Occidental’s swim team opened its season at University of Redlands’ Bulldog Pentathlon Oct. 4. The men’s and women’s teams both finished third overall.
Ella Reedy* (senior) said this meet was not an official SCIAC meet, but their race times still counted toward the individual athlete’s SwimCloud times. She said the Bulldog Pentathlon is a good meet for returning swimmers to gain a baseline for their times following the six-month summer break from their intensive in-season practices.
Callum McDonald (junior) said swimmers used this meet as a place to experiment, particularly with a crossover turn, a technique the swim team recently implemented.
“It’s kind of like racing in practice — we’re experimenting with different things, especially with the whole team doing crossover turns, which is a new concept for a lot of people,” McDonald said.
Reedy said she is excited to enter her final season and feels her role on the team is unique, as she took her sophomore season off and is not a captain.
“I don’t have a bona fide leadership role on the team,” Reedy said. “With the freshmen, we get a lot of people who are adjusting to life at college, which is really, really hard, […] so making sure we let first years know that we’re [here] for them is really important.”
Brandon Kim (junior) said he is a member of JEDI, an organization that runs justice, equity, diversity and inclusion talks for all Occidental NCAA athletics. He said the first JEDI meeting the swim team had included a video about Natalie Nakase — the first Asian WNBA head coach.
“It’s super important to have these talks […] because if [they are] not feeling included, people generally don’t tend to perform well,” Kim said.
Isaac Bassett (senior), a member of the dive team, said they do not have their first meet until Nov. 8. He also said he and the four other divers are all excited to welcome Jean Luc Miralda as their new head coach, while also building a new relationship with the swim team.
“During my first three years here, we didn’t practice at all together, except for Saturdays,” Bassett said. “We’ve switched to morning practices, so we’re all on the deck together […] We all get to know each other really well.”
Violet Schultz* (senior) is the only senior on the women’s dive team. Schultz said she transferred to Occidental before her sophomore year, and that having upperclassmen welcome her to the dive team was beneficial to her adjustment.
“Having four girls that had been on the team for the past two or three years really helped me transition,” Schultz said. “It’s nice to step into their shoes, and be that person […] for the other divers.”
All members of the swim and dive team said they are looking forward to winter training, when the team is essentially alone on campus. Schultz said the team missed much of 2025 winter training due to the Southern California wildfires, so she is excited to be on campus this year.
“This winter, we are going to a meet in Fresno with the swimmers, [and] this is our first travel meet,” Schultz said. “So during winter training, we’ll be [in Fresno] for two nights.”
Reedy said she sees her teammates so frequently that, despite swimming being mostly an individual sport, the team has a unique bond.
“We’re breaking our bodies down and then building them back up,” Reedy said. “We’re going through mental blocks, maybe [swimming] times that we aren’t happy with. Going through that with someone is very different than seeing a friend or a peer.”
McDonald said the team is very collaborative and that all his teammates are constantly working toward the same goal.
“It’s kind of like an art class,” McDonald said. “Everyone has their own art piece that they’re working on, and then everyone goes around and says ‘great job.’”
*Ella Reedy is a former staff writer for The Occidental.
*Violet Schultz is a copy editor for The Occidental.
Contact Abigail Montopoli at montopoli@oxy.edu
