Courtesy: Cal Athletics
CAL AT UC SAN DIEGO
FRIDAY, OCT. 11 | 2 P.M. | CANYONVIEW AQUATIC CENTER | LA JOLLA, CALIF.
SATURDAY, OCT. 12 | 10 A.M. | CANYONVIEW AQUATIC CENTER | LA JOLLA, CALIF.
SATURDAY, OCT. 12 | 1 P.M. | CANYONVIEW AQUATIC CENTER | LA JOLLA, CALIF.
The California women’s swimming & diving team returns to the pool this week for an invitational-style, two-day dual meet at UC San Diego’s Canyonview Aquatic Center.
The competition will be spread over three sessions – one Friday afternoon, one Saturday morning and one Saturday afternoon.
All traditional dual meet races and relays will be competed, and each team’s men’s team will also participate.
QUEEN OF THE POOL: Fifth-year senior Isabelle Stadden was named “Queen of the Pool” at Cal’s annual season-opening meet at Cal Poly last month, marking the third consecutive season she has taken the honor. The unique event features 100-yard races in the freestyle, backstroke, butterfly, breaststroke and individual medley. The swimmer with the best combined time of the five events is crowned the winner. Stadden won with an aggregate time of 4:40.36 while freshman Mia West was second at 4:46.46 and senior McKenna Stone took third for the second straight season at (4:48.62).
WELCOME TO THE ACC: The University of California, Berkeley, announced it was moving to the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) on Sept. 1, 2023, and became an official member on Aug. 2 of this year. Cal’s women’s swimming & diving team will not play a round-robin season against ACC opponents but will compete at the ACC Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina, in February.
2023-24 REDUX: The Bears finished last season at No. 4 in the CSCAA dual meet rankings and won the sixth Pac-12 championship in program history. Stadden captured her third conference title in the 200 backstroke and added the 100 back crown to her resume while senior Mia Kragh captured the 100 butterfly championship and now-alum Rachel Klinker took the honors in the 200 butterfly. Cal finished 11th as a team at the 2024 NCAA Championships, including A-final appearances by Stadden in the 100 back (2nd) and 200 back (4th), Klinker in the 200 fly (3rd) and Kragh in the 100 fly (8th). The Bears also took fourth in the 200 medley relay.
STADDEN NAMED 2024 PAC-12 SWIMMER OF THE YEAR: Isabelle Stadden became the 11th Golden Bear to be named Pac-12 Swimmer of the Year in 2024, winning two individual conference titles and adding a third as part of a relay. Stadden captured her third career crown in the 200 back while winning her first in the 100 back. She also swam the backstroke leg on Cal’s Pac-12 winning 200 medley relay team. Stadden helped the Bears compile a 7-1 dual meet record (5-1 Pac-12) and a final national dual meet ranking of No. 4 while also setting Spieker Aquatics Complex records in both individual backstroke events.
NINE MAKE PARIS: Cal had nine affiliates compete at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, including senior Leah Polonsky (Israel) and French newcomers Mary-Ambre Moluh and Lilou Ressencourt. Alumna Abbey Weitzeil won a gold medal in the 4×100 mixed medley relay and the silver in the 4×100 freestyle relay. Director of Swimming & Diving David Durden served as an assistant coach for Team USA.
KRAGH’S LIST: Senior Mia Kragh had a breakout season in 2023-24, winning the Pac-12 title in the 100 butterfly and making the A-final in the event at the NCAA Championships and finishing eighth. Kragh now has the eighth-fastest time ever at Cal in the 100 fly at 50.89 and also holds the Spieker Aquatics Complex record in the event (51.30).
TALENT INFUSION: Fourteen of the 36 student-athletes on Cal’s roster are new Golden Bears this season, a recruiting class that is ranked No. 7 nationally by SwimSwam. Leading the way are a pair of 2024 Summer Olympians in freshman Mary-Ambre Moluh and graduate student Lilou Ressencourt, each of whom has long-course times that could convert to point-scoring at the NCAA Championships. Graduate transfers Maya Geringer (Ohio State) and Margaux McDonald (Princeton) each has NCAA Championships experience.
After reading a statement from the Cal Athletic Dept. about the “switch” to the ACC, I’m so glad to know that there were no blunders, incompetence, or small – minded politics involved in this wonderful (though slightly confusing) new development in the NCAA program, and that, as usual, the welfare of the student – athletes continues to be the utmost priority in any and all organizational changes that may have happened in the past or be underway for the future. As that Frenchman, Voltaire, would say: “It’s the best of all possible worlds…”.