MONTEREY PARK, Calif. – Caltech Swim & Dive took to the pool at East Los Angeles College Swim Stadium Wednesday in Day 1 of the 2023 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Swim & Dive Championships.

First-year diver Jana Woo jumped in first for the Beavers, shining in the women's three-meter dive preliminaries. With 11 dives to impress a panel of seven judges, she racked up a third-best score of 429.85, less than two points behind the second-place diver from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, and beating out another CMS diver who had the the highest dive score in three of the eleven dives of the prelims. In the six-dive final, Woo took fourth overall with a score of 415.00. Saving her best for last, she nailed a backward one and a half somersault, one and a half twist to earn the highest score of round six against the other seven finalists. Her performance earned Caltech 15 points for her team.

In the women's 800-yard freestyle relay, Caltech claimed 28 points with a fifth-place finish in the championship. The Beavers' "A" team of Charlotte Zhang, Elizabeth Won, Mila Hong and Tara Leininger finishing in 8:06.85, Leininger anchoring with a team-leading 1:57.47 split. The "B" team swam in the consolation heat and earned four points toward the meet standings as Madeline Swint, Brea Swartwood, Diya Kumar and Paulina Naydenkov posted a time of 8:18.71.

Caltech claimed sixth place and 26 points in the women's 200-yard medley relay final, with Natalie Lee, Charlotte Zhang, Hong and Swint touching the pad in 1:51.55. The "B" squad of Favour Okodogbe, Leininger, Swartwood and Naydenkov picked up four points from the consolation race with a 1:59.75 time.

On the men's side, the 800-yard free relay "A" team of Leo Yang, Chris Pukszta, Simon Hu and Naci Keskin raced their way to the podium with a second-place finish in 6:43.04, Hu leading the quartet with a 1:39.67 split. The stellar performance earned the men's team 34 points toward the meet standings. The Beavers' "B" group of Siddhartha Ojha, Andrew Pasco, Lucas Abounader and Jason Lin earned ten points with a third place finish in the consolation race.

Caltech took fourth place in the men's 200-yard medley relay as Keskin, Lin, Zeineddin and Evan Zhang finished in 1:32.90, claiming 30 points for the men's team. The second Beaver team of Ojha, Abounader, Pasco and Yang picked up eight points in the consolation heat.

Brayden Noh represented Caltech in the men's one-meter dive competition, posting a 176.00 and outscoring the next best diver by almost a dozen points.

Head Coach Andy Brabson and the Beavers are back at it on Thursday for Day 2, including the 50 and 500 freestyle, 200 individual medley (IM), 200 free relay, and more one-meter diving.