The California women’s swimming and diving team concluded the Minnesota Invitational on Saturday by winning every race in the final session, securing first place overall. The Golden Bears finished atop the standings with 1,874 points, ahead of Minnesota (1,616.5), Harvard (1,352), Denver (867.5), Rutgers (811), and UNLV (584.5).
During the morning preliminary round, Cal earned 17 spots in ‘A’ finals and went on to achieve 12 podium finishes throughout the day.
Ariana Drake reached the podium for a second consecutive day in the platform diving finals, scoring 245.9 to finish third among 19 competitors.
In the swimming events, freshman Claire Weinstein won the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 15:52.28—the third-fastest mark in program history and one of the top times nationally this season—while fellow freshman Ella Cosgrove placed second at 16:13.97.
Teagan O’Dell and Finley Anderson secured first and second place in the 200 backstroke with NCAA qualifying times. In the 100 freestyle, Mary-Ambre Moluh finished first at 47.43 seconds and Weinstein took second at 47.70 seconds; both achieved NCAA qualifying marks.
Abby Herscu earned her first win of the season in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:10.96.
Mia West and Lilou Ressencourt claimed gold and silver respectively in the 200 butterfly with NCAA cuts, while Ava Chavez finished fourth.
The event concluded with Cal’s relay team—Ressencourt, Charlotte Burnham, Gracyn Aquino, and Sydney Griscavage—winning the 400-freestyle relay in a time of 3:16.06.
Cal is scheduled to compete again against USC on January 16 and UCLA on January 17 in Los Angeles.
