Cal Men's Swim Team Claims School's 1st ACC Championship

The third-ranked Cal men’s swimming and diving team captured the school’s first Atlantic Coast Conference championship on Saturday with a commanding performance over five days at the ACC meet in Greensboro, NC.

The Bears, in their first year as part of the ACC after the breakup of the Pac-12, led wire to wire and totaled 1,271.5 points to outdistance runner-up and rival Stanford, which scored 1,065 points.

"It's the first one for us, and you're always going to remember your first championship in a new conference," Cal coach David Durden told the ACC Network. "We'll sit back and enjoy this. It's a great team. It was a total team effort, and we're super happy to be affiliated the ACC.”

Cal celebrates winning the ACC swim title | Photo by Jaylynn Nash, ACC.com

Senior Gabriel Jett won the 200-yard backstroke with an ACC-record time of 1:37.19, the fourth-fastest time ever at Cal. Jack Alexy captured the 100 freestyle in 41.19 as the Bears totaled 79 points in the event.

Freshman Yamato Okadome finished second in the 200 breast and grad student Lucas Henveaux was third in the 1,650 free.

Cal closed out the meet with a victory in the 400 free relay — its third relay title of the week — with the foursome of Bjorn Seeliger, Alexy, Matthew Jensen and Nans Mazellier clocking 2:44.81.

Cal finished fourth at the ACC women’s swim championships, a meet won decisively by four-time defending NCAA champion Virginia with 1,451.5 points. The Bears totaled 864 points.

Here’s a day-by-day report on how the Cal men claimed the ACC crown:

Tuesday: The Bears got off to a great start by winning two relays on Day 1 of the meet. The 200-yard medley relay foursome of Seeliger, Okadome, Dare Rose and Alexy clocked a meet-record time of 1:21.54, the second-fastest time in program history.

The Bears followed that with another meet record in the 800 freestyle relay with Alexy, Gabriel Jett, Destin Lasco and Henveaux in a time of 6:06.66, third-fastest time in program history.

Wednesday: Henveaux set program and ACC records with a mark of 4:08.83 in the 500-yard free to give Cal its first individual ACC championship in program history.

Henveaux eclipsed the previous program standard of 4:09.49 by Trenton Julian in 2021.

Alexy posted a pair of runner-up finishes, taking second in the 50 feee (18.74) while teaming with Luca Battaglini, Seeliger and Lasco to finish as the runner-up in the 200 free relay (1:15.10).

The Bears had three of the top four finishers in the 500 free, with Jett (4:10.27) placing second in a time of 4:10.27.

Thursday: The Bears dominated the 200-yard free event to extend their lead in the team standings. Six Cal swimmers scored points in the event, led by a third-place finish by Henveaux (1:32.04).

The Bears scored 110.5 points alone in the 200 free.

Rose was third in the 100 butterfly (44.55).

Friday: Rose reached the podium for the second straight night with a second-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:39.47.

Jett finished fourth in the 200 fly (1:40.28) and freshman Okadome was third in the 100 breaststroke (51.12).

The Golden Bears' 400 medley relay team of Jett (backstroke), Okadome (breaststroke), Rose (butterfly) and Tomac (freestyle) was second (3:01.92).