The No. 7 California women's swimming & diving team begins the second half of its 2025-2026 season with a pair of dual meets in Los Angeles. The Golden Bears will face No. 11 USC on Friday before facing UCLA on Saturday.
 
The Trojans have shown out in their dual this season boasting a 6-1 record with their only loss coming against No. 9 Indiana. This will be the third dual of 2026 for USC as the team defeated both UC San Diego and UNLV in a double dual last Friday. The Bruins, who have fallen out of the top 25 but are receiving votes, have a 1-1-1 record in duals and are coming off their first win defeating Iowa last week.
 
Meet Information
Friday, January 16
No. 11 USC | Uytengsu Aquatics Center | Los Angeles, Calif.
1 p.m. PT
Live Stream: B1G+
Live Results: Meet Mobile
 
Saturday, January 17
UCLA | Spieker Aquatics Center | Los Angeles, Calif.
11 a.m. PT
Live Stream: TBA
Live Results: Meet Mobile
 
No Record Is Safe
In just four meets this season the Bears have recorded 12 top-10 times on Cal's all-time list. All 12 have been recorded by underclassmen including four by Claire Weinstein, three by Teagan O'Dell, and two by Silje Slyngstadli, who are all freshmen. Slyngstadli came the closest to breaking a program record, notching the second-fastest time in school history in the 100-yard breaststroke at 58.70.
 
Mid-Season Sweep
The Bears dominated their mid-season meet, the Minnesota Invitational, in early December, finishing first out of six teams and having the first-place finisher in every single A final. In total Cal won all 18 events and had 36 podium finishes. Freshman Claire Weinstein had a stellar weekend winning five events with six podium finishes. She posted the third-fastest time in Cal history in both the 1650-yard freestyle (15:52.28) and the 500-yard freestyle (4:34.81).
 
Season-Opening W
Cal opened up the 2025-26 season with a first-place finish at UC San Diego's Triton Invitational, defeating the third-ranked Cardinal, host Tritons, Hawaii and UC Santa Barbara. Cal won 11 of the 15 events and led throughout the weekend finishing with 1,202 points - 303.5 more points than second-place Stanford. Freshman Silje Slyngstadli got her first collegiate season started in stellar fashion, winning both the 100-yard (1:00.01) and 200-yard breaststrokes (2:11.23) with times that automatically qualified her for the NCAA Championships. Freshman Claire Weinstein (4:37.14) etched her name into Cal lore, recording the fifth-fastest time in program history in the 500-yard freestyle to win her first collegiate event. Freshman Teagan O'Dell won both the 400 IM (4:10.33) and the 200 backstroke (1:55.72), and the Bears won both relays on the weekend.
 
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. Compatriot Lilou Ressencourt, a senior, also returns after a stellar 2025 in which she broke into 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.
 
2024-25 Recap
The Bears had their best season in three years, placing eighth at the 2025 NCAA Championships. Cal accrued 16 All-American certificates at the meet and set a school record in the 200-yard medley relay. Senior Leah Polonsky had a memorable meet with two top-five finishes, and her 38 total points scored was the third most by a Cal women's swimmer at NCAAs in the past 10 years. In its first season competing in the ACC - arguably the top conference in the nation - Cal placed fourth in the team standings of the conference meet and produced five All-ACC performers. Senior Isabelle Stadden closed out a brilliant career with another strong season, including setting Spieker Aquatics Complex records in both the 100 backstroke and 200 backstroke.
 
Stay Posted
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