Cal contingent at the US Olympic Swimming Trials

The Bears are hoping to thrive at one of the world's deepest and most competitive swim meets

credit: calbears.com

Thousands will converge on Lucas Oil Stadium mere hours from now, but there won’t be chants for Anthony Richardson or Jonathan Taylor. Most probably aren’t wondering if Laiatu Latu will become a stalwart of their team’s defensive future. Instead, they will walk through the stadium gates to find a 50-meter pool.

Swimming is one of the cruelest sports. 1007 swimmers qualified for the 2024 US Olympic Trials and fewer than 60 will be part of the contingent that travels to Paris. Only the top 2 finishers in every event except the 100- and 200-meter freestyles earn a roster spot (up to 6 swimmers in the two exceptions may get added to the team for relays).

Yet, despite the long odds for qualification, Cal has consistently been one of the most well-represented programs on the US Olympic roster and international teams. After the next 9 days of racing, we’ll know who among the Cal contingent will need a plane ticket to Paris.

Male

For the last 8 years, Ryan Murphy has been a mainstay on US international teams. While he is entered in the 100m butterfly event, Murphy built his reputation as one of the world’s premier backstrokers and will be looking to hold onto the top seed in both the 100m and 200m backstroke. But, before he has the chance to fight for the world’s backstroke throne, Murphy will have to fend off a handful of domestic threats in both backstroke races.

Destin Lasco, who qualified for his first international meet last summer, will be among the chasing pack, hoping to join Murphy in France. As the 2nd seed in the 200m backstroke, Lasco could become the 3rd different Cal swimmer to be Murphy’s racing partner-in-crime at the Olympics (Jacob Pebley in 2016, Bryce Mefford in 2021). But if not Lasco, Keaton Jones, the 7th seed who has already notched a personal best this year, could realistically contend for that spot with his time drops after a year’s worth of college strength and conditioning under his caps and goggles.

The rising swimming star last summer was Jack Alexy, who entered the 50m and 100m freestyle races as the 2nd and 1st seed, respectively. Alexy excelled filling a void last summer left by Caeleb Dressel on his mental break hiatus. However, in races that take less than a minute, the variance is too high to reasonably predict who might represent Team USA later this summer. Without going through all the names, there’s Dressel who holds multiple American records and is now racing again, Chris Guiliano who has made similar improvements as Alexy, Hunter Armstrong who never attended Cal but is currently training in Berkeley, Brooks Curry who is another non-student training partner, and Ryan Held who has consistently earned swims at international meets over the last 8 years. But, Alexy might be the best bet for the second Bear to end up on the squad.

While Alexy will have to contend with Dressel in the sprint freestyle, Dare Rose will do battle against Dressel (3) in the 100m butterfly., an event Rose won a bronze medal at the World Championships last year. But, as is the case in most events, the depth of American swimming is so strong that being a medallist the previous summer is no guarantee of any future success.

Even from current training partners alone, Rose will compete in the 100m butterfly against Gabriel Jett (8), Matthew Jensen (16), Samuel Quarles (66), and Colby Mefford (68). That doesn’t even include alumni such as Murphy (6), Trenton Julian (10), or Matt Josa (15). Nor does it include versatile veteran Shaine Casas (2) or rising teenage phenom Thomas Heilman (4).

At least among those who have trained at Cal, Jett and Julian are positioning themselves with the most opportunities to potentially qualify with entries into 4 events each. They will directly clash in 3 events, 100m butterfly, 200m butterfly, and 200m freestyle; but, both of their best shots for the team might be in the 200m butterfly where they are the 7th and 8th fastest American all-time. 3 (Heilman, Carson Foster, and Luca Urlando) of the 6 Americans faster than Jett and Julian will also be in the field, making their road to an Olympic team still a monumental challenge.

Liam Bell, the reigning NCAA Champion and American record holder in the 100y breaststroke, will aim to build upon his strong spring semester. While his swim style tends to be better suited for the short course format, Bell being part of a small crew to ever complete 100y breaststroke in under 50 seconds suggests he may still have something left in the tank in the 100m breaststroke where he is seeded 44th. While Bears are typically solitary creatures, Bell won’t be alone in the heats of the 100m breaststroke. He’ll be racing alongside Luke Rodarte (15), Jensen (20), Hank Rivers (24), Jacob Soderlund (41), and Sean Swift (59).

Female

On the women’s team, Abbey Weitzeil has consistently been a part of sprint freestyle relays for Team USA. She’s the 2nd seed in both of swimming’s shortest races, but she’ll have to fend off swimmers from the UVA dynasty such as Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh, and Maxine Parker. Weitzeil briefly overlapped with Isabel Ivey, who transferred as a graduate student to Florida. Based on seed times, Ivey appears to be on the outside looking in for qualification and her time improvements at Florida may not be enough to finish top two in her races.

With Cal’s reputation for developing backstrokers, Isabelle Stadden will be the Bears’ only opportunity for continuing the backstroke legacy as the 5th and 6th seed in the 100m and 200m backstroke, respectively. It’s a tough challenge as backstroke tends to be among Team USA’s deepest events. While Stadden is the current Cal queen of backstroke, her heir, Teagan O’Dell (high school graduating class of 2025), holds the 8 seed in the 100m and 200m backstroke.

One of the cooler stories in swimming this year was Rachel Klinker getting added to the World Championship roster just 3 weeks before the start of competition, dropping a personal best en route to 4th place in the 200m butterfly, and flying back to the Bay Area in time to help Cal beat Stanford in their final dual meet in the Pac-12. She’s entered in both 100m (44) and 200m (6) butterfly and the way to put a neat bow around her story this year would be to qualify for her first Olympic team after the rollercoaster of a February this year.

Despite Cal’s backstroke legacy, they have more swimmers entered in butterfly at this cycle’s Olympic Trials. There’s Cal commits Alex Shackell (5) and Annie Jia (22) in addition to current Cal Bears Lizzy Cook (25), Ava Chavez (32), Morgan Brophy (42), Mia Kragh (47), and Mia Motekaitis (72). The Cal women’s swim team may have had a couple of down years after a long streak in the top 3 at NCAA Championships, but they certainly have talent to build back up into the program they once were.

Part of the build back will come from the high school graduating class of 2025. Although she hasn’t officially enrolled yet, Shackell is a top-five seed in 3 (100m butterfly, 200m butterfly, 200m freestyle) of the 5 races (50m freestyle, 100m freestyle) she’s entered in. Her older brother (Aaron), who spent a semester at Cal before taking an Olympic redshirt and transferring to Texas, is also seeking his first Olympic berth in the butterfly races and mid-distance freestyle events. Additionally, Claire Weinstein has become one of the premier freestylers in the country even before entering college and will be part of a trio of freestylers aiming to contend with the legendary Katie Ledecky in the middle- and long-distance freestyle races.

Participants Summary

Alumni

Note: listed year for each athlete was the final year they competed for Cal

Ryan Murphy (‘18) - 100m backstroke (1), 200m backstroke (1), 100m butterfly (6)

Trenton Julian (‘22) - 100m butterfly (10), 200m butterfly (4), 200m freestyle (22) 200m individual medley (5)

Sean Grieshop (‘22) - 200m individual medley (70), 400m individual medley (11)

Abbey Weitzeil (‘20) - 50m freestyle (2), 100m freestyle (2)

Isabel Ivey (‘22) - 100m freestyle (21), 200m freestyle (14), 200m individual medley (8)

Matt Josa (‘18) - 100m butterfly (15)

Current

Note: listed year for each athlete was as of the NCAA Championships in March

Destin Lasco (Senior) - 100m backstroke (4), 200m backstroke (2), 100m freestyle (5), 200m individual medley (6)

Keaton Jones (Freshman) - 100m backstroke (19), 200m backstroke (7), 100m freestyle (44), 200m freestyle (35)

Jack Alexy (Junior) - 50m freestyle (2), 100m freestyle (1)

Dare Rose (Senior) - 100m butterfly (1), 200m butterfly (8)

Samuel Quarles (Freshman) - 100m butterfly (66)

Gabriel Jett (Junior) - 100m butterfly (8), 200m butterfly (13), 200m freestyle (17), 400m freestyle (14)

Liam Bell (5th Year) - 100m breaststroke (44)

Luke Rodarte (6th Year) - 100m breaststroke (15)

Hank Rivers (Sophomore) - 100m breaststroke (24), 200m breaststroke (31)

Matthew Jensen (Senior) - 50m freestyle (23), 100m freestyle (27), 100m butterfly (16), 100m breaststroke (20)

Sean Swift (Junior) - 100m breaststroke (59), 200m breaststroke (64), 200m individual medley (35)

Dylan Hawk (Senior) - 100m freestyle (70)

Colby Mefford (5th Year) - 200m freestyle (47), 100m butterfly (68), 200m butterfly (17),. 200m backstroke (33)

Evan Petty (Junior) - 100m backstroke (35)

Tyler Kopp (Senior) - 400m individual medley (40)

Jack Meehan (Senior) - 400m freestyle (52), 800m freestyle (24)

Humberto Najera (Freshman) - 200m backstroke (29), 200m individual medley (61), 400m individual medley (20)

Isabelle Stadden (Senior) - 100m backstroke (5), 200m backstroke (6)

Rachel Klinker (5th Year) - 100m butterfly, 200m butterfly

Lizzy Cook (Junior) - 100m butterfly (25)

Ava Chavez (Freshman) - 100m butterfly (32)

Morgan Brophy (Junior) - 100m butterfly (42)

Mia Kragh (Junior) - 100m butterfly (47)

Mia Motekaitis (5th Year) - 100m butterfly (72)

McKenna Stone (Junior) - 50m freestyle (61)

Alicia Henry (Junior) - 100m breaststroke (40)

Abby Herscu (Sophomore) - 100m breaststroke (56), 200m breaststroke (30)

Commits

Freddy Klein (HS ‘24) - 400m individual medley (64)

August Vetsch (HS ‘24) - 50m freestyle (76), 100m butterfly (33)

Alex Shackell (HS ‘25) - 100m butterfly (5), 200m butterfly (4), 50m freestyle (23), 100m freestyle (11), 200m freestyle (5)

Claire Weinstein (HS ‘25) - 100m freestyle (32), 200m freestyle (2), 400m freestyle (4), 800m freestyle (3), 1500m freestyle (4), 200m butterfly (47)

Teagan O’Dell (HS ‘25) - 100m backstroke (8), 200m backstroke (8)

Annie Jia (HS ‘25) - 100m butterfly (22)

Elle Scott (HS ‘25) - 100m breaststroke (25), 200m breaststroke (46), 200m individual medley (27)

Ian Platt-Mills (HS' ‘25) - 400m individual medley (36)

Norvin Clontz (HS ‘25) - 400m freestyle (22), 800m freestyle (23)

Kenneth Barnicle (HS ‘25) - 100m backstroke (76)

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Apologies to any who have trained at Cal that weren’t listed above, pouring through the 19-page psych sheets for any recognizable names was not the most pleasant experience. Write for California will be following along as those with clear ties to the Cal swim program earn their Olympic berths. For now, roll on you Bears. It’s time to make Lucas Oil Stadium Bear Territory.