{"id":603415,"date":"2025-01-17T19:28:31","date_gmt":"2025-01-18T02:28:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=603415"},"modified":"2025-01-17T22:17:28","modified_gmt":"2025-01-18T05:17:28","slug":"lucas-henveaux-mewen-tomac-debut-for-cal-as-golden-bears-dominate-usc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/lucas-henveaux-mewen-tomac-debut-for-cal-as-golden-bears-dominate-usc\/","title":{"rendered":"Lucas Henveaux, Mewen Tomac Debut for Cal as Golden Bears Dominate USC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lucas Henveaux, Mewen Tomac Debut for Cal as Golden Bears Dominate USC<\/strong><\/p>\n

The California Golden Bears have finished first or second at every NCAA Men’s Championships since 2010, and they will be in position for another strong finish this year thanks to a talented veteran core plus some strong additions. Two swimmers with strong international track records are now part of the Cal roster, and both made their debut in a dominant win over USC.<\/p>\n

Lucas Henveaux<\/strong> previously competed for Cal in 2023, placing ninth in both distance events at the NCAA Championships, and the native of Belgium was a World Championships finalist last February before swimming in the 200-meter freestyle semifinals at the Paris Olympics. Meanwhile,\u00a0Mewen Tomac<\/strong> finished fourth for France in the 200-meter backstroke final at the Paris Olympics, missing the podium by less than a half-second.<\/p>\n

Both newcomers contributed to a 212-88 win for the Golden Bear<\/a> men, and\u00a0Cal got a sweep Friday as Isabelle Stadden<\/strong>,\u00a0Leah Polonsky<\/strong> and Mary-Ambre Moluh<\/strong> were the drivers of a 185-115 women’s win over the Trojans.<\/p>\n

Henveaux, who previously competed for Cal in 2022 and 2023, debuted with a win in the 200 freestyle, clocking 1:32.14 to enter the national top-15 in the event. He later finished the 500 free in 4:11.17, a time that ranks No. 4 nationally behind the Texas duo of\u00a0Rex Maurer<\/strong> and\u00a0David Johnston<\/strong> as well as previous NCAA champion\u00a0Jake Magahey<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Tomac led off Cal’s 200 medley relay B-team in 21.40, and in his first individual swim, he clocked 46.26 to place second behind teammate\u00a0Destin Lasco\u00a0<\/strong>(46.06). Lasco, a fifth-year swimmer racing for the first time this season after narrowly missing the U.S. Olympic team, would go on to sweep the backstroke events, with the three-time defending NCAA champion in the 200 back clocking 1:39.21 in the event.<\/p>\n

Several of Cal’s returning stars swam on the Bears’ winning 200 medley relay, with Bjorn Seeliger<\/strong>,\u00a0Luca Gissendaner<\/strong>,\u00a0Dare Rose<\/strong> and\u00a0Jack Alexy<\/strong> swimming a time of 1:22.40. Most impressive was Alexy’s 18.34 closing split, and he went on to finish in 41.62 to win the 100 free. Seeliger dominated the 100 free in 18.86, and he took second over 100 yards (42.10), and Rose won the 100 butterfly in 45.17.<\/p>\n

Cal’s\u00a0Gabiel Jett<\/strong> posted an impressive 1:40.06 in the 200 fly.\u00a0Matthew Chai\u00a0<\/strong>posted a time of 8:45.81 to win the 1000 free, and freshman\u00a0Yamato Okadome<\/strong> won the 200 breaststroke by four seconds with a mark of 1:51.65. The team of\u00a0Matthew Jensen<\/strong>, Seeliger, Lasco and Rose won the 400 free relay in 2:50.33, with Seeliger splitting 41.91 and Alexy going 41.33 to finish off the B-relay.<\/p>\n

USC’s\u00a0Chun Ho Chan\u00a0<\/strong>earned the first win of the day for his team in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 51.79, and\u00a0Sanberk Yigit Oktar<\/strong> edged Cal’s\u00a0Humberto Najera<\/strong> by two hundredths in the 200 IM, 1:45.16 to 1:45.18. In diving,\u00a0Moritz Wesemann<\/strong> won 1-meter (388.25) and 3-meter (403.10).<\/p>\n