Ranking the 2025 Women's NCAA Recruiting Classes: #1-4

OBear073akaSMFan said:

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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),

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Women's #8: California Golden Bears

Key Losses: Lea Polonsky (38 NCAA points, 4 NCAA relays), Isabelle Stadden (18 NCAA points, 4 NCAA relays), Maya Geringer (17 NCAA points), McKenna Stone (3 NCAA relays), Margaux McDonald (NCAA qualifier), Lizzy Cook (NCAA Qualifier)

Key Additions: #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), Gracyn Aquino (CA free/back), Airi Mitsui (Japan fly/IM), Silje Slyngstadli (Norway breast)


2024-25 Lookback

Last season saw Cal begin climbing the NCAA rankings, after earning their lowest finishes since 1996 in 2023 and 2024.

At the 2025 NCAA Championships, they jumped three spots to finish 8th overall after back-to-back 11th-place finishes. They brought in a total of 202.5 points, coming in just seven points behind 7th-place Louisville.

They also had their first season in the ACC, after claiming the last-ever Pac-12 Championship in 2024. At the ACC Championships, they finished 4th, behind Virginia, Stanford, and Louisville who all went on to beat the Golden Bears at NCAAs.


2025-26 Outlook

Cal had the top recruiting class for 2025, and they will be looking to make a massive jump in the NCAA rankings this season.

Mary-Ambre Moluh, Lilou Ressencourt, and Abigail Herscu will be huge in leading a very young team through the NCAA season as the only returning individual point scorers from last year's NCAAs.

Their Championship placement will rely a lot on a group of freshmen that, while young, have a lot of international experience under their belts. They don't have any NCAA experience, though, which can be a whole different beast. If the class is on, Cal could be a top-five team this year.

Weinstein could walk home with multiple NCAA titles as a freshman, and O'Dell is looking at 'A' finals swims across the board, which will be huge for point totals.

When it comes to their performance at the ACC Championships, Virginia and Stanford will still be a tough mountain to climb, but they have their sights set on Louisville and a 3rd place finish.

They still have some areas for improvement if they want to walk home with a title, and one of their toughest challenges is going to be determining event placements for some of their top swimmers.


2026 College Swimming Previews: Can #8 Cal Move Up To The Top Five With Loaded Freshman Class?

2025-26 Women's Swimming & Diving Roster - California Golden Bears Athletics

Here's an updated roster with freshmen class photos & completed bios, etc. Twenty-five swimmers and four divers are listed as members of the team.

NCAA Champions Texas and Virginia Top CSCAA Pre-Season Polls

The Virginia women are starting the season on top after leading every poll for the entire 2024-25 season.

The top four teams on the women's side remain exactly the same as the final poll from last season with Texas coming in 2nd, Stanford sitting 3rd and Tennessee in 4th.

The Cal women are ranked 5th after finishing 8th at the NCAA Championships and 8th in the final dual meet polls of last year, and the Indiana women sit in 9th after finishing 4th at NCAAs and 7th in the final poll.

On the men's side, the Longhorns will also retain their top spot, which they took over in November of last year from Cal.

Indiana will also stay in 2nd place, which is where they finished the poll last season, and ASU was voted 3rd overall, a jump from their 5th place ranking from March of last season and their 6th place finish at NCAAs.

Cal, who finished 2nd at last year's NCAA Championships and was 3rd in the final poll of last season currently sits tied with Florida in 4th after losing a majority of their top swimmers.

2026 College Swimming Previews: #2 Cal Men Aiming To Stay Near The Top Despite Major Losses

#2 California Golden Bears

Key Losses: Destin Lasco (48 NCAA Points, 4 NCAA Relays), Lucas Henveaux (48 NCAA Points, 1 NCAA Relay), Jack Alexy (42.5 NCAA Points, 4 NCAA Relays), Mewen Tomac (34 NCAA Points, 1 NCAA Relay), Gabriel Jett (32 NCAA Points, 1 NCAA Relay), Dare Rose (32 NCAA Points, 2 NCAA Relays), Bjorn Seeliger (14 NCAA Points, 3 NCAA Relays), Tyler Kopp (8 NCAA Points), Robin Hanson (4 NCAA Points), Frank Applebaum (2 NCAA Points), Matthew Jensen (1.5 NCAA Points, 2 NCAA Relays)

Key Additions: #16 Ryan Erisman (CA free), #19 Kenneth Barnicle (NJ free/back), HM Ian Platts-Mills (NC free/IM), BOTR Caiden Bowers (MD fly), BOTR Norvin Clontz (NC- free), Nathan Wiffen (Ireland free), Casper Puggaard (Denmark fly), Jack Brown (Great Britain fly), JD Thumann (OK free/fly/back), Martin Wrede (Germany free), Eduardo Moraes (Michigan transfer free)

2024-25 Lookback

Cal had an exceptional season last year, finishing 2nd at the Men's NCAA Championships after outscoring their psych sheet seed by nearly 200 points, coming within 20 points of the Longhorn men and locking up their 15th consecutive top-two finish with 471 points.

The Bears' NCAA team was led by fifth-years Destin Lasco and Lucas Henveaux, who both scored 48 points after 'A' finaling in all three of their individual events. They also had senior Jack Alexy bring in 42.5 points for the team, along with four relay swims for the Bears, including their NCAA record-setting 800 freestyle relay that became the first group to break 6:00 in the event.

Freshman Yamato Okadome was the highest point scorer who was not a graduating swimmer, bringing in 25 individual points with his 6th-place showing in the 200 breast and 7th-place finish in the 100 breast.

Fifth-years Mewen Tomac (34 points) and Dare Rose (32 points), and senior Gabriel Jett (32 points) were the other Bears to score more than 20 points at the meet.

Cal's first year in the ACC saw them finish with the Conference title, racking up 1271.5 points to come in ahead of Stanford's 1065. Jett led the individual points there with 86, followed closely by Henveaux at 85.5. Again, Okadome was the highest scoring swimmer outside of seniors and fifth years, bringing in 55 individual points in the 100 and 200 breast events

The Verdict

Cal has an uphill battle this year with most of their swimmers graduating after last season. Losing most of their relay swimmers and most of their individual point scorers would be hard for any team, but the pressure to perform is high for the Bears, who have finished in the top two at NCAAs every year since 2010.

More than any other team in the NCAA, Cal and Head Coach Dave Durden find a way to get it done when it matters most, whether that is huge midseason additions or developing their swimmers into superstars.

It is not clear if Cal will be able to maintain their streak this year, and they will heavily rely on performances from returners like Yamato Okadome and Keaton Jones, and the newcomers like Ryan Erisman if they want to stay in the top two for the 16th straight season.

While they only racked up half the available stars based on projected scoring, if any school will massively overperform, it's the Golden Bears.