Women's team with a significant impact midyear addition: Alexandra Bastone from Harvard will join the team in January.
2026 Ivy League champion in the 500 free and 2x NCAA qualifier in 2025/2026, brings in best times of 1:45.99/4:38.75/15:59.70 in the 200/500/mile and will fit right in with Yanchulis/Geringer's distance group. Both her 500/1650 are NCAA scoring times.
She could have 2 years of eligibility left based on the 5-5 rule (per swimswam).
Rylee Erisman is living up to the hype tenfold, and Camille Henveaux has stepped up in a big way in the absence of Claire Weinstein, and the CSL has been a solid showing for the Cal women. T.F.
Cal has some serious weapons. Ryan Erisman has been phenomenal in the first part of the season. Yamato Okadome is looking to sweep both breaststroke events at NCAAs again this year, and Michel Arkhangelskiy has also been fast in his Golden Bear openings. All eyes will be on them to see how they swim at midseason invites and if they can move back up the rankings.
Ryan Erisman Moves to No. 5 All-Time American in 800 Freestyle
Kicking off the US SCM World Trials last night, Ryan Erisman dominated the 4-man field of the 800 Free, touching 10 seconds ahead of the field in 7:34.84. After the race, Erisman was already looking ahead to Beijing, saying it's very important to him that he gets race reps against the world's best in the lead-up to LA28.
Former Cal teammates Destin Lascoand Gabriel Jettfaced off during heat one of prelims in the men's 200 backstroke this morning. They were both racing the event SCM for the first time but that proved to be no issue for them and they found themselves as the top two qualifiers for tonight's final.
Lasco flipped at the final turn first but Jett pushed the final underwater which helped him secure the win in 1:47.75 to Lasco's 1:47.94. The two are now the fastest swimmers in the world this season and rank in the top 15 fastest performers all-time.
WOMEN'S 400 FREESTYLE - Final
Cal Golden Bear teammates Claire Weinsteinand Rylee Erismanwent head-to-head for the majority of the race. The two teenagers quickly separated themselves from the field: it was clear the win was coming from either lane four or lane five, but with a tenth of a second separating them over the final 100 meters, the win was very much up for grabs. Weinstein had the extra edge over the final meters of the race and hit the wall first in 4:00.18 to Erisman's 4:00.25.
MEN'S 50 FREESTYLE - Final
Jack Alexysnagged second place in 20.59, two-hundredths of a second behind Dressel. He also improved on his time from this morning (20.66) as he maintains his rankings as the sixth-fastest man in the world this season.
Claire Weinstein wasn't sure she was going to be back to an elite swimmer for the USA Swimming Short Course World Championship trials. She wasn't sure she would ever be back to elite status.
Weinstein battled viral meningitis for most of 2026. It took a complete toll both physically and mentally on the NCAA champion and Olympian.
But Weinstein felt healthy enough to give it a go in Westmont.
Weinstein ended up winning the 400 freestyle to qualify for the world championships in Beijing.
"It has been super rough. Viral meningitis is a really serious illness. I have downplayed it a lot when I explained it to people, but it was super, super rough," Weinstein said. "Honestly there was a time when didn't think I would be able to be a high-level athlete or be racing again. "I am thankful that I could get some race reps in and do it in a healthy way, not a way that would send me backwards in this long journey I've been through."
Viral meningitis is an inflammation of the meninges specifically caused by a viral infection. The meninges are the areas surrounding the brain and spinal cord.
The journey was agonizing for the Cal and Sandpipers swimmer. While it took a toll physically, the mental toll was just as tough.
"I definitely came out of it with a new perspective. I'll never take for granted being healthy enough to train and push my body athletically. It was a really unfortunate scenario. It wiped out my summer of training," Claire Weinstein said. "I have known the past couple weeks that I needed to get back into racing. But it has been a hard balance. As I got healthy, I was trying to measure what my body could take and whether it was sending be backwards in health. I was super nervous to get back because I haven't raced in so long. I thought this was going to be a good meet a low-pressure meet. I know it sounds funny that a worlds qualifying meet is low pressure, but I came in with no expectations. I didn't think a college meet was the best to be the first one back because they are so high energy and tough on the nervous system."
Weinstein won the race in 4:00.18, holding off Rylee Erisman (4:00.25). The two were pretty much stroke-for-stroke the entire race.
"It is hard. Yes, I got the win, but it is not a time I am proud of. But I am proud of the progress I made, she said. "I am trying to get healthy and see what my body can handle again." Weinstein and her coaches have been watching everything closely to make sure they are doing what is best for her body at this point.
"I am not completely out of the woods yet, but hopefully I can move forward and get back into racing and being in the flow of being an elite athlete again," she said. "I just want to manage the toll it takes on my nervous system."
Her victory wasn't painless, but it was the first step toward bigger goals as Weinstein builds back into her Olympic form.
There was some shifting on the women's side with Texas, Indiana, Michigan, Cal, and Louisville all moving up as Stanford dropped from #2 in the preseason polls to tied for #8 after the first month of the season.
Texas jumped up to 2nd while Indiana moved up to 3rd after ranking 5th behind Tennessee in the pre-season poll. Tennessee will stay in 4th while Michigan moved up to 5th, Cal moved to 6th, and Louisville moved up to 7th.
Men
The Cal men jumped up a spot to tie for 3rd with Florida in the rankings, and Arizona State also moved up to 5th overall, passing Tennessee, who dropped to 6th.
MEN'S 400 IM Erisman took 2nd in 4:02.28, more than a second ahead of Cakir's 4:03.62 in 3rd.
MEN'S 1500 FREESTYLE Just 30 minutes after the men's 400 IM final, Ryan Erisman was back in the water for one of the other debated "hardest" events in swimming. He earned the win and the opportunity to swim the event in Beijing, stopping the clock in 14:51.71 after negative splitting the race 7:31.72/7:19.99 to finish about five seconds ahead of Luke Brennan.
WOMEN'S 200 FREESTYLE Erisman took 2nd in 1:51.96 after splitting 28.63 on the final 50 to move past Simone Manuel.
MEN'S 100 FREESTYLE In a mind-boggling race, Jack Alexy dominated the men's 100 freestyle, setting a monster new world record time of 44.64, Alexy came home quick as well, splitting 23.39, four tenths faster than Guiliano's 23.76 to drop four tenths from his former best and destroy the world record.
Jack Alexy set a new world record in the men's 100 freestyle to earn a Priority 1 designation for the 2026 SC World Championships.
Liberty Clark won the women's 200 freestyle in American record fashion, stopping the clock in 1:51.31. She finished just ahead of Rylee Erisman's 1:51.96 for 2nd. Both women will lock up spots at the SC World Championships. In the men's 100 freestyle, Jack Alexy set a massive new world record time of 44.64, taking two tenths off the former world record and punching his ticket to Beijing.
Scroll up to Weinstein's photo in the middle of this page. There's an interview with her (by Swimswam ?) that even discloses her "meningitis battle" in the article's headline.
MEN'S 200 IM Lasco swam 32.65 on the breaststroke and 27.01 on the freestyle to touch 2nd in 1:50.59 to become the 3rd fastest performer in the world this year.
Women's 800 FREE Claire Weinstein is still coming back from her illness this summer, but she still won the women's 800 freestyle by about 5 seconds, coming in under the AQUA 'A' cut with her 8:25.15 final time. She split 4:11.57/4:13.58 to be the fastest in the field on both 400s
MEN'S 200 FREE Gabriel Jett took 3rd, splitting 23.49/25.24/26.15/25.70 to touch in 1:40.58, about half-a-second ahead of Jack Alexy's 1:41.05. Alexy started the race in the lead, splitting 22.84/25.59 to turn in 1st after the 100. He came home in 26.42/26.20 to fall back to 4th. 5th - Brooks Curry (CAL)
WOMEN'S 100 FREE Rylee Erismanfinished 4th in 51.22 after splitting 24.67/26.55. (Note: World Junio Record?)
Claire Weinstein claimed two victories and earned a spot to go to the short course world championships, but gave up those spots on Saturday.
Weinstein made the announcement on her on-deck interview that she will skip the 2026 World Short Course Championships to remain at Cal and continue to get healthy.
Claire Weinstein missed half of the year with viral meningitis and is still not 100% healthy from that bout. Viral meningitis is an inflammation of the meninges specifically caused by a viral infection. The meninges are the areas surrounding the brain and spinal cord.
She finished the 2026 USA Swimming Short Course World Championship Trials with a win in the 800 free (8:25.15).
"It has been super rough. Viral meningitis is a really serious illness. I have downplayed it a lot when I explained it to people, but it was super, super rough," Claire Weinstein said. "Honestly there was a time when didn't think I would be able to be a high-level athlete or be racing again.
"I am thankful that I could get some race reps in and do it in a healthy way, not a way that would send me backwards in this long journey I've been through."
The 2026 U.S. Short Course World Championship Trials are officially over, and we have the official rosters for the 2026 SC World Championships in Beijing.
The women's roster came out at 16 athletes total afterClaire Weinsteindeclined her spot to focus on training and recovery following the meningitis she dealt with over the summer.
Women's Roster
Rylee Erisman (200 free, 400 free, 4x100 free relay)
Men's Roster
Jack Alexy(50 free, 100 free, 4x200 freestyle relay)
Gabriel Jett flexed his versatility at the SCM Trials this week in Westmont. Usually known for swimming the 200 Fly and 200 Free in LCM, Jett made the USA roster in a completely different event. He started the meet by winning the 200 Back and then placed 5th in the 100 Free, throwing his name in the hat to get a spot on the 4x100 Free relay. Jett said that coming into this meet, he felt pretty low pressure and therefore was able to have fun with his lineup, which seemed to work for the Cal Bear.
The women's 100 free in Westmont was dominated by Kate Douglass and her stellar world-record-breaking 49.64, which was nearly a third of a second faster than her former all-time mark of 49.93.
However, the 4th-place performer in that event final, 17-year-old Rylee Erisman, delivered the fastest performance ever by a junior swimmer, clocking a career-best time of 51.22.
That time moved her ahead of Kayla Sanchez of Canada, who previously held the record for nearly eight full years with a time of 51.45, set at the Swim England Winter Championships in December of 2018.
Erisman nearly took down the World Junior Record in the prelims with a 51.48, which earned her the #2 seed heading into a loaded event final.
Her efforts in Westmont also included a 2nd-place finish in both the 200 free and 400 free in 1:51.96 and 4:00.25, respectively, earning her a spot on the US World Short Course Championship team for December in Beijing.
Erisman delivered these big-time swims while still in season at Cal, where she has made an immediate impact as a freshman. Earlier this season, she raced for Cal at the 5th College Swimming League match, where she picked up 38 points for Cal and delivered a lifetime best in the 200 backstroke in 1:48.74, which also jackpotted two swimmers in the final. She also picked up 2nd place finishes in the 50 and 100 free in 21.66 and 46.69.
Her swim in Westmont now ranks her the 6th-fastest performer in the world this season, behind powerhouse freestylers Douglass, Gretchen Walsh, Marrit Steenbergen, Liberty Clark, and Siobhan Haughey, the only five swimmers this season to dip under the 51-second barrier.
After what seemed like a successful week of racing in Westmont, SwimSwam spoke with Claire Weinstein, who won the 400 and 800 freestyles. Weinstein didn't end her summer on a high note, having to withdraw from Pan Pacific Champs after contracting viral meningitis.
Weinstein explained where she was in the process of recovery, saying she was eager to return to racing but also noting that she's "not completely out of the woods yet", referring to her health. The Cal Bear's results qualified her for a spot on the World Champs team headed to Beijing, but given her current health status, she declined that spot.
