PASADENA, Calif. – Caltech Swimming and Diving opened up the 2022-23 regular season with a home meet against California Lutheran University's Kingsmen (Men) and Regals (Women), with cool air and clear skies providing excellent conditions for what proved to be a competitive event.
Apart from winning several events throughout the day, the Beavers posted a total of 14 new top 10 times for the Caltech record books.
The day began with the women's one-meter dive, where first-year Jana Woo dominated with a 287.87 total score, a full 100 points ahead of the second-place Regal diver. Her performance marked her NCAA Regional cut; matching or improving on this score at a later meet will qualify her for the regional diving championships. Woo later won the three-meter dive event by more than 50 points. Senior teammate Katherine Pan claimed third place in both dive events as well.
Following the initial diving win, the Beavers swept the top three in the men's 400-yard medley relay, with the "A" team of Simon Hu, Evan Zhang, Pierre Zeineddin and Jason Lin posting the program's seventh-best time of 3:27.99, followed closely by the "B" quartet of Chris Pukszta, Kevin Cai, Max Oberg and Leo Yang, exactly five and a half seconds later. Swimming in exhibition, the "C" squad of Naci Keskin, Wentao Zhang, Andrew Pasco and Lucas Abounader posted a 3:37.53 time, ahead of the Cal Lutheran "A" foursome by just over three and a half seconds.
The day kept getting better in the 1000 yard freestyle event, as Elizabeth Won finished second with a 11:23.86 time, ranking sixth all-time in Caltech women's history. In the men's event, Oh won with a men's historical sixth-best time of 10:03.58, followed by teammate Siddhartha Ojha whose 10:14.85 time earned second place in the event and 10th all time for Caltech men's swim & dive.
In the 200-yard freestyle, Tara Leininger earned second place for the women's team with a 2:04.18 finish, followed by Yang and Hu finishing first and second for the men in 1:43.94 and 1:45.34, respectively.
Sophomore Natalie Lee claimed victory for the Beavers in the women's 100-yard backstroke, and her 1:03.36 finish ranks at number 10 among the program record times. Senior Madeleine Swint took third place in the race with a 1:07.02 time. Pukszta led the men with a 55.42 second-place finish, followed closely by Dong and Cai, both of whom beat the next Kingsman to finish.
The men swept the top three in the 200-yard butterfly, Zeineddin leading the way with a 1:52.09 finish, followed by Pasco and Ojha.
The 50-yard freestyle event closed out the first half of the meet as junior Brooke Williams led Caltech with a second-place finish in 25.35 seconds. Zhang and Oberg took first and second in the men's sprint, with Keskin claiming a tie for fourth with the second Kingsman to finish. Zhang's winning time of 21.13 seconds was a lifetime best, and fifth all-time in the Caltech record book.
Oberg, Keskin, and Oh finished 1-2-3 in the men's 100-yard freestyle (46.79, 47.83, 48.09), with freshman Maxwell Chen posting an exhibition time of 49.65, fifth-fastest in the heat and ahead of Cal Lutheran's second finisher.
In the women's 200-yard backstroke, Lee's 2:18.86 finish ranked ninth-best in Caltech history.
Caltech found success in the 200-yard breaststroke, with Zhang winning the women's event and Lin, Pasco and Wentao Zhang taking the top three spots for the men.
Up next was the 500-yard freestyle, where Won posted a women's eighth-best time of 5:32.13 and the men swept the top three with Yang, Hu and Ojha finishing in order. Oh's exhibition swim edged the first finisher from Cal Lu.
The 100-yard butterfly event followed, with Zeineddin and Evan Zhang claiming the top two spots in the heat.
The individual events wrapped up with the 200-yard individual medley, with Charlotte Zhang finishing with the program's third-best time of 2:14.80, followed by Leininger and Lee claiming points for second and third in the heat. Pasco and Cai took first and second in the men's IM, exactly one second apart at 2:00.21 and 2:01.21.
Concluding the meet was the 400-yard freestyle relay, with the men's "A" group of Oberg, Hu, Oh and Pukszta finishing first in 3:09.26, just ahead of the "B" squad of Evan Zhang, Yang, Keskin and Lin at 3:09.60. The times ranked seventh and eighth all-time in Beavers history. The exhibition group of Abounader, Chen, Ojha and Sam Small beat out the second Kingsman team to finish in the heat. On the women's side, Paulina Naydenkov, Mila Hong, Brea Swartwood and Williams took third place in 3:53.96.
Final scores:
Caltech Men won 196.5 – 63.5
Cal Lutheran Women won 174-122
"It was an all-around solid first meet," Head Coach Andy Brabson said. "There's always room for improvement, but I'm happy with our performance."
The Beavers will face Claremont-Mudd-Scrips Colleges and Chapman University on the road next weekend on Saturday, Nov. 12.
