Eaton Fire prompts athlete evacuation, impacts winter training

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Courtesy of Joseph Perrino

Caroline Agostini (senior), a recently elected captain of the swim team, was out to eat at a Korean barbecue restaurant with 30 other swim team members, including the other five captains, Jan. 7.

As the Eaton fire raged on nearby, Agostini said she and the team wondered — what would it take for morning practice to get cancelled?

According to Agostini, in a group chat with co-captains Sarah Radle, Carter Park, Matthew Spruance, Joshua Biggs, Nicholas Cantrell, and Candace Farling (all seniors) it was decided that every member of the swim and dive team should prepare a go-bag, in the event that they had to leave campus due to the fires.

Courtesy of Caroline Agostini

According to Agostini, her and others were awoken by an Apple alert Jan. 8, advising that the area around Occidental was considered hazardous. Using the same group chat, swim and dive captains decided to make plans for evacuation immediately, and in 15 minutes the team assembled. On their way out of Newcomb hall around 7:15 a.m., Agostini said they spotted a familiar face.

“Tom Stritikus was at the front door of Newcomb saying ‘Have fun guys!’ as we were getting in our cars ready to leave,” Agostini said.

An email from the Occidental mailing system was sent out to all students and faculty at 7:30 a.m., advising everyone to evacuate campus. By that time, the swim and dive team (and other students who were still on campus and needed a place to go) were already en route to Park’s house in Irvine.

“We decided to use my house as a central point to figure out everything and go from there […] we opened up a notes document to figure out who could house people in the SoCal area,” Park said.

Swim and dive athletes’ lodging was mainly split between the residences of Biggs and Park, with some students opting to stay in hotels. During this time, Park said that he felt that communication with administration was scattered, making their decision to stay off campus easier.

“The feedback from administration was not that helpful, there was mixed communication in [following] emails on whether or not campus was open” Park said. They [continued] to recommend people to evacuate, but it was not mandatory.”

With all the confusion and chaos, Agostini said she was worried about her performance in upcoming meets having missed several days of practice.

“These few weeks are crucial […] winter training can make or break the season,” Agostini said. “We can get up [to practice] at 6 a.m. for 10 weeks straight in the fall, but it won’t matter unless you’re there for winter training […] going down to nothing is absolutely a detriment to our season.”

Nicky Clotfelter (junior), a player on the men’s basketball team, also said he made the decision to evacuate Jan. 8. Anahit Aladzhanyan, head coach of the women’s basketball team, confirmed via email that the men’s and women’s basketball teams both evacuated Jan. 8.

“My roommate woke me up to start packing,” Clotfelter said. “We called some coaches before making the decision to leave campus […] I’m from San Diego so we took six of my teammates in a few cars down there. Sophomores went to Reece Ballard’s house in the LA area, other students stayed with family wherever they could find.”

Nicky Clotfelter (junior) outside the Tiger Cooler at Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA. Jan. 29, 2025. Ben Petteruti/The Occidental

According to Clotfelter, men’s basketball missed three games as well as practice sessions, which is set to have a huge impact on their schedule moving forward.

“Usually our SCIAC schedule is Wednesday and Saturday games,” Clotfelter said.
“Because of rescheduling, we now have to play on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. We played our first game on Monday [Jan. 13] with basically no preparation.”

According to Assistant Athletic Director for Communications Joe Perrino, six events were rescheduled in total; three men’s basketball games, two women’s basketball games and a swim and dive meet which was originally scheduled to take place at Occidental.

“Coaches were really good about [communicating with other schools to get games rescheduled],” Perrino said. “We were really making sure that conditions were safe for the athletes and that they wouldn’t get stuck in a bad situation being here. The smoke came down over here, and it was sitting very ominously above the whole region.”

Courtesy of Joseph Perrino

Despite the hardship and turmoil, Agostini said the experience provided an opportunity for further team connection and support.

“Winter training in particular is a time where we’ll all living and practicing together, so I call it summer camp,” Agostini said. “There was a huge push in everyone bonding together […] A freshman came up to me and said ‘I really got to know some of my fellow swimmers because we had to go through that stress together.'”

According to Clotfelter, a unique bonding experience was also created in his house by taking home four first-years that he did not know very well.

“They [the first-years] got to know me, my family and my parents,” Clotfelter said. “We’ve had a crazy season so far with injuries, so this was a great time for us to all come together. I feel like we all responded very well. The president [Tom Stritikus] was also in communication with my mom, thanking her for taking care of members of the team.”

Contact Ben Petteruti at petteruti@oxy.edu

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