The California men’s swimming and diving team, ranked No. 4 nationally, will begin the second half of its 2025-2026 season with a meet against No. 18 USC in Los Angeles on Friday at 1 p.m. PT. The event will be broadcast on B1G+. USC enters the competition with a 3-3 record in dual meets and recently secured wins over UC San Diego and UNLV.
Reflecting on their performance before the winter break, the Golden Bears finished first out of five teams at the Minnesota Invitational in early December. The team won 16 of the 18 A finals and achieved 36 podium finishes during that meet. Sophomore Yamato Okadome stood out by winning five events, including posting a time of 50.48 seconds in the 100-yard breaststroke—the second-fastest in Cal history and third-fastest in the NCAA this year—and finishing the 200 breaststroke in 1:50.04, which ranks fourth both for Cal’s program and nationally this season.
Okadome has continued to build on his freshman achievements by registering four national top-10 times and setting two pool records at Spieker Aquatics Complex this season. He recorded times of 50.89 seconds in the 100 breaststroke and 1:51.66 in the 200 breaststroke during a double-dual meet with Stanford and Arizona State, establishing new pool records.
Freshman Ryan Erisman has also made an immediate impact by setting a school record in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 8:43.48 during a tri-meet against Stanford and Arizona State, marking it as the fourth-best time nationally this season.
The Bears have maintained consistent success at national competitions, placing second at last year’s NCAA Championships—a result that extends their streak to fifteen consecutive seasons finishing either first or second nationwide. During this period, Cal has claimed six national titles.
In their inaugural year as members of the ACC during the previous season, Cal won its first conference title after leading from start to finish at the ACC Swimming & Diving Championships. The team earned six event victories there; nine student-athletes received All-ACC honors; and they finished among the top three places in twelve different events overall. Individual awards included Lucas Henveaux being named ACC Swimmer of the Year, Yamato Okadome as Freshman of the Year, and David Durden receiving Coach of the Year recognition.
Cal added fourteen freshmen from what SwimSwam ranked as its fifth-best recruiting class for 2025—led by No.16 recruit Ryan Erisman—and welcomed international swimmers such as Casper Pugaard, Jack Brown, Martin Wrede, along with Irish swimmer Nathan Wiffen who is noted for being a two-time European Aquatic Championships finalist.
Seven current or former Bears were named to USA Swimming’s U.S National Team roster for 2025-2026: Jack Alexy, Ryan Erisman, Gabriel Jett, Keaton Jones, Trenton Julian, Destin Lasco and Dare Rose.
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