ATLANTA – The No. 5 California women's swimming & diving team saw four individuals qualify for finals on day two of the 2026 NCAA Championships at McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta, Georgia. The Golden Bears climbed from 7th place into 5th with 133 points after earning five First Team All-America times Thursday.
 
Cal had 11 different competitors in its first morning prelims of the week, which began with the 100-yard butterfly event. Freshman Annie Jia (50.77) used the eighth-fastest time in program history to earn the final spot in her first individual collegiate final. Lilou Ressencourt (51.30) earned Second Team All-America status in her final NCAA Championships by placing 14th in the field of 45.
 
Eighth-seeded Jia looked like anything but the final competitor to make it to the evening session as she recorded a time of 50.34, the fourth-fastest by a Bear, to take fifth place and earn First Team All-America status.
 
Freshman Teagan O'Dell qualified for her first individual final touching the wall at 4:01.78 in the 400 IM, which was the second-fastest time in Cal history for about eight hours, before she returned to pool later in the evening and posted a 3:59.43 to take third place. It was just the second sub-four minute time ever recorded by a Bear and just 1.55 seconds off Caitlin Leverenz's record from 2012.
 
O'Dell is now a two-time First Team All-American and bronze medalist having placed third in the 800 freestyle relay last night.
 
Mia West and Claire Weinstein both moved up on Cal's all-time 200 freestyle list in the prelims and punched their tickets to the final with West collecting the Bears' fourth-fastest time at 1:41.57 and Weinstein finishing 0.02 seconds behind her for the fifth-fastest mark. West (1:42.00) and Weinstein (1:42.59) went on to take seventh and eighth in the final to add another First Team All-America honor to their resumes.
 
The finals ended with the Bears picking up some key points in the 200 freestyle relay. The quartet of Mary-Ambre Moluh, West, O'Dell, and Griscavage clocked a 1:26.10, Cal's fourth-fastest time, to place fifth.
 
Alexa McDevitt (4:08.27) finished 21st in the 400 IM followed by Kathryn Hazle (4:10.74) in 27th. Ava Chavez (1:43.73) came in 19th in the 200 freestyle with Ella Cosgrove (1:43.99) right behind her in 24th and freshmen Elle Scott (59.08) and Silje Slyngstadli (59.08) finished 18th and 20^th in the 100 breaststroke.
 
The meet continues tomorrow with the 100 backstroke, 200 breast, 500 freestyle, 50 freestyle, three-meter diving and 400 medley relay taking place. Ten different Bears will be competing in the prelims which begin at 7 a.m. PT with the finals following later at 3 p.m. PT on ESPN+.