Cal Swimming Wins Chick-Fil-A Invite Behind More Pool Records in Fresno

Ema Rajic. Photo Courtesy: NCAA Media

Cal Swimming Wins Chick-Fil-A Invite Behind More Pool Records in Fresno

Cal’s women’s swimming team finished out the third and final session of the Chick-Fil-A Invitational Saturday morning by setting pool records in both the 400-yard medley relay and 400-yard free relay, giving the Golden Bears a sweep of all five relay marks over two days of racing.

The six-team meet also featured teams from host Fresno State, UCLA, Washington State, San Jose State and San Diego State. In the team standings, Cal compiled 1,481.5 points and was followed by San Diego State (679.5), UCLA (670) and Fresno State (396).

In the first event of the day on Saturday, Cal’s quartet of Isabelle Stadden, Ema Rajic, Mia Kragh and Isabel Ivey hit the wall at 3:39.17 to win the 400 medley relay. Their time smashed the previous mark of 3:42.44 set by another Golden Bear squad in 2019 composed of Ayla Spitz, Rajic, Ivey and Abbey Weitzeil. Cal’s B relay of Spitz, Alicia Henry, Lizzy Cook and Elise Garcia took second in 3:42.19, also under the old pool record.

Cal closed out the meet with a time of 3:19.64 in the 400 free relay with Emily Gantriis, Ella Mazurek, Garcia and Ivey handling the four legs. Their time snapped the previous pool record of 3:21.30 established by Cal’s Robin Neumann, Maddie Murphy, Katie McLaughlin and Weitzeil in 2019.

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Individually, junior Sarah DiMeco came within a second of breaking her 1650 free pool record from 2019 when she reached the wall in 17:01.43, a full 30 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

Stadden also flirted with the pool record in the 200 back, finishing in 1:57.59, about four-tenths of a second off the mark. Ivey next led the way in the 100 free in 49.41 as Cal swimmers captured the first six positions.

After Henry’s third-place showing in the 200 breaststroke (2:16.10), junior Rachel Klinker captured the 200 butterfly in 1:57.82, with Golden Bear freshmen taking the next four positions – Cook, Kragh, Annika McEnroe and Fanni Fabian.

On Friday, Cal broke pool marks in the 200 free relay, 800 free relay and 200 medley, all previously held by the Golden Bears from either the 2018 or 2019 Chick-Fil-A meets.

Cal returns to action when the Bears host Virginia at 5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 15 at Spieker Aquatics Complex. Admission is free for the matchup between the defending NCAA champions and Cal’s fourth-place squad from 2021.

— The above press release was posted by Swimming World in conjunction with Cal Athletics. For press releases and advertising inquiries please contact Advertising@SwimmingWorld.com.

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