Cal Men's Swim Team Makes it 2-for-2 at ACC Championships

The move to the Atlantic Coast Conference hasn’t slowed down the Cal men’s swimming and diving program.

The Golden Bears made it 2-for-2 at the ACC Championships, topping Stanford for their second conference in as many seasons in their new conference.

Cal scored 1,154 points compared to 1,076 for Stanford, which also finished second behind the Bears a year ago at this meet.

Cal now preps for the NCAA Championships, March 25-28 at Atlanta, trying to build on a remarkable streak of 15 consecutive top-2 national finishes.

"It's a great conference," Cal coach David Durden told the ACC Network. "We're excited to be in it. It's great competition heading into NCAAs."

Cal’s women also performed well in the ACC meet at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta, finishing third in the team competition, one spot higher than a year ago.

The Bears’ men, ranked No. 6 nationally, were powered by Yamato Okadome, a sophomore from Chiba, Japan, who swept the individual breaststroke events, winning the 100-yard event in 50.32 seconds and the 200 in a meet-record time of 1:48.87, the fastest in the event nationally this season and No. 3 all-time at Cal. He prevailed in the 200 final by more than two seconds.

Cal's winning 400 medley relay team | Photo by Daniel Varnado

Okadome, who was named Most Valuable Swimmer at the meet, also was part of Cal's winning 400 medley team on Friday night, alongside Evan Petty, Casper Puggaard and Martin Wrede. Their time of 3:00.74 was the No. 3 time this season nationally and sixth-best mark at Cal.

The Bears won four individual and relay titles overall, with graduate student Petty taking the 100 back on Friday. Petty barely made it to the final as the eighth qualifier, then swam a winning time of 44.21 that was the fifth-best ever in the event at Cal and No. 6 in the country this season.

The Bears’ season started slowly, including a 71-point defeat at home against Stanford in a trio-meet last fall that also involved Arizona State. Cal and its rival clashed again in a dual meet at Stanford in late January, and the Cardinal scored a 62-point victory.

"We had a long road to get here," Durden told ACC Network. "Once we got here, we really got it rolling through the back end of the season. It was good to see these young guys really perform at an elite level.”

The victory was Cal’s 11th in a conference championship, including eight in either the ACC or Pac-12 since 2018.

The Cal women scored 1,027.5 points to finish third, just 11.5 points back of runner-up Stanford and 163.5 points better than last season. Powerhouse Virginia dominated to win its seventh straight ACC title and 17th since 2008.

Cal sophomore Mia West captured the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:51.52 was the fourth-fastest in the country this season and No. 2 all-time at Cal.

The Bears set three program records, including in the 200 medley relay (1:33.29). Sophomore Mary-Ambre Moluh eclipsed her own school record in the 100 back (49.64) to place third and freshman Elle Scott also established a Cal standard in the 100 breast (58.19) to place sixth.

The Cal women will return to Atlanta for the NCAA meet March 18-21.

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