STANFORD, Calif. -- It was an ideal atmosphere for Stanford on Saturday morning. With rival Cal in the building, the Cardinal’s seniors won six individual events to lead Stanford to a 167-133 win in front of a large crowd during the team’s final home dual.
“It’s a tribute to the kind of people and the kind of competitors they are,” said head coach Greg Meehan of the senior class.
Seniors Felicia Lee and Maya DiRado each accounted for two of the individual wins, while classmates Andi Taylor and diver Stephanie Phipps picked up one apiece.
Lee said afterwards, “It has been a great four years with my class and couldn’t have ended up on a better note, but we still have more to go.”
Meehan echoed Lee’s thinking towards the future, saying, “It wasn’t pretty, in a lot of senses. I think both teams are struggling through some fatigue and are still working hard as we gear up towards the end of the season. But regardless it was great racing.”
Stanford’s first win of the morning came in an exciting 200 medley relay which the Cardinal won by .09 seconds in 1:39.14. The energy from the near capacity crowd could be felt during the first race of the Pac-12 Networks broadcast and continued throughout.
Maddy Schaefer barely touched ahead of Cal’s Kaylin Bing to bring home the victory between a pair of first-place showings from the Bears’ Missy Franklin.
Franklin, a four-time Olympic gold medalist, won three events on the day, the 100, 200 and 1,000 freestyles, to help Cal keep pace. After Franklin’s third win, Stanford had totaled five victories with Cal at four through nine races.
After that, it was all Cardinal. Katie Olsen, who won both breaststroke races, started a streak of five straight Stanford wins by taking the 200 breast (2:11.23).
Three consecutive Stanford seniors followed Olsen in the top spots, as Taylor (500 free, 4:49.06), Lee (100 fly, 52.74), and DiRado (200 IM, 1:57.62) propelled the Cardinal.
“The meet was really back-and-forth and it never really felt like we took control or they gave up,” noted DiRado. “To look up and see that score is really rewarding.”
Phipps’ claimed the three-meter competition around the same time the trio was putting together its run on the other side of the stands. She totaled a 323.25 after finishing second in the one-meter.
“The divers did well overall,” said diving coach Dr. Rick Schavone. “Cal’s diver Anne (Kastler) is an excellent diver – a national-level diver – so losing to her on one-meter was not a big surprise, but coming back on three-meter was very important going into the championship season. Stephanie will be facing her again at (the Pac-12 meet) and Zones, so believing she can beat her is important.”
Maddy Schaefer and Lia Neal also highlighted the front half of the meet with a 1-2 showing in the 50 free.
Fans from Stanford and Cal raised nearly $2,000 for the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford during the meet. The organization accepted donations on the concourse during most of the action.
The Cardinal, which finished 10-0 in dual meets, moves on to the championship portion of the season. Next up is the Pac-12 meet Feb. 26-March 1 in Federal Way, Wash.