MONTEREY PARK, Calif. – The Caltech Women's Swim & Dive team wrapped up its 2024-2025 season this past Saturday at the 2025 SCIAC Championships, hosted at East Los Angeles College. Their performance saw numerous top-8 finishes for both individual and relay events, a double podium finish, and even a new school record. The Beavers rounded out the Championships finishing in sixth place.
"Consistent" is the word to describe the team's performance across a plethora of different relay events. In the 200 and 400-yard medley, and the 400- and 800-yard freestyle relays, each team earned a sixth-place finish, earning a solid 26 points each. The Beavers also secured a seventh-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay to boot. The ensemble cast that made up each of these teams included senior Paulina Naydenkov, sophomores Beatrice Cai, Marie Choi-Schattle, Allison Xin, Emily Yu, Karen Zhou, and first-years Elizabeth Ma and Grace Tuhabonye.
For individual events, the 400-yard individual medley saw the Beavers earn two top-eight finishers. In eighth place was Karen Zhou, who closed out the race with a time of 4:41.78. Two places in front of her in sixth place was first-year Elizabeth Ma, who clinched her spot with a finishing time of 4:36.84.
Ma managed to achieve another top-10 finish in the 1650-yard freestyle, powering through and finishing the race after 17:55.58. In doing so, Ma was able to snag herself the new Caltech record in the event.
When it comes to the diving events, each of Caltech's divers showed their strength. In the 1-meter dive, junior Jana Woo and first-year Ava Balanon managed back-to-back results, placing fourth with a score of 375.55 and fifth scoring 364.55 respectively.
The 3-meter dive marked an even more impressive showing. Woo once again returned to the podium this year, just as she did the year before, clutching a second-place finish after earning a score of 428.84. Joining her was Balanon once again, who snagged the third-place spot with a score of 404.95, completing the double podium. First-year diver Kassie Kristufek also made some noise, breaking into the top 10 for the event as well with a score of 337.95 for a ninth-place finish.
The next stop for the Beaver's Swim & Dive Program will be at the NCAA Diving Regionals, where divers Woo and Balanon will represent Caltech at Grinnell College in Iowa.
Out of the nine teams in attendance for the SCIAC Championships Caltech earned sixth place, matching last year's result with a point total of 305, outpacing Whittier College in seventh place by a full 100 points. Commenting on the team's performance and result this year, Head Coach Andrew Brabson said, "Following the challenges and adversity we faced throughout the season with the fires and missing practices and training because of it, I see finishing with the same result we got last year as a success."
