CAL vs USC (COMBINED DUAL)
- Friday, January 17, 2025
- Spieker Aquatics Complex, Berkeley, CA
- SCY (25 Yards)
- RESULTS
TEAM SCORES
WOMEN
- Cal – 185
- USC – 115
MEN
- Cal – 212
- USC – 88
Cal hosted USC for a dual meet this afternoon at the Spieker Aquatics Complex. The Golden Bears emerged victorious in lopsided final scores for both the men’s and women’s meets. The story of the meet, however, was Cal revealing the addition of 2 Olympians to their men’s roster with just over a month before the ACC Championships. Lucas Henveaux made his return to Cal after helping the Golden Bears win the 2023 NCAA Championships, while France’s Mewen Tomac finally made his debut for Cal after he was set to join the team in the fall.
Henveaux was nothing short of exemplary in his return to the Golden Bears, ripping a 4:11.17 in the 500 free. Not only does that performance come in less than a second off Henveaux’s career best of 4:10.50, but he also set a new pool record in the process. Additionally, Henveaux’s swim marks the 4th-fastest performance in the NCAA this season.
Henveaux also popped a 1:32.14 in the 200 free today, winning that event as well. He was very consistent in the race, splitting 21.27, 23.12, 23.85, and 23.90 respectively by 50. Heanveaux also split 42.82 on Cal’s ‘C’ 400 free relay.
There was a 2nd pool record broken on the day, as Dare Rose clocked a 45.17 in the men’s 100 fly, breaking that record as well. That was a very strong performance for Rose, coming in well under a second off his career best of 44.46, which he swam at the NCAA Championships last March. Rose would go on to swim a 1:42.46 for 3rd in the men’s 200 fly.
Tomac was very good in his collegiate debut. He kicked things off with a 46.26 in the men’s 100 back, which was good for 2nd. It was teammate Destin Lasco who won the event in 46.06. Tomac then went 1:42.77 in the 200 back, which was 4th. Lasco also won that event, swimming a 1:39.21, while Gabriel Jett came in 2nd with a 1:39.56.
Tomac swam the 200 IM as well, taking 5th with a 1:47.66.
Prior to his 1:39 in the 200 back, Jett won the men’s 200 fly in 1:40.06, touching first by well over 2 seconds.
The men’s 100 breast saw a great race between USC freshman Chun Ho Chan and Cal freshman Yamato Okadome. Chan won the race in 51.72, touching out Okadome, who swam a 51.92. Okadome went on to win the men’s 200 breast by a huge margin, clocking a speedy 1:51.65.
Cal’s Matthew Chai was fantastic in the men’s 1000 free today, clocking a very quick 8:45.81. The race marks a career best for Chai by 6 seconds. He negative split the race, going 4:24.65 on the opening 500 yards, then split 4:21.16 on the back half of the race.
Cal’s sprint duo of Jack Alexy and Bjorn Seeliger were excellent today as well. Alexy won the men’s 100 free in 41.62, while Seeliger swam a 42.10 for 2nd. In the 50 free, Seeliger won in 18.86, winning the race by over a second.
Seeliger (20.75), Luca Gissendaner (23.47), Rose (19.84), and Alexy (18.34) teamed up to win the men’s 200 medley relay in 1:22.40. Matthew Jensen (42.75), Seeliger (41.91), Lasco (42.35), and Rose (43.32) combined to win the men’s 400 free relay in 2:50.33.
Cal freshman Mary-Ambre Moluh swept the women’s spring free events on the day, winning the women’s 50 free in 22.01, and the 100 free in 48.35.
The women’s 200 free was a phenomenal race. Cal’s Leah Polonsky won the race in 1:44.05, while USC’s Minna Abraham came in 2nd with a 1:44.19, and Cal’s Ava Chavez touched 3rd in 1:44.41. Polonsky held a slim lead throughout the race. Polonsky went on to win the women’s 200 IM as well, swimming a 1:56.68.
There was also a great race in the women’s 500 free, as USC’s Justina Kozan won in 4:42.58, touching out Chavez, who went 4:42.75. Kozan had expanded her lead to nearly 2 seconds in the middle of the race, but Chavez progressively closed the gap over the back half of the race, making it a very tight finish.
USC’s Claire Tuggle won the women’s 1000 free in 9:34.50, whole Cal’s Maya Geringer came in 2nd with a 9:35.98.
To no surprise, Cal’s Isabelle Stadden swept the backstroke events on the day. She clocked a great dual meet swim of 50.26 in the 100 back, before ripping an eye-popping 1:49.96 in the 200 back.
USC’s Kaitlyn Dobler swept the women’s breaststroke events on the day. She kicked things off with a 59.22 in the 100 breast, winning the race by over half a second. Dobler then went on to clock a 2:11.33 in the 200 breast, while teammate Ashley McMillan came in 2nd with a 2:11.33.
Moluh (48.63), Stadden (48.01), Morgan Brophy (49.13), and McKenna Stone (48.34) teamed up to win the women’s 400 free relay for Cal with a 3:14.11. The Cal 200 medley relay team of Stadden (23.34), Polonsky (26.53), Stone (23.07), and Moluh (21.36) combined for a 1:34.30, winning the race decisviely.
OTHER EVENT WINNERS
- Men’s 200 IM: Sanberk Yigit Oktar (USC) – 1:45.16
- Men’s 1-meter diving: Moritz Wesemann (USC) – 388.25
- Men’s 3-meter diving: Moritz Wesemann (USC) – 403.10
- Women’s 100 fly: Lizzy Cook (Cal) – 52.02
- Women’s 200 fly: Lilou Ressencourt (Cal) – 1:55.30
- Women’s 1-meter diving: Kate Miller (USC) – 303.60
- Women’s 3-meter diving: Kate Miller (USC) – 307.35
Here comes the crying.
Of all the surprises this year, I’m most (pleasantly) surprised by Henveaux’s return to Cal.
Rose was 44.90 in the 100 fly at the cal invite this past weekend
There used to be a rule that said that only athletes that were listed on the official roster were eligible. Neither of these gentlemen are listed on the online roster (which, again, used to be and may still be the official roster). Is this rule gone, or has Cal made a technical mistake? If so, are there any consequences?
I don’t think there are any rules anymore
Is the official roster synonymous with the online roster? I think your hinting at this, but I don’t think it’s necessarily the same. There’s probably a lag: official roster changes first, then online roster changes later.