2026 Swim Recruiting

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swimmer19
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3:53p, 10/2/24
Cal Men and Women have entered the verbal game for 2026 recruits.

Women's team welcomes Isabel Wolk from Chapel Hill, NC and NC Aquatic Club. A BOTR ranked recruit by SwimSwam, she specializes in sprint free and both IMs.

Men's team welcomes Aiden Hammer from Fox Island, WA and King Aquatic Club. Ranked #15 by SwimSwam, he's on the US National Junior Team and specializes in distance free.
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swimmer19
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9:53a, 10/13/24
And the beat goes on…

Local recruit and SwimSwam #5 ranked Kelsey Zhang from Saratoga/Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics is a Bear. Top 200 flyer in the class and is on the National Junior Team.
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PalyBear
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In reply to swimmer19 • 10:30a, 10/13/24
Fantastic news! Photos from her Insta. Particularly love the one with Baker


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swimmer19
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12:15p, 10/13/24
Huge day for the Bears.

Consensus top recruit Baylor Stanton is a Bear!!

Edit: and make that 2 top-10 verbals for the men - welcome to #10 ranked Albert Smelzer from Greensboro, NC! He announced his commitment the same time as Stanton.
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OBear073akaSMFan
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In reply to swimmer19 • 12:51p, 10/13/24
Terrific get from Stanford's territory. Love those!
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TheNastybear
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1:00p, 10/13/24
Schroeder71
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5:03p, 10/13/24
Baylor Stanton is rated #1 in the class of 2026 from the state of GA!
Cal Snaps Up Verbal Commitment from #1 in Class of 2026, NAG Record-holder Baylor Stanton
(swimswam.com)

Albert Smeltzer is rated #10
Albert Smelzer, #10 In Class Of 2026, Verbally Commits To Cal (swimswam.com)

Isabel Wolk is from North Carolina, too!
Isabel Wolk Heads To West Coast With 2026 Verbal To Cal - Swimming World News (swimmingworldmagazine.com)

Aidan Hammer, #15 in class of 2026 from the state of Washington
Aiden Hammer, #15 in Class of 2026, Announces Verbal Commitment to Cal Berkeley (swimswam.com)
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swimmer19
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7:00p, 10/14/24
Halle West posted her Cal commitment today. Younger sister of freshman Mia, Halle is on the Canadian Junior Team and excels in sprint free, breast and the 200 IM.
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HBear
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2:14p, 10/16/24
Tim Wu, #6 in the class, announced his commitment this morning. Welcome!

Tim Wu, #6 in Class of 2026, Becomes Cal's Fourth Top-20 Verbal Commitment
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Schroeder71
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7:45p, 10/16/24
Halle West is a potential star. Her older sister, Mia, age 18, was Cal's runner up to Isabelle Stadden (age 22) at the King & Queen of the Pool event on 9/20/24 in SLO.

Halle has been setting Canadian age records. Here's an article from this year (2024):
West swims to top of podium Winnipeg Free Press
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76BearsFly
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In reply to Schroeder71 • 5:24a, 10/18/24
Wow- Stanton and Smelzer!! What a great foundation for a great recruiting class. Thanks for the updates as I watch the Bears from afar.
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HBear
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8:47p, 10/19/24
Ava De Anda (SwimSwam #4 in 2026, #2 for CA and #14 from SwimCloud) announced her commitment on IG. Great class so far!

Charlotte Crush announced her commitment to Tennessee, so top 5 recruits are all now accounted for (two to TN, one to Indiana, and two to Cal).

Welcome to Ava and go Bears!
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OBear073akaSMFan
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In reply to HBear • 12:12a, 10/20/24
HBear said:
Charlotte Crush announced her commitment to Tennessee, so top 5 recruits are all now accounted for (two to TN, one to Indiana, and two to Cal).

Welcome to Ava and go Bears!
Glad Crush not going to UVA though until she signs on the dotted line things can change.
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Schroeder71
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10:57a, 10/20/24
Welcome, Ava!
California State Champ and #4 Recruit Ava De Anda Verbals to Cal for 2026-27
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swan
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6:45p, 10/29/24

SwimSwam (and Swimcloud) show that JD Thumann from Norman, OK has committed to the Bears. Thumann is SS's #13 ranked boy swimmer in the class of 2026. At this stage, it appears that young Thumann will be part of our free sprint and butterfly groups. JD is the the Bear's 5th recruit in the top 20 that appear in SwimSwam's "Way to Early Recruit Rankings" for the 2026 class.

https://swimswam.com/way-too-early-recruit-rankings-boys-high-school-class-of-2026/
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BearGoggles
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In reply to swimmer19 • 1:09a, 10/30/24
swimmer19 said:
Huge day for the Bears.

Consensus top recruit Baylor Stanton is a Bear!!

Edit: and make that 2 top-10 verbals for the men - welcome to #10 ranked Albert Smelzer from Greensboro, NC! He announced his commitment the same time as Stanton.

Seems like lots of recruits from traditional ACC country. Is this just a coincidence or is the move to the ACC opening new recruiting opportunities?

Separate question - on the whole how is Cal doing recruiting woman swimmers post-Mckeever?
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swan
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In reply to BearGoggles • 10:43p, 11/1/24
BearGoggles said:
swimmer19 said:
Huge day for the Bears.

Consensus top recruit Baylor Stanton is a Bear!!

Edit: and make that 2 top-10 verbals for the men - welcome to #10 ranked Albert Smelzer from Greensboro, NC! He announced his commitment the same time as Stanton.

Seems like lots of recruits from traditional ACC country. Is this just a coincidence or is the move to the ACC opening new recruiting opportunities?

Separate question - on the whole how is Cal doing recruiting woman swimmers post-Mckeever?
The top swimming schools (Cal, Texas, Florida, NC State, Indiana, Stanford) recruit nationally and internationally. Cal has multiple stars from the east coast, including current stars Destin Lasco (NJ), Dare Rose (NJ), Matt Jensen (Pa.), Jack Alexy (NJ) and Dare Rose (NJ). Other east coasters include freshmen Carter Lancaster (Fl.), Freddy Klein (NC), Roman Jones (NJ) and Lucca Battaglini (NC). Joining the ACC certainly won't hurt east coast recruiting.

Dave Durden and David Marsh have performed a recruiting phoenix act, in rescuing the program after the McKeever debacle. The 2024 is good, especially with late addition of a couple of international talents. The 2025 was set to return Cal to the top, but the recent decision by the 2025 class #1, Alex Shackell to "take a gap year, is seen by many the first step in decommiting from Cal to join her siblings at Texas. Regardless, if the rest of the 2025 verbal commits honor their verbals, Cal will be in the national championship discussion with Virginia and Stanford..
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76BearsFly
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In reply to swan • 12:12p, 11/7/24
Thanks for the link to Swim-Swam. Showed Stanton (1), Wu (6), Smelzer (10), Thumann (13) and Hammer (15). That is some great recruiting!!
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OBear073akaSMFan
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1:25a, 11/8/24
Cal has signed Halle West from Canada, sister of Mia West who is currently a freshman at CAL. Halle is #22 ranked on Swimcloud. Looks like she swims the breast and longer sprint events.

Article :https://swimswam.com/canadian-junior-national-teamer-halle-west-to-join-sister-mia-at-cal-in-2026/
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