Cal Women Earn 11-Point Upset Win Over Stanford in Dual Meet; Isabelle Stadden Stars

Cal's Isabelle Stadden -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Cal Women Earn 11-Point Upset Win Over Stanford in Dual Meet

The Cal women are back on top in their always-intense rivalry with Stanford, with a trio of swimmers recognized during the senior-day festivities at Spieker Aquatic Complex playing central roles in an upset win secured in the final few individual events. The final score was Cal 155.5, Stanford 145.5, and the win was the first on the women’s side since Dave Durden added to his previous responsibilities as men’s coach prior to the 2022-23 season.

The top swimmer for Cal Saturday afternoon was senior Isabelle Stadden, widely regarded among the top backstrokers in the country for several years. Stadden helped set the tone for the Golden Bears right away when she led off the 200 medley relay in 23.73, putting her team a full second up on the Cardinal and paving the way for a victory in 1:34.25. Jade Neser, Mia Kragh and Stephanie Akakabota joined Stadden in the victory.

Stadden also won the 100 backstroke in 50.29, just off her lifetime-best time of 50.26, and she dominated the 200 back in 1:49.64. She is the only swimmer to go under 1:50 thus far this season, and against Stanford, she came up just shy of her top 2023-24 mark of 1:49.21.

In the 200 freestyle, fifth-year swimmer Mia Motekaitis clocked 1:42.89 for a head-to-head win over Cal’s Kayla Wilson (1:43.78). Motekaitis broke Katie Ledecky’s pool record in the event while jumping ahead of Wilson for sixth in the national rankings, behind only Virginia’s Gretchen Walsh, USC’s Minna Abraham, Indiana’s Anna Peplowski, Stanford’s Aurora Roghair and Texas’ Kelly Pash.

More college swimming news

Cal’s Rachel Klinker won the 200 butterfly by holding off Stanford’s Lillie Nordmann in a tight second half, 1:52.33 to 1:52.41. Only the Texas trio of Emma Sticklen, Pash and Olivia Bray have beaten those marks this year. Klinker’s victory was especially impressive given that the fifth-year Bear was just over 48 hours removed from finishing fourth in the 200-meter fly final at the World Championships in Doha, a meet where she dropped more than two seconds from her lifetime best. Klinker also earned gold in Doha by virtue of her prelims leg on the U.S. mixed 400 medley relay team.

Akakabota won the 50 free for Cal in 22.29 while victories from Kragh in the 100 fly (51.20) and Leah Polonsky in the 200 IM (1:55.46) sealed up the win. Polonsky had to fight hard down the stretch to hold off Stanford freshman Caroline Bricker, but she accomplished the necessary first-place result by two hundredths.

Meanwhile, Stanford picked up wins from Roghair in the 1000 free (9:29.70) and 500 free (4:38.12) while Nordmann topped the 100 free (47.94) and Bricker won the 200 breast (2:08.15). Lucy Bell led the way in the 100 breast with her mark of 59.00 while Stanford swept the diving events, with Lauren Burch winning 1-meter (265.73) and Emilie Moore taking 3-meter (325.73).

Stanford finished on a strong note as Anna Shaw, Wilson, Nordmann and Amy Tang put together a time of 3:12.84 to take the 400 free relay.

Results

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use