MONTEREY PARK, Calif. — Caltech Swim & Dive wrapped up the 2024 SCIAC Championships this past Sunday at East Los Angeles College, where the Beavers captured one individual title and a combined eight new school records between the men's and women's teams. The men finished fourth overall with 423 points while the women claimed sixth with 280. 
 

SCIAC Champion

History was made in the women's 3-meter dive competition on Saturday as Caltech sophomore Jana Woo (Saratoga, Calif. / Monta Vista) put up a brilliant performance to win the title. The champion's exceptional 11-dive performance earned an incredible score of 459.00 to land first overall out of the 15 qualifying divers; she beat out the next-best diver by over 23 points. 

With the victory, Woo earned 20 team points; it is the first conference title for the program's all-time 1m and 3m record holder.  

The 3m dive was the second and final event for the standout, who earned sixth place out of 20 competitors in the 1m competition on Thursday with an 11-dive score of 397.45. 
 

School Records

The Beavers saw history in the men's 200-yard medley relay on Friday as four Caltech athletes set a new school record. Sophomores Simon Hu (Clarksville, Md. / River Hill) and Kevin Cai (San Antonio, Texas / Ronald Reagan) teamed up with first-year Marcel Liu (Natick, Mass. / Phillips Academy) and junior Evan Zhang (Great Falls, Va. / Thomas Jefferson) for a blazing time of 1 minute and 30.80 seconds, topping the previous record of 1:31.26 set earlier this season at the Caltech Invite. The group finished fourth against competing A-groups and fifth overall among the 22 total relays groups; they missed out on a podium finish by just .53 seconds. 

Liu went on to beat his own school record on Saturday as he swam the 100-yard butterfly. The Massachusetts native finished his preliminary heat in 48.73 seconds to beat his own school record of 49.19, putting him ahead of all 42 competitors in the conference; with the time, Liu achieved the NCAA "B" cut standard. The talented newcomer earned the bronze medal in the finals.

Not to be held to just two program records, Liu achieved yet another Caltech best in the 100-yard backstroke, first breaking the 2018 record in the preliminaries with a 51.39 finish, and then breaking his own record by a hundredth of a second in the A Final for a new Beaver all-time record of 51.38.

First-year Grace Davis (Elkton, S.D. / Brookings) picked up a program record of her own as she put in a superb performance in the women's 100-yard breaststroke. The freshman set a school record in the prelims, swimming a 1:07.56 before topping that time in the finals with an even quicker 1:07:47. The swimmer handily beat the previous school record of 1:08.78.

Zhang beat his own school record as he took on the 50-yard freestyle; the sprinter swam 20.61 seconds to top his previous record of 20.63. The junior finished with the fourth-fastest time in the prelims before grabbing fourth in the finals with a time of 20.63.  

After a quick break, Zhang returned to the pool for the 200-yard freestyle relay where he joined forces with junior Sam Small (Ringwood, U.K. / Ringwood), senior Leo Yang (Blacksburg, Va. / Blacksburg) and senior Lucas Abounader (Austin, Texas / Liberal Arts and Sciences Academy) for a school-record time of 1:22.62. The squad beat the previous record by .20 seconds, previously held by Zhang, Yang, Abounader and current-senior Naci Keskin (Istanbul, Turkey / Robert College of Istanbul). The group finished fourth in the finals, just narrowly missing out on a podium spot. 

Senior Andrew Pasco (Haddonfield, N.J. / Bishop Eustace Prep) also cemented his name in the record books as he set the new Caltech record in the men's 200-yard IM. The swimmer posted a fast time of 1:51.92 to beat out the previous record of 1:52.26. Pasco's fast time advanced him to the finals, where he finished eighth overall. 

Pasco continued his dominant weekend as he broke the school record in the 400-yard IM. The senior swam 4:01.11 in the preliminaries to destroy his own school record of 4:03.78 set at the 2022 SCIAC Championships. The standout earned the third-fastest time in prelims before finishing sixth overall in the finals.  

Finally, Pasco went home with hardware in the form of the SCIAC Swimming & Diving Character Award plaque. Andrew received the prestigious accolade for, among many things, exemplifying success in the pool and in the classroom, involvement in community and school service. 
 

More Highlights

The women's 200-yard medley squad gave the team another brilliant performance, posting a time of 1:48.50 to nab the No. 2 spot all-time in program history for the event. The four athletes – made up of junior Natalie Lee (Westfield, N.J. / Union County Magnet) and first-years Davis, Beatrice Cai (Princeton, NJ. / Princeton HS) and Isabel Xu (East Setauket, N.Y. / Ward Melville) – just missed out on the program record by 1.13 seconds. 

Hu improved on his program all-time No. 3 time in the 200-yard freestyle and achieved the NCAA "B" cut in the process, tapping the wall at 1:39.65 to just miss out on third place overall.
 
The Beavers earned major team points by route of a bronze-medal finish in the men's 800-yard freestyle, which saw four Caltech athletes nab a lightning-fast time. First-year Zachary Pestrikov (Rye, N.Y. / Iona Prepatory), Yang, Hu and Keskin combined for a time of 6:46.96, earning them third place overall out of 17 groups. With the time, the four swimmers move into No. 3 all-time in Caltech 800 Free history. 
 
Caltech saw another speedy race out of its B-team, as sophomore Siddhartha Ojha (Lake Forest, Ill. / Lake Forest), Pasco, first-year Reid Nussbaum (Cohasset, Mass. / Cohasset) and sophomore Max Chen (Boyds, Md. / Poolesville) swam a 6:56.62. With the time, the group moves up to fifth all-time for the event on the program leader boards. 
 
The women's 800-yard freestyle team also put in a strong performance as the group earned the program's No. 4 spot all-time in the program leader boards. Cai, first-years Karen Zhou (Trophy Club, Texas / Byron Nelson) and Emily Yu (Toronto / University of Toronto Schools) along with sophomore Elizabeth Won (Hong Kong / Hong Kong International) combined for a speedy time of 8:01.09. 
 
The women's 800 Free B-squad posted a notable race themselves as they broke into the Caltech Top 10. Senior Brea Swartwood (Mililani, Hawaii / Miliani) joined Davis, first-year Cherise Wong (Millbrae, Calif. / The Nueva School) and junior Paulina Naydenkov (Santa Barbara, Calif. / Albuquerque Institute of Math and Science) for an impressive time of 8:23.45. Naydenkov and Swartwood were half of the No. 10 quartet who finished in 8:21.14 in the 2021-22 season. 
 
Sophomore Aaban Syed (Laurel, Md. / North County) finished 12th in the 3-meter dive with an 11-dive score of 379.40 points. Syed – whose name ranks fifth in program history in the event – improved on his previous personal best-score of 372.00 from the Caltech Invite this past November.