Dane Stassi
Born Aug. 16, 1992 to parents, Rick and Lisa Ablett, Dan Stassi is a senior at the University of California, Berkeley. Swimming since he was four years old, Stassi is primarily a butterfly and freestyle specialist. Stassi started out his career at UC San Diego where he was a six-time DII All-American and national champion in the 200 butterfly. Originally from Irvine, Calif., Stassi attended Orange Coast Community College directly out of high school, but he did not join the swim team. After a year at OCCC, he made a name for himself at UCSD, but eventually wanted a Division I experience and transferred to Cal. The 6’4″ senior is studying Political Science, which he plans to follow up with law school. Growing up in southern California Stassi spent a lot of his time at the beach and some of his favorite hobbies include body surfing, body boarding — basically any time spent at the beach. He gets some of his athleticism from his mother, Lisa, who was a member of the crew team at UCLA.
UCSD
2011-2012
In his freshman year at UCSD Stassi qualified for the DII NCAA Championships. He made an immediate impact finishing fifth in the 200 butterfly and 13th in the 100. The UCSD team voted him Rookie of the Year.
2012-2013
His sophomore sesaon earned him multiple accolades including CollegeSwimming.com’s Division II Men’s Swimmer of the Week and UCSDtritons.com Athlete of the Week as well as one of 14 UCSD Athletes of the Year. He won the national championship in the 200 butterfly, he also placed seventh in the 100 butterfly.
UC Berkeley
2013-2014
At his first DI Conference Championship appearance Stassi finished 12th in the 200 butterfly, and 25th in the preliminaries of the 100 butterfly – he also tied for 41st in the 50 freestyle.
2014-2015
Stassi is in his senior year as a Cal Bear.
National Competition
The Woodbridge High School graduate was a two-time All-American. At the CIF Section Championship Stassi finished third in the 100 butterfly and fifth in the 100 backstroke as a senior.
He qualified for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials in the 200m butterfly where he tied for 41st.