UC SAN DIEGO vs CAL (MEN’S & WOMEN’S DUAL)
- Friday-Saturday, October 11-12, 2024
- La Jolla, CA
- SCY (Yards)
- RESULTS
TEAM SCORES
WOMEN
- Cal – 394
- UC San Diego – 167
MEN
- Cal – 389
- UC San Diego – 167
Cal traveled to La Jolla over the weekend to face off against the UC San Diego Tritons in a two-day combined dual meet. The Golden Bears emerged victorious in both the men’s and women’s team scoring, seeing the men’s team win in a 389-167 decision, while the women’s score was 394-167.
There were a ton of highly encouraging swims out of Cal for this mid-October meet. Perhaps the most exciting swim came from Cal freshman Yamato Okadome, who won the men’s 200 breast by a massive margin, ripping a 1:52.85. Coming to Cal from Japan, for whom he competed at the 2022 Junior Pan Pacs and 2023 World Junior Championships, Okadome is competing in yards for the first time this fall. That being said, he holds an LCM personal best of 2:12.19 in the 200 breast. It’s worth noting that fellow Cal freshman Zachary Tan came in 2nd with a 1:59.13.
Okadome also won the men’s 100 breast in 52.02, marking another extremely encouraging swim for the Golden Bears.
Another awesome swim for Cal came from freshman Mary-Ambre Moluh, who won the women’s 100 free in 48.12. That’s a fantastic race out of the freshman, who came to Cal from France. Moluh holds a career best of 54.08 in the LCM 100 free, so it looks like Cal has brought in a heavy-hitter in the women’s sprint events.
Moluh also won the women’s 50 free in 22.16, touching 1st by over a second. On the women’s 200 free relay, she provided a 22.10 split on the 2nd leg, which was Cal’s fastest on the relay. Cal won the event with the team of McKenna Stone (22.97), Moluh (22.10), Isabelle Stadden (22.24), and Femke Hoppenbrouwer (22.95), who combined for a 1:30.26.
Cal junior Matthew Chai looked phenomenal over the weekend. Chai was one of top recruits in the boys’ 2022 class, however, his first couple college seasons didn’t produce career bests, and he redshirted last season. Things started to turn around over the summer, as Chai clocked career bests in the LCM 200 free, 400 free, and 800 free. He’s carried that momentum into the fall, as he put up an excellent 4:18.79 to win the men’s 500 free. That performance comes in a few seconds off Chai’s career best of 4:15.09, which he swam at the CIF State Championship in 2022.
Chai also won the men’s 1650 free in 14:58.22, the best time in the NCAA early in the season by 19 seconds and the first to break 15 minutes in the new school year. He holds a career best of 14:45.37, which he swam at the 2021 Winter Junior Championship West. Chai competed in the men’s 200 free as well, taking 4th in 1:37.84.
Cal senior Ziyad Saleem put up a 1:41.99 to win the men’s 200 back. Saleem’s career best of 1:40.64 was swum at the Pac-12 Championships last season. Over the weekend, he was out fast, splitting 49.32 in the 100 back, then came home in 52.67. Saleem also won the men’s 100 back in 47.20.
Cal freshman Nans Mazellier put up another quick 100 free time, winning the men’s 100 free in 43.05. Mazellier touched just ahead of teammate Matthew Jensen, who came in 2nd with a 43.22. Another freshman from France, Mazellier’s swim over the weekend marks his career best in yards.
OTHER EVENT WINNERS
- Women’s 200 medley relay: Cal ‘A’ (Stadden, Brotman, Ressencourt, Akakabota) – 1:39.03
- Men’s 200 medley relay: Cal ‘A’ (Huang, Rivers, Jensen, Hatton) – 1:28.55
- Women’s 500 free: Kathryn Hazle (Cal) – 4:48.60
- Women’s 100 back: Maddie O’Connell (UCSD) – 54.17
- Women’s 200 IM: Isabelle Stadden (Cal) – 1:59.03
- Men’s 200 IM: Matthew Jensen (Cal) – 1:47.82
- Men’s 50 free: Colby Hatton (Cal) – 20.49
- Women’s 200 fly: Lizzy Cook (Cal) – 1:57.26
- Men’s 200 fly: Frank Applebaum (Cal) – 1:45.89
- Women’s 400 IM: Fanni Fabian (Cal) – 4:14.65
- Men’s 400 IM: Humberto Najera (Cal) – 3:52.74
- Women’s 100 fly: McKenna Stone (Cal) – 53.78
- Men’s 100 fly: Matthew Jensen (Cal) – 46.75
- Women’s 200 free: Ava Chavez (Cal) – 1:45.82
- Men’s 200 free: Robin Hanson (Cal) – 1:34.36
- Women’s 100 breast: Leah Polonsky (Cal) – 1:00.90
- Women’s 200 back: Margaux McDonald (Cal) – 1:57.23
- Women’s 1650 free: Maya Geringer (Cal) – 16:21.89
- Women’s 200 breast: Alicia Henry (Cal) – 2:12.28
- Men’s 200 free relay: Cal ‘A’ (Mazellier, Battaglini, Hatton, Jensen) – 1:19.52
Andrew would’ve gone 1:49
Wow. That’s really fast.
Japan and 200 breaststroke
Name a more iconic duo
Chai redshirted last year (what would have been his sophomore season), so he’s really only had one college season to evaluate, no?
Cal going to give Indiana a run for their money
Definitely going to be a good one. We’ll need a little more sample size to start comparing times in an analytical way.
Always have to remember that while both teams generally do a good job of improving place at NCAAs, Cal historically does really well, so even if Indiana is seeded higher on paper going in, that’s not the full story.
Cal’s taper vs. Indiana’s taper is about the amount to offset Indiana diving, plus-or-minus.
I won’t feel that they’ll really be able to be competing for the natty unless they get Mewen Tomac. He’s going to be an additional 35-50 points.
With Carles at the SMU invite and now a freshman ripping a 1:52 the 200 breast seems more crowded than I previously thought. Fallon is going to have more of a fight than I had previously thought.
If Okadome has the typical cal taper drop he’s actually gonna be dangerous
Some really nice results from the 1st years, but Matt Chai’s results are most exciting to me. After a lackluster freshman year, and a non-existent sophomore year, I had assumed Matt Chai had retired from NCAA swimming. That he’s back, and swimming extremely fast times for October, makes me look forward to March even more. There’s a long way to go, but this gives me memories of Jeremy Bagshaw in 2014 or Nick Norman & Sean Grieshop in 2019.