Bears To Face No. 3 Stanford, No. 18 Arizona State
The No. 5 California women’s swimming & diving team is back in the pool this weekend to take on No. 3 Stanford and No. 18 Arizona State in a two-day tri-meet. The first day of the meet, which includes the diving events, will take place at Stanford’s Avery Aquatic Center while day two will be the Golden Bears’ home opener at Spieker Aquatics Complex.
Meet Information
Friday, Oct. 24
Cal vs. Arizona State & Stanford | 2 P.M. PT | Avery Aquatic Center | Stanford, Calif.
Live Stream: ACCNX
Live Results: Meet Mobile
Saturday, Oct. 25
Cal vs. Arizona State & Stanford | 11 A.M. PT | Spieker Aquatics Complex | Berkeley, Calif.
Live Stream: ACCNX
Live Results: Meet Mobile
Last Time Out
Cal opened up the 2025-26 season with a first-place finish at UC San Diego’s Triton Invitational, defeating the third-ranked Cardinal, host Tritons, Hawaii, and UC Santa Barbara. Cal won 11 of the 15 events and led throughout the weekend finishing with 1,202 points – 303.5 more points than second-place Stanford. Freshman Silje Slyngstadli got her first collegiate season started with a bang winning both the 100-yard (1:00.01) and 200-yard breaststrokes (2:11.23) with times that automatically qualified her for the NCAA Championships. Freshman Claire Weinstein (4:37.14) etched her name into Cal lore recording the fifth-fastest time in program history in the 500-yard freestyle to win her first collegiate event. Freshman Teagan O’Dell won both the 400-yard IM (4:10.33) and the 200-yard backstroke (1:55.72), and the Bears won both relays on the weekend.
Returners
This season Cal returns a handful of difference makers like sophomore Mar-Ambre Moluh, a 2024 Paris Olympian for Team France, who etched her name into the program’s top 10 lists six different times as a freshman last year including the fastest 100 breaststroke time in Cal history at 49.68. Her countryman senior Lilou Ressencourt, also returns after a stellar 2025 in which she broke the top 10 in both the 100 and 200 butterfly. Abby Herscu will compete in her senior season and lead the breaststroke group after qualifying for the A Final at the 2025 NCAA Championships. She owns the third-best time by a Bear at 2:07.60.
New Faces
In addition to those familiar faces, a strong group of newcomers have joined the roster, including the top recruiting class the sport has ever seen. According to SwimSwam, Cal is bringing in three of the top five and five of the top 20 recruits in the country headlined by US National Team members Teagan O’Dell and Claire Weinstein, who are ranked second and third, respectively. O’Dell comes to Berkeley with times that would already qualify for the NCAA A final in the 200 IM, 200 backstroke and 200 freestyle, and holds the top times in her class in four different events. Weinstein is coming off of a silver-medal finish at the 2024 Paris Olympics as the first leg of the 800 freestyle relay team and has a diverse skill set being competitive in freestyle races of all distances.
Fifth-ranked recruit Annie Jia joins with impressive times in the 100 butterfly and 100 freestyle, and 12th-ranked Elle Scott comes as the fastest 100 breaststroker in the class. Ella Cosgrove, who is ranked 18th, shows promise in the 200 and 500 freestyle.
Coming in at No. 5
The Bears began the season with their highest preseason ranking since 2019 at No. 5 in the CSCAA poll.
2024-25 Recap
The Bears had their best season in three years, placing eighth at the 2025 NCAA Championships. Cal accrued 16 All-American certificates at the meet and set a school record in the 200-yard medley relay. Senior Leah Polonsky had a memorable meet with two top-five finishes, and her 38 total points scored was the third most by a Cal women’s swimmer at NCAAs in the past 10 years. In its first season competing in the ACC – arguably the top conference in the nation – Cal placed fourth in the team standings of the conference meet and produced five All-ACC performers. Senior Isabelle Stadden closed out a brilliant career with another strong season, including setting Spieker Aquatics Complex records in both the 100 backstroke and 200 backstroke.
Stay Posted
For more coverage of the Cal women’s swimming & diving team, please follow the Bears on X (@CalWSwim) and Instagram (@calwswim).
