PASADENA, Calif. – Caltech Men's Swim & Dive opened its regular season with a 144-46 victory over Fresno Pacific on Saturday afternoon at Braun and Alumni pools on the campus of Caltech.

Caltech men won 12 of the 13 events. Six different Caltech swimmers won individual events on Saturday, and three won multiple events.

First-year Jason Starodub (Four Bridges, Ohio / Cincinnati Country Day School) won both the 100-yard backstroke (53.56) and the 200-yard backstroke (2:00.65) in the first meet of his collegiate career.

Senior Zachary Pestrikov opened his season by winning the 200-yard butterfly (1:57.30) and the 400-yard IM (4:38.10).  

Caltech junior Thomas Fenton (Lynchburg, Va. / Virginia Episcopal School) won the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:01.50. He was also victorious in the 200-yard breaststroke, tapping the wall in 2:17.35.

Sophomore Darren Liu (Cary, N.C. / Green Level) won the 100-yard freestyle event in 49.79. Senior Marcel Liu (Natick, Mass. / Phillips Academy) took first place in the 100-yard butterfly (51.55), an event that he currently holds the program record for. First-year Anthony Yang announced his arrival to collegiate swimming by winning the 500-yard freestyle in 5:04.80.

Starodub, Fenton, Liu and first-year Samuel Xie (Princeton, N.J. / The Lawrenceville School) combined to win the 200-yard medley relay in 1:36.83. Pestrikov, Yang, sophomore Brent Kong (Scotts Valley, Calif. / Scotts Valley High School) and Liu combined to win the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:19.57.

Sophomore Jack Yu (Albuquerque, N.M. / Albuquerque Academy) improved his personal best in the 50-yard freestyle by 1.3 seconds, knocking it down to 26.59.

Such early-season results bode well for a bright 2026-27 Caltech Men's Swim & Dive season. The team opens its SCIAC season with a dual meet at Whitter College in Whittier, Calif. on Saturday Nov. 7 at 10:30 a.m.