The No. 5 California women's swimming & diving team is set for the 2026 NCAA Championships this week at the McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta, Georgia. The four-day meet, which is being held at the same site as this year's ACC Championships, begins Wednesday morning and wraps up Saturday evening. Prelims will start at 7 a.m. PT each day with the finals coming at 3 p.m. PT.
 
Last season the Golden Bears placed eighth as a team, their best finish since 2022, and produced 16 All-America times.
 
Meet Information
Wednesday, March 18 – Saturday, March 21
NCAA Championships
McAuley Aquatic Center | Atlanta, Georgia
Championship Central
Live Stream: ESPN+
Live Results: Meet Mobile
 
Schedule of Events
Wednesday, March 18
1,650 Free, 200 Medley Relay, 800 Free Relay

Thursday, March 19
100 Fly, 400 IM, 200 Free, 100 Breast, 1M Diving, 200 Free Relay

Friday, March 20
100 Back, 200 Breast, 500 Free, 50 Free, 3M Diving, 400 Medley Relay

Saturday, March 21
200 IM, 100 Free, 200 Fly, 200 Back, Platform Diving, 400 Free Relay

Cal's Qualifiers
The Bears will compete in all five relay events this week and have 14 individual qualifiers, including five swimmers who will compete in three different events.
 
Ava Chavez – 200 IM, 200 butterfly, 200 freestyle
Ella Cosgrove – 200 freestyle, 500 freestyle
Kathryn Hazle – 400 IM
Camille Henveaux – 500 freestyle
Abby Herscu – 200 breaststroke
Annie Jia – 100 butterfly, 200 butterfly
Alexa McDevitt – 400 IM
Mary-Ambre Moluh – 100 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 50 freestyle
Teagan O'Dell – 200 IM, 400 IM, 200 backstroke
Lilou Ressencourt – 100 butterfly, 200 butterfly
Elle Scott – 200 IM, 100 breaststroke
Silje Slyngstadli – 100 breaststroke
Claire Weinstein – 200 freestyle, 1,650 freestyle, 500 freestyle
Mia West – 200 IM, 200 freestyle, 100 backstroke
 
ACC Championships
Cal saw its highest finish at the ACC Championships in February, placing third with 1,027.5 points – a 163.5 point improvement from its fourth-place finish in its ACC Championship debut last season. The week on the campus of Georgia Tech was highlighted by sophomore Mia West's individual championship in the 200-yard butterfly and three school records. West's winning time of 1:51.52 was the fourth fastest in the country this season and No. 2 on Cal's all-time list.
 
The Bears got the week off to a blistering start, setting the school record in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:33.29. Sophomore Mary-Ambre Moluh broke her own school standard in the 100 backstroke (49.64) to place third and freshman Elle Scott also established a program benchmark in the 100 breaststroke, clocking 58.19 to place sixth.
 
The Bay > LA
Cal swept its two former conference foes down in Los Angeles on Jan. 16 and 17. The Bears defeated No. 11 USC 156-140 and UCLA 179-120 in a 24-hour period, winning 19 of the 32 events. Sophomore Mia West cracked two of the program's top-10 lists with the eighth-fastest 100-yard backstroke time (50.78) and the fourth-fastest 200 freestyle time (1:41.74). On the diving side, Ariana Drake finished first in the one-meter event against the Trojans with the fourth-highest score in program history at 289.50 and took second in the three meter at 292.20.
 
No Record Is Safe
In just four meets during the regular season the Bears recorded 14 top-10 times on Cal's all-time list. All 14 were recorded by underclassmen including four by Claire Weinstein, three by Teagan O'Dell and two by Silje Slyngstadli, who are all freshmen. West also collected four. 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 1,650-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, Hawai'i 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 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.
 
Stay Posted
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