RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Caltech Swim & Dive opened the 2023-24 campaign with an afternoon tri-meet on Saturday as the Beavers competed against Pomona-Pitzer Colleges and California Baptist University.

Both the women and men immediately put their early-season training on display as they combined for 17 total program top-10 performances. A number of Caltech student-athletes produced top-five finishes, at times beating out multiple athletes from their SCIAC opponent and the hosting Division I Lancers of Cal Baptist.

One of the most impressive results for the Beavers came out of the women's 100-yard breaststroke as first-years Cherise Wong and Grace Davis put their names fifth and sixth all-time in the program records books for the event. The duo posted blistering times in just their first collegiate meet, with Wong tapping the wall at 1:10.86 and Davis finishing mere moments after at 1:11.18.

The women's team continued making history as three different Beavers posted top-10 performances in the 200-yard breaststroke. First-year Karen Zhou swam a brilliant race, nabbing the No. 6 spot in program history with a blazing time of 2:33.51. The Texas native was soon followed by Davis (2:34.66) and Wong (2:37.50), who land themselves at seventh and ninth in the program record books.

The team demonstrated their multi-stroke prowess as they competed in the 200-yard butterfly, as first-year Beatrice Cai swam a 2:12.80 to earn fifth all-time in the program's record books. Zhou finished a few seconds later (2:17.88) to score seventh in the program's history.

Cai also put up an excellent time in the 20-yard backstroke, where she put herself No. 8 all-time in the record sheets with a 2:15.83 showing. First-year Allison Xin posted the No. 10 time (2:18.06).

Also performing highly was Zhou in the 200-yard IM (2:17.19, eighth all-time), first-year Isabel Xu in the 100-yard butterfly (1:00.67, eighth all-time) and the 200-yard medley relay team of Xin, Wong, Cai and Xu (1:53.80, ninth all-time).

The men's team also put up several historic performances as they competed for the first time this season.

First-year Marcel Liu posted perhaps the most impressive time of the day across both programs as he took to the pool for the 100-yard butterfly. The rookie produced an exceptional race, tapping the wall at 50.15 seconds to grab second place in the race and a tie for the No.-2 spot all-time in program history.

Junior Evan Zhang had himself a monumental day across multiple events; most notably, the standout won the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 56.78 seconds – just .18 off from his personal record. Zhang's PR puts him No. 3 in the event in the program records. First-year Ryan Lin finished at 1:01.27 to put his name tenth on the Beavers' all-time event list.

Later in the afternoon, Zhang nabbed the ninth spot all-time in the 100-yard freestyle after leading off the 400-yard freestyle relay with a 46.43 second leg.

The Virginia native also posted a lightning-quick 25.26 second split in the breaststroke leg of the 200-yard medley relay, in which he joined Liu, senior Leo Yang and first-year Leo Jankovic to nab second place out of nine different relay squads. The group posted a final time of 1:33.36 – just .70 seconds slower than the winning team. With the result, the group launch themselves into the No. 5 all-time Caltech performance.

Both the men and the women will now focus on their season home opener this Saturday, Oct. 28 at 5:30 p.m. as they host Biola University and Occidental College in a three-team showdown. Wear Caltech gear and cheer on the Beavers in person as part of Caltech's Fall Orange Out Day or follow along online at gocaltech.com/coverage.

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