Cal Winter Sports at NCAA Championships recaps
A pair of team runner-ups by Cal Women's Gymnastics and Cal Men's Swimming and Diving led the way
I don’t know if anyone would consider Write for California the Cal Blog of Record, yet I have been feeling somewhat guilty about not yet writing about how the Cal Bears fared in the NCAA Championships this winter. So here is that post.
Cal Women’s Gymnastics - NCAA Runner-ups
The most incredible (thus far) season for Cal Women’s Gymnastics came to an end last Saturday at the NCAA Championships. Golden Bears became one of the “Four on the Floor” teams for the first time in history, and they did not disappoint on the biggest stage for the sport and national TV.
California Golden Bears kept the pressure on the LSU Tigers down to the last routine. LSU, who had an early major mistake in that final rotation, did rise to the occasion and absolutely nailed those clutch routines. Cal Bears also had to overcome a mistake to open the final rotation on the uneven bars. Cal hit on all five subsequent routines under duress to claim the program’s highest finish ever.
https://twitter.com/CalWGym/status/1783191197525422413
Under the biggest spotlight of the sport, Cal superstar sophomore eMjae Frazier tied LSU’s Haleigh Bryant for the top all-around score. Byrant had been crowned the season’s NCAA all-around champion in the semifinal when she finished ahead of Cal Mya Lauzon and others. You can see all of eMjae’s routines below.
Cal started solidly on the balance beam. On their second rotation on floor exercise, Bears did have to drop a mistake from the always reliable freshman Kyen Mayhew. Watching from home, it sure felt like Andi Li, Mya Lauzon, and eMjae Frazier should have gotten 0.025 more points each for their clutch hit routines to keep the Bears in the chase.
A very strong vault rotation kept Cal just behind LSU and Utah going to the final rotation. Utah immediately succumbed to the pressure by not hitting their first two vaults. Cal also had some issues in their opening routine by Mya Lauzon in her worst event, but the rest of the Cal Bears were able to land hit after hit to keep their championship hope alive.
LSU won their first NCAA team championship, only the 8th program to win the title, behind a record beam rotation. LSU edged Cal 198.225 to 197.85. Cal finished just ahead of Pac-12 foe Utah (197.80) and Florida (197.4375).
If you missed the meet, the full replay is available on YouTube.
Ultimately, this 2024 NCAA Championships was a great learning experience for this Cal Women’s Gymnastics program, who has one more step to go in its “one day better” mission. Cal will graduate Andi Li and Gabby Perea. Li is arguably the best gymnast to graduate from the program, at least until Mya Lauzon takes over that title next year and eMjae Frazier the year after that.
Cal will also bring in another great class, led by likely Great Britain Paris 2024 Olympian (it won’t be announced until June) and recently crowned British champion Ondine Achampong. One can also easily see the current Cal Bears taking up bigger roles next year. It is easy to see Cal returning to the NCAA Championship final again and possibly be one precious place better in 2025.
Cal Men’s Swimming and Diving - NCAA Runner-ups (team), four NCAA individual championship titles
Coming off back-to-back NCAA team championships, Cal Men’s Swimming and Diving fell just short of a three-peat, but continued the streak of a top-2 finish to 14 years and counting. Arizona State claimed their 1st NCAA title, beating Cal 523.5 to 444.5.
https://twitter.com/calmenswim/status/1774251833877237791
Interestingly, Cal won the team title in 2023 while only winning one individual title. Golden Bears had more individual successes this year.
NCAA Champion: 800y Free Relay - Gabriel Jett, Destin Lasco, Jack Alexy, Robin Hanson (6:02.26, NCAA record)
Cal surprised everyone by not only winning the second event, the 800y Free Relay, but also breaking the NCAA record. Lasco’s split of 1:29.60 led the Cal quartet but both Jett and Alexy also swam splits of 1:30ish. Swedish Calympian Robin Hanson brought it home with a solid anchor swim.
NCAA Champion: 200y Individual Medley - Destin Lasco (1:37.91, American Record)
With ASU and French superstar Leon Marchand opting to swim the 500y Free instead on day 2, Cal’s Destin Lasco took advantage and set a new American record.
NCAA Champion: 100y Breaststroke - Liam Bell (49.53, NCAA record)
In an Olympic year, one does expect every win to be record breaking. Cal 5th year Liam Bell broke the record for his 100y Breaststroke wire-to-wire victory.
NCA Champion: 200y Backstroke - Destin Lasco (1:35.37, NCAA Record)
Destin Lasco may not have matched Cal legend Ryan Murphy in the number of NCAA 200y Back wins (yet), but the senior has taken Murphy’s NCAA record in earning his 3rd consecutive 200y Back win of his collegiate career.
Special shout out to Cal freshman Geoffrey Vavitsas for being an A-Finalist in platform diving. He finished 5th overall in that event as Cal Diving finally got someone competing during the evening diving break.
It is unclear right now if Cal will have senior backstroke Destin Lasco back next year. Lasco, fellow US Olympic hopeful butterflier Dare Rose, and Swedish “Calympian” sprinter Bjorn Seeliger can give Cal a huge boost for 2025 if they all return. Cal would miss Liam Bell though. Since winning the championship, ASU lost head coach Bob Bowman to Texas. Their French superstar Leon Marchand opted to turn pro before his home country's Olympics this summer. ASU also lost other key swimmers to the portal, likely following Bowman to Texas. It will be quite interesting to see how the men’s swimming and diving landscape changes by the end of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Cal Women’s Swimming and Diving - 11th place
Coming off the Pac-12 title, I thought the Cal Bears could surprise and finish in the top-5. That dream was quickly dashed on Day 2 when the Bears DQ’ed in 200y Free relay. Bears also had more B-Finalists (5) than A-Finalists (4).
https://twitter.com/CalWSwim/status/1773024953454981441
In relays, Cal earned 1st team All-American honors (top 8) in two relays: 4th in 200y Medley Relay and 8th in 400y Medley Relay. They came just short in 800y Free Relay (9th) and 400y Free Relay (11th).
Individually, Cal senior Isabelle Stadden led the way in the two backstroke events. Stadden earned her best finish ever with the runner-up finish in the 100y Back.
https://twitter.com/CalWSwim/status/1771318365107192068
She followed that with a 4th place in 200y Backstroke. The Pac-12 Swimmer of the Year should have another year of eligibility.
5th-year senior Rachel Klinker finished 3rd in 200y Butterfly in Cal’s next best finish. After a surprisingly great swim at the World Aquatics Championships earlier this year, Klinker just might be able to earn a USA Olympic berth at the US Swim Trials this June.
https://twitter.com/CalWSwim/status/1771683693406355700
Mia Kragh was another Cal A-Finalist in 100y Fly where she placed 8th.
Cal Women’s Swimming currently has a historically great on-paper recruiting class for those who will graduate in 2025. So next year is a bit of a mystery for the program with so many 5th-year already. I expect Dave Durden and coaches to hit the portal hard. Cal Bears should be able to return to a top-10 finish if Stadden returns and gets some help. Nonetheless, it was great to see this team enjoying themselves at the NCAA after the ordeal they endured.
Cal Men’s Gymnastics - 8th seed just missed advancing to the NCAA final
Eighth-seed Cal Men’s Gymnastics had a lead on Illinois going into the final rotation in the NCAA Qualifying round (AKA Semifinals). Golden Bears could not hold on to that lead, however, given Illinois’ higher skill level on the vault than Cal had on the floor. Cal just missed out on being one of the six teams to make the NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championship Final.
Nonetheless, Cal closed the team season with a 407.158, 3rd best in modern program history. They also qualified 10 individuals for the NCAA Championships session the next day.
Senior Aidan Li earned All-American honor via a 7th place tie in pommel horse. He became the first Cal Bears to earn All-American honor since Caleb Rickard placed 5th on vault in 2021 and the first Cal pommel horse All-American since Donothan Bradley’s 7th place in 2014.
https://twitter.com/CalMGym/status/1781849847328632930
Senior Noah Newfeld came close by placing 9th in the All-Around. Tyler Shimizu and Theodor Roald Gadderud placed 13th and 14th, respectively. Khalen Curry placed 29th and 30th on Floor and Vault, respectively. Darren Wong placed 15th and 22nd on parallel bars and horizontal bar, respectively. Chris Scales finished 28th on rings, in front of teammate Jaxon Mitchell who finished 35th. Jasper Smith-Gordon took 37th on vault. Collin Cunane finished 32nd on horizontal bar.
Cal Indoor Track and Field - Three All-Americans
Back in early March, Cal Track and Field sent four Golden Bears to Boston for the NCAA Indoor Championships.
The lone Cal women of the quartet, Busola Akinduro finished 14th in triple jump.
David Forster, the first Cal male sprinter to qualify for the NCAA indoors, placed 11th. Rowan Hamilton, continuing Cal’s great recent run in weight tossing, placed 12th in men’s weight toss. Skyler Magula was not able to record a mark in men’s pole vault.
https://twitter.com/CalTFXC/status/1766630173682942331
https://twitter.com/CalTFXC/status/1766221550276288788
https://twitter.com/CalTFXC/status/1765895808988377448
Cal Bears have already transitioned well into the outdoor track and field season that will end in the NCAA Championships from Oregon in early June.
GO BEARS!
Your diligence in reporting on these difficult and competitive sports and our collective high level of achievement is both impressive and appreciated. I know the athletes will be grateful, too, for this thorough and compelling retelling, not to mention the thoughtful inclusion of so many videos and team/individual photos. Scrapbook stuff for their kids, grandkids and more!! EXCELLENT work!!