COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Senior Maya DiRado turned in three NCAA A-cut qualifying times and Stanford won all five relays at the Art Adamson Invitational this weekend to help the No. 7 Cardinal women’s swimming and diving team finish second, behind No. 4 Texas A&M, 1,356.5-1,276.5. Stanford recorded five other individual A-cuts and each relay team eclipsed the NCAA standard.
Senior Felicia Lee established a new school record and junior Maddy Schaefer tied another during the invite. Lee broke her own mark of 51.58 in the 100 back with a 51.46 and Schaefer stopped the clock in 21.78 during the 50 free to even Betsy Webb’s 2012 record. The two also swam a leg in all five relays.
“I'm really pleased with our team performance this weekend,” head coach Greg Meehan said after the meet. “We were very good across all the strokes, distances and specifically our relay teams. We had great swims from our senior class all the way down to our outstanding freshman. But at the end of the day, we are looking for greater successes come March, and we leave this meet with the knowledge of how to get better from now until then.”
DiRado’s A-times came in the 200 fly (1:54.47), 200 IM (1:53.50) and 400 IM (4:00.88). The Santa Rosa, Calif., clocked faster times in both of the IM races compared to last year’s NCAA meet. Last March, she was third in the 200 IM (1:53.86) and second in the 400 IM (4:01.02) in Indianapolis. The 200 fly and 200 IM finishes are the best of the 15-time All American’s Stanford career.
Freshman Lia Neal also put together an impressive weekend with two A-cuts (100 free, 200 free) and a narrow miss of the 100 free school record. Neal touched the wall at 47.48 in the event, just .04 off of Julia Smit’s program-record performance from 2009.
Along with her record-tying 50 free, Schaefer also produced a 47.75 in the 100 free to finish second behind Neal and give herself two A-qualifying times.
Off of the boards, senior Stephanie Phipps took the three-meter crown by a 33.2-point margin. Freshman Kassidy Cook was second off of the one-meter and sophomore Lilly Hinrichs was runner-up in the platform competition.
Stanford held the meet’s lead after Thursday’s action, but the Aggies pulled ahead during the second day. Texas A&M used a run of five straight event victories on Friday to take the lead they did not relinquish.
The meet concluded the 2013 portion of the schedule for Stanford’s swimmers, while the divers still have Winter National Champions in Austin, Texas, Dec. 15-22. The team comes together again for a dual meet at Texas Jan. 4.
NCAA A-cut Qualifying Times
Maya DiRado – 200 fly (1:54.47), 200 IM (1:53.50), 400 IM (4:00.88)
Felicia Lee – 100 back (51.46)
Lia Neal – 100 free (47.48), 200 free (1:43.86)
Maddy Schaefer – 50 free (21.78), 100 free (47.75)
200 free relay – 1:27.88
400 free relay – 3:13.01
800 free relay – 6:58.57
200 medley relay – 1:36.79
400 medley relay – 3:30.73
School Records
Felicia Lee – 100 back (51.46)
Maddy Schaefer – 50 free (21.78)*
* - tied for program best