK
Cal returned 30 student-athletes from a season ago, 11 of whom have earned All-American honors in their careers – Jack Alexy, Robin Hanson, Matthew Jensen, Gabriel Jett, Keaton Jones, Tyler Kopp, Destin Lasco, Dare Rose, Bjorn Seeliger, Joshua Thai and Geoffrey Vavitsas.
RELOADED ONCE AGAIN
Director of Swimming & Diving David Durden and his staff have reloaded once again after bringing in the seventh-ranked recruiting class of 2024, according to SwimSwam.com. The Bears welcome 12 swimmers for 2024-25, led by the nation’s No. 3-ranked recruit, Lucca Battaglini.
GOING FOR GOLD
A total of 11 current and former Cal swimmers punched their tickets to the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, while David Durden was named assistant coach for the United States, marking his third time as a member of the coaching staff for the U.S. Jack Alexy and Hunter Armstrong, a member of California’s postgraduate training group, won gold medals as members of the United States men’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay team. Cal alum Ryan Murphy earned gold in the 4×100 mixed medley relay while taking the bronze in the 100-meter backstroke. Murphy, Armstrong and Alexy brought home the silver medal in the 4×100 men’s medley relay. Brooks Curry, also a member of California’s postgraduate training group, won silver in the 4×200 freestyle relay.
U.S NATIONAL TEAM
USA swimming announced the 2024-2025 U.S National Team roster last month, and it features nine current and former Cal swimmers. The current Golden Bears selected included Jack Alexy (4th selection), Dare Rose (4th selection), Liam Bell (1st selection) and Keaton Jones (1st selection).
How is there no live stream of this?
More accurate to reference Liam Bell as a former/post-graduate Golden Bear.
Ah yes, 2 schools from the Atlantic coast cities of Stanford and Berkeley
Still say should rename to ACC as the American Coastal Conference
cursed headline
Who lives in Palo Alto host it at home ☹️