swan said:

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swimmer19 said:

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Anyone know if JD Thumann is enrolling early? He's on campus with the other freshmen but I don't see his official NLI signing anywhere, unless I'm confusing him for another athlete that happens to be his long-lost identical twin.

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FWIW, JD is registered in the campus directory. Since classes start tomorrow, I am hoping the swim teams' rosters get posted so we can figure out who is in.

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Cal Commit JD Thumann Re-classifies from 2026 to 2025; Begins at Berkeley Today

"It is the first day of classes at the University of California, Berkeley, and JD Thumann is among the 14,500 freshmen on campus. That would not normally be worth a mention, but Thumann was originally a member of the high school class of 2026; he verbally committed to Cal in November 2024 and was not expected to suit up for the Golden Bears until next fall.

As recently as Monday, we ranked him among the top boys recruits in the class of 2026.

However, the Norman, Oklahoma native reclassified to 2025 and moved to California this summer to train at Berkeley. He is now part of a cohort of Cal newbies that includes Ryan Erisman, Kenneth Barnicle, Caiden Bowers, Norvin Clontz, Ian Platts-Mills, Casper Puggaard, Dar Lavrenko, Eduardo Moraes, Jack Brown, Julien Rousseau, Martin Wrede, Matteo Palmisani, Max Goettsch, and Nathan Wiffen.

...

Cal won the men's conference title at their first ACC Championships last February and went on to finish in 2nd place behind Texas at NCAAs. The squad was heavy in seniors / fifth-years (Jack Alexy, Destin Lasco, Dare Rose, Bjorn Seeliger, Gabriel Jett, Mewen Tomac, Matt Jensen, Samuel Quarles, Frank Applebaum, to name a few) last year so there will be many opportunities to step up.

It would seem that Thumann is up for the challenge."

As expected Cal's women 2025 recruits ranked #1 by Swimswam even with the loss of #1 Alex Shackell changing her committment to Indiana.


#1 Cal Golden Bears

• SwimSwam Ranked Recruits: #2 Teagan O'Dell (CA back/IM), #3 Claire Weinstein (NV free), #5 Annie Jia (PA fly/free), #12 Elle Scott (NC breast/IM), #18 Ella Cosgrove (AZ free), BOTR Alexa McDevitt (WA IM/free)
• The "Rest": Gracyn Aquino (CA free/back), Airi Mitsui (Japan fly/IM), Silje Slyngstadli (Norway breast),

This list is incredibly subjective and most schools could make a reasonable case for being ranked higher than they are. A lot of this list has been splitting hairs to determine what school ranks higher, and schools have changed positions numerous times through the writing and compiling of it. The only constant throughout the process? Cal's spot at the top.
Not only did the Golden Bears pick up the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 12th, and 18th ranked recruits for the class of 2025. They also got Japanese butterflyer Airi Mitsui and Norwegian breaststroker Silje Slyngstadli. No other team has more than three top-20 recruits. Cal has five.
They were supposed to be even better, with the top recruit for 2025, Alex Shackell, originally sending her verbal commitment to Cal. Despite her flipping to Indiana, so she could train part time at her club team, the Cal class remains at the number one spot, representing just how strong it is.
Teagan O'Dell is the highest ranked recruit coming in for Cal at #2. She holds the top times in the class in the 100 and 200 backstroke and the 200 and 400 IMs and she will walk into Berkeley with times that would qualify for the NCAA 'A' final in the 200 free (1:42.47), 200 back (1:49.16), and the 200 IM (1:52.61). She saw large improvements last year in all three of these events, and even dropped under 48 seconds in the 100 free, coming in at 47.74, which would have been 2nd on the team last year. Her 200 free is 1:42.27 which would have been 2nd to the graduated Lea Polonsky. Both will be huge for Cal's relays, especially with her 50 freestyle of 22.14 also being among the top four. O'Dell will realistically swim on four NCAA relays as a freshman, and could follow up those performances with three 'A' finals swims.
Olympic medalist Claire Weinstein sits at #3 in the class only because her distance orientation is slightly less impactful on relays. Weinstein is one of the broadest range freestylers we have ever seen, nearly making the World Championships team in the 100 free and the 1500 free in the same year. The 200 free is her long course wheelhouse, but she has the potential to sweep the 200, 500, and 1650 freestyle events over her four years in college. She beat the reigning champion in the 500 and 1650, Jillian Cox, head-to-head in both the 800 and 1500 freestyle at nationals and her lifetime best in the 500 of 4:29.38 is well under last season's winning time. She hasn't swum a terribly large number of SCY 1650s, only racing one a year, but her best time of 15:51.64 is still under the cutline and the top eight threshold. Her 100 free time of 47.95 also would have been one of the top times on the team last year, and will likely earn her a spot on the 400 freestyle relay.
Annie Jia is the #5 ranked recruit with best times of 50.35 in the 100 fly, 48.07 in the 100 free, and 1:45.79 in the 200 free (which could also end up on the 800 freestyle relay). Her 100 fly and 100 free times are both under the NCAA cutline with her 100 fly coming in as a potential 'A' finals swim. She has also been 22.05 in the 50 free, which sits just four hundredths over the NCAA cutline of 22.01. She is another swimmer who could end up on four relays for the Bears with her sprint freestyle and butterfly times.
They are also bringing in the fastest 100 breaststroker in the class, #12 Elle Scott. In February, Scott blasted a 100 breaststroke swim of 58.56 to make her the only swimmer in the class under 59 seconds, and put her just under three tenths from an NCAA 'A' finals swim in the event. This will make a huge impact on the medley relay that could be mostly freshmen. Scott is also a potential scorer in the 200 breast, where her 2:08.62 sits just outside of scoring range, and in the 200 IM, where her 1:56.25 is less than a second out of 16th.
Cal also adds #18 recruit Ella Cosgrove, who has times of 1:45.07 and 4:37.98 in the 200 and 500 freestyle. Her 500 freestyle is under the NCAA cutline in the event, and will put her in 'B' finals scoring position at 12th overall. Her 200 free sits just over the line of 1:44.74, but she has dropped about a second a season since 2021, and isn't showing signs of slowing.
They will add depth with BOTR recruit Alexa McDevitt, an IMer who comes in at 1:58.6 and 4:12.5 to join O'Dell in the IM group, and Gracyn Aquino, a sprint freestyler with times of 22.65 and 49.58.
Japan's Airi Mitsui and Norway's Silje Slyngstadli will round out the recruiting class. Mitsui is an Olympic semifinalist in the 200 butterfly, where her time of 2:08.71 finished 11th overall. Her lifetime best in the event of 2:06.54 from the Japanese Olympic Trials converts to 1:51.79 which would have tied for 4th last year.
Slyngstadli was 29th at this summer's World Championships in the 100 breaststroke with her swim of 1:08.31. Her best time comes from April of this year, and sits at 1:07.53 which converts to 59.83.
Cal might not be in contention for the title this year, but they seem geared to massively improve their 8th place finish. Give them a few years and they could be the team to beat in March.