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Thanks for linking the swimswam article as a preview for the upcoming season. It appears to be a close battle between Cal & ASU. GO BEARS!

Swim Swam article very comprehensive. Not mentioned was French sprinter Nans Mazellier's apparent decision to enroll as part of the 2024 entering class. Hopefully, both Peter Coetzee and Mazellier arrive in Sept. 2024 as they are the jewels of our 2024 class.

When will the top recruit from a couple of years ago be freed from his foreign miliary obligations to join Cal? Can someone knowledgeable about the situation please fill in the blanks and bring fans up-to-date on his situation.
GO BEARS!

Schroeder71 said:

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When will the top recruit from a couple of years ago be freed from his foreign miliary obligations to join Cal? Can someone knowledgeable about the situation please fill in the blanks and bring fans up-to-date on his situation.
GO BEARS!

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S71,

Zach Tan, the swimmer from Singapore is likely still serving his two year military service, and I understand his arrival in Berkeley is still somewhat unclear. I hope he is part of the fall 2024 incoming recruits, but it wouldn't surprise me if his plans or options have changed.

I don't know if Tan is still coming after his military service is up next year, but I wouldn't expect him to be a game changer either way. He was the #1 ranked recruit coming out of his sophomore year, but he hasn't improved much since then and wasn't even an honorable mention in SwimSwam's rerank. He improved slightly in his 200IM in Singapore but nothing that'll move the needle.

The one to watch is Mahabir, who needs to drop about half a second to get the Olympic A cut in the 100 breaststroke and delay his military service. He along with Yamato Okadome from Japan and Luca Battaglini from NC are the big players in the 2024 class. Hoping Nans Mazellier shows up this January to help out against ASU, but failing that he, Battaglini, and Coetze would make an incredible freshman sprint trio to ease the loss of Bell and maybe all of Seeliger, Bell, Lasco, and Jensen.

Will be interesting to see if Bell and Jensen change their event lineups this year; Jensen isn't mentioned under sprint free in the SwimSwam preview but if he can replicate a flat start 100 free commensurate with his relay split he could score a few points there. Dropping the 100 fly for the 50 free could also leave him fresh enough to score in the 100 breast.
Bell flamed out in the 200 breast (took way too few strokes) and given his surprise sub-19 50 (and the fact that it's his fifth year) I wonder if he might go for the 100 free instead. It may depend on how the freshmen perform-- Quarles, R. Jones, and Antoniou all have some potential but are far from sure things to even qualify.

I was a bit surprised when Nans Mazellier did not enroll this fall as he really isn't in position to focus solely on long course for the 2024 games, but I was told by a program insider that it was planned that Nans be part of the 2024 class all along.

Certainly Zach Tan is not the second coming of Quah Zheng Wen, but I would like to think he could be a potential NCAA scorer training under our staff after two years of military service. But I doubt he is being penciled in as a key piece of our 2024 recruit class.

Speaking of Matty J, you would think with his breast, fly and free speed he could swim the 200 IM as his third individual event. But his PB in the 100 Y back is from 2018, so I guess that's not in the cards.

It's always nice to have two or three freshmen score at NCAA's, and with Aaron Shackell and Keaton Jones we should have at least two. Roman Jones, Sam Quarles and Bert Najera will need to make significant time drops, that may not be easy in their first year adjusting to the academic demands at Berkeley.

For me, Nikolas Antoniou is a wild-card foreign sprinter. He doesn't come in with the pedigree of a Bjorn Seeliger or Pavel Sendyk, but his converted times certainly show he has potential.

Sorry but who is ' Matty J'?

OBear073akaSMFan said:

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Sorry but who is ' Matty J'?

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Matthew Jensen. He swam and qualified for NCAAs in the 100s of free, breast, and fly so 200IM definitely seems like a possibility. Harder to go up to 200 in distance than down to 50 as a senior, but it has been done before by guys like Giovanni Izzo at NC State and Austin Staab at furd

Good to know Mazellier isn't coming this year. I suppose it's conceivable that he could get on a 400 free relay behind Grousset, Manadou, Salvan etc. but probably would not be close to medal contention. 50 is a very long shot. Always sweat a bit when internationals defer a yearyou want them to get faster but not so fast they don't want to leave lol. NC State has missed out on at least three major Europeans that way