Women’s Swim & Dive Earns Runner-Up at Occidental Invite

Caltech Women’s Swim & Dive competed at the 2024 Occidental Invitational over the weekend where they secured a strong second-place finish fueled by two school records, multiple individual victories and a host of all-time program top-10 times.

The Beavers scored 931 points, beating out the hosting Tigers of Occidental College who totaled 701.

Perhaps the squad’s most significant result of the weekend came out of the 500-yard freestyle, where first-year Grace Tuhabonye (Austin, Texas / St. Andrew’s Episcopal) took first place over 15 other athletes with a blazing, program-record time of 5:06.13. The rookie took over three full seconds off the previous school record of 5:09.35, which had stood for nearly seven full years. Tuhabonye cleared her seed time by over seven seconds en route to earning the win over a stacked field.

First-year Elizabeth Ma (Burien, Wash. / Mount Rainier) followed her classmate with a time of 5:14.31 to move up to fourth on the all-time program recordboard for the 500 Free.

Ma went on to grab a school record of her own later in the meet as she posted an exceptional time of 4:35.52 in the 400-yard IM, toppling the previous record by over a second and safely earning the overall race victory. Sophomore Karen Zhou (Trophy Club, Texas / Byron Nelson) followed Ma in second place, tapping the wall at 4:44.03. Zhou currently sits at No. 3 all-time on the program’s all-time event record list.

Junior Jana Woo (Saratoga, Calif. / Monta Vista) went home with a pair of wins after taking first in both diving events. The all-time school record-holder at both heights earned a near-40 point victory in the 3-meter with a score of 295.15 after scoring 270.15 in the 1-meter to win by nearly 26 points. The star beat out a field of seven in both competitions.

For her superb performances and victories on both boards, the conference awarded Woo SCIAC Diver of the Week honors.

Rookie Ava Balanon (Vacaville, Calif. / Buckingham Collegiate Charter) followed Woo with a runner-up finish in the 3-meter (257.75) and a third-place result in the 1-meter (230.00). The first-year’s 11-dive score in the 3-meter (453.50) puts her third all-time in program history while her championship 1-meter score (416.70) moves her all the way up to second, behind Woo.

First-year Kassie Kristufek (McKinney, Texas / McKinney) finished fourth in both competitions; her 11-dive score in the 1-meter (385.85) puts her fourth in Caltech Women’s Diving history.

Sophomore Beatrice Cai (Princeton, N.J. / Princeton HS) collected a second-place finish in a field of 15 in the 100-yard butterfly, swimming a 58.51; she put in another runner-up performance in the 200 Fly, clocking in at 2:12.45. Cai sits fifth all-time in the program records for both events.

Tuhabonye put in another superb effort as she took on the 200-yard freestyle, finishing second among 13 with a time of 1:56.91. The star’s time of 1:55.56 earlier this season put her third all-time on the program’s all-time list. Sophomore Emily Yu (Toronto, Can. / University of Toronto Schools) followed Tuhabonye in the 200 Free, grabbing third with a near-PR of 1:58.62. Yu’s personal-best time of 1:58.36 ranks fifth all-time in Caltech 200 Free history.

Zhou swam the 200-yard breaststroke on Sunday, tapping the wall at 2:30.69 to grab fourth and narrowly improve her personal best; her name sits fourth all-time in Caltech history for the event.

Ma added to her already-noteworthy weekend with an 18:09.72 showing in the 1650-yard freestyle, putting her fourth all-time on the Caltech program record sheets for the distance.

Sophomore Allison Xin (Broomfield, Colo. / Stargate Charter) just narrowly missed out on the victory and her personal best in the 100-yard backstroke, clocking a time of 1:00.55 to finish runner-up behind the winning time of 1:00.08. The Beaver’s personal record of 1:00.46 has her eighth all-time in program history.

Ma, Zhou, senior Natalie Lee (Westfield, N.J. / Union County Magnet) and Cai joined forces for the 200-yard freestyle relay, where the group placed third among 11 with a time of 1:40.64. The time moves the four athletes up to fifth all-time on the program recordsheets. Tuhabonye along with sophomore Isabel Xu (East Setauket, N.Y. / Ward Melville), Xin and Yu finished nearly right with them, clocking in at 1:40.80 for fourth place and sixth all-time on the program recordboards.

Other highlights from the meet include a runner-up finish in the 200 Medley, where Xin, Zhou, Cai and Yu swam a 1:50.24 to beat out 10 other teams and put themselves No. 7 on the Caltech Women’s Swim & Dive 200 Medley record list.

The women’s 400 Free Relay squad — comprised of Yu, Zhou, Xu and Cai — placed third in the race and sixth in Caltech history after combining for a time of 3:39.38. Yu’s split of 53.94 seconds puts her fifth on the program’s 100 Free recordboard.

Head coach Andrew Brabson and the team will now turn their attention towards their upcoming SCIAC tri-meet on Saturday, Jan. 4 as Caltech hosts Cal Lutheran and the University of Redlands at Braun and Alumni Pools. Action begins at 10:30 a.m.; stay tuned to GoCaltech.com for more information.

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