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.

2025-26 NCAA Women's Power Rankings: Early-Season Edition

#5. Indiana -1 (2025 NCAA Rank: 4)

#4. Cal +4 (2025 NCAA Rank: 8)
Cal's freshman class is exceptional and will bolster an already improving program that finished 8th at last year's NCAAs. They also didn't lose an exceptionally large number of seniors and many of their gaps will be filled this year. - M.F.

#3. Texas -- (2025 NCAA Rank: 3)

#2. Stanford -- (2025 NCAA Rank: 2)

#1. Virginia -- (2025 NCAA Rank: 1)

Claire Weinstein Makes College Debut as Cal Leads Stanford at Triton Invitational


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Cal Leads After Day 1 Of Triton Invitational

Bears Record 4 First-Place Finishes

LA JOLLA, Calif. - The California women's swimming & diving team finished day one of the season-opening Triton Invitational with the lead after winning four of the six events. The Golden Bears (481) pace the five-team meet followed by Stanford (368) in second, UC San Diego (271.5) in third, Hawai'i (243.5) in fourth, and UC Santa Barbara (158) in fifth.

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Bears Take Commanding Lead At Triton Invitational

LA JOLLA - The No. 4 men's swimming & diving team opened the 2025-26 campaign with a dominating performance on the first day of the Triton Invitational, hosted by UC San Diego, on Friday at Canyonview Aquatic Center in La Jolla.

The Golden Bears totaled four wins through six events, scoring 580 points, to lead all teams after the first day of the meet.

Standings through six events:

Cal (580)

Hawaii (278.5)

Santa Barbara (256.5)

San Diego (241)

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swimmer19 said:

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Encouraging to see some of the freshmen (Alexa McDevitt, Ryan Erisman) swim PBs in their primary eventsming.. ..

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aha, ha, i did it! never a competitive swimmer, yet cracked the secret code PB.
nope, it's not peanut butter, but even better [clue]. seriously though, congrats!
signed, LL (land lubber)

Even better than better.

> You rang?

always greatful for stuff gifted by site staff, tnx again PearBear, and all the best to you and yours.

2025-26 NCAA Men's Power Rankings: October Edition


5. California -3 (2025 NCAA Rank: 2)
Cal faces a challenge this year with most of their swimmers graduating after last season. Losing the bulk of their relay swimmers and 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. They will heavily rely on performances from returners like Yamato Okadome and Keaton Jones, and newcomers like Ryan Erisman if they want to stay in the top two for the 16th straight season. S.G.

4. Arizona State +2 (2025 NCAA Rank: 6)
3. Florida +1 (2025 NCAA Rank: 4)
2. Indiana +1 (2025 NCAA Rank: 3)
1. Texas -- (2025 NCAA Rank: 1)

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No. 5 Cal Set For First Tri-Meet

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

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.


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No. 4 Cal Returns To Pool For Tri-Meet

The No. 4 California men's swimming & diving team will return to the pool in the star-studded two-day tri-meet against No. 3 Arizona State and No. 8 Stanford beginning Friday. Cal divers Jack Clark, Scott Garman, Joshua Thai and Geoffrey Vavitsas will make their season debut at the event.

The opening day of the double dual will be hosted by the Cardinal at the Avery Aquatic Center in Stanford, beginning at 2 p.m. PT, with the second day taking place at the home of the Golden Bears at Spieker Aquatics Complex starting at 11 a.m. PT on Saturday. All diving sessions will take place at Stanford during the two-day meet.

KEY RETURNERS
Cal returns 27 student-athletes from a season ago, eight of whom competed at the 2025 NCAA Championships, including Keaton Jones, Nans Mazellier, Humberto Najera, Yamato Okadome, Evan Petty, Hank Rivers, Joshua Thai and Geoffrey Vavitsas.

NEW BEARS IN TOWN
The Bears welcome the fifth-ranked recruiting class of 2025, according to SwimSwam, featuring 14 freshmen. Ryan Erisman leads the pack as the No. 16-ranked recruit, followed by No. 19 Kenny Barnicle. A trio of standout international prospects include Casper Pugaard, Jack Brown and Martin Wrede. Irish swimmer Nathan Wiffen, a two-time finalist at the European Aquatic Championships over the summer and the twin brother of Olympic champion Daniel Wiffen, will join the Bears for the 2025-26 season.


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Anyone know the scores for today's swim meets?

HateRed said:

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Anyone know the scores for today's swim meets?

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No score but some results here

https://swimswam.com/2025-asu-vs-cal-vs-stanford-session-1-live-updates/

Got it. Thanks.

Scores from day 1

Women

• #2 Stanford 122.5 #4 Cal 73.5
• #2 Stanford 139 ASU 57
• #4 Cal 132 ASU 66

Men

• #4 ASU 106 #5 Cal 90
• #4 ASU 106 #11 Stanford 90
• #11 Stanford 125 #5 Cal 73

Rebuilding season for the men? I know the men usually start slow and build up to the NCAA 'ship but this team is extremely young. I'm use to seeing the 5th yr or seniors leadership on this team.

Cal started Day 2 with a win in the women's 800 and Okadome winning the men's 200 br. Okadome was the lone winner for Calmen on day

800 relay summary per swimswam

Quote:

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Stanford led off with Torri Huske who was locked in a battle with Cal's Mia West through the first 100. West turned first at 49.47 with Huske just behind at 49.67 for the first 100.
As the 3rd 50 progressed, Huske surged ahead, building a nearly one second lead by the end, touching in 1:43.00 to West's 1:43.83. Huske's time would have been the 5th fastest time in the country before this weekend.
Kayla Wilson swam 2nd for Stanford, and Claire Weinstein took over for the Golden Bears. By the 100 mark, Weinstein had made up the difference. She continued to build the lead form there, splitting 1:42.90 to give Cal the lead by about a second over Stanford with Wilson splitting 1:44.26 .
Teagan O'Dell swam the 3rd leg for Cal against Stanford's Caroline Bricker. O'Dell was out hard, splitting 50.68 on her first 100, to build a strong lead. Bricker began coming back hard, but O'Dell had an excellent final 50 of 26.37 to split 1:43.30 and give Cal a commanding lead going into the final 200. Bricker split 1:44.13 for Stanford.
Ella Cosgrove anchored the relay for the Bears in 1:45.15 to touchin 6:55.18, winning the event by more than two seconds. Stanford's Annam Olasawere swam 1:46.30 on the anchor leg to bring the Cardinal home in 6:57.69

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I watched both day's swim meets. I enjoyed my observations of the women's team even though they got beat by Stanford. I was stunned at how non-competitive the men's team was against ASU & Furd. The men had only three strong swimmers in soph Okadomo (breast), frosh Puggaard (butterfly) & frosh Erisman (IM & freestyle).

The women had too many strong competitors to list, but I would speculate 15 or 16. The Japanese junior transfer, Airi Mitsui, DNP in either butterfly event. Is she on the team?

Tri-Meet Final Results (PDF) - California Golden Bears Athletics

Women should move up from 5th in the national rankings, but the men should not be ranked (IMO) based upon the performances that I saw.

GO BEARS!

OB73-I'm certainly not an expert either. Swimming was not one of my competitive sports. However, I have followed Cal's phenomenal men's & women's teams over the years. Both teams are young and will likely to continue to improve over the next couple of seasons. GO BEARS!