NCAA's Await

Stanford Notes | Live Results | Live Stream | Psyche Sheet | Championships Home

STANFORD, Calif. - One more meet remains. No. 1 Stanford will send 14 swimmers and two divers to the NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana, Wednesday through Saturday.

Fresh off a Pac-12 championship, Stanford (8-0, 7-0 Pac-12) eyes its first NCAA title since 1998. The Cardinal has won more national titles than any program (eight NCAA, one AIAW) and most recently, has finished in the top three at the NCAA meet in each of the last three years, including runner-up in 2014 and 2016.

SCHEDULE: See Stanford's full day-by-day schedule below.

WATCH: ESPN3 will stream live the championship finals sessions on Friday and Saturday. All sessions not streamed by ESPN will be streamed live on the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships microsite at www.indianasportscorp.org/ncaasd. Tape delayed coverage of the championships will be broadcast on ESPNU at 4 p.m. PT on March 28.

MORE CARDINAL: Stanford's 16 qualifiers is three more than the Cardinal sent to the NCAA meet last year – 13 traveled to Atlanta (10 swimmers, three divers) and finished as the national runner-up. In addition, Stanford has an additional 17 swims from last year – the Cardinal had 25 individual entries in 2016, but upped that to 42 this year.

YOUNG FACES: Only two of Stanford's 16 NCAA qualifiers are true seniors (Lia Neal and Nicole Stafford). The rest of the Cardinal will be back in 2017-18. It will be a fairly young squad as more than half are underclassmen – six freshmen and three sophomores – but also an experienced group as 10 of the 16 bring NCAA experience (only the freshmen will be making their NCAA debuts).

TOP SEEDS: Stanford has an individual favorite in 10 of the 13 swimming events, and is the favorite in four of five relays. That includes every freestyle race as Simone Manuel enters the meet with the fastest times in the country this year in the 50, 100 and 200 free, and freshman Katie Ledecky has posted the top times in the 500 and 1650 free. Sophomore Ella Eastin owns the fastest finishes in the 200 butterfly and both individual medleys this year, while Janet Hu is the top seed in the 100 butterfly and Ally Howe is the favorite in the 100 backstroke.

NCAA TEAM HISTORY: The Cardinal has registered 36 straight top-eight finishes (every year the NCAA has sponsored a championship meet), and 12 top-five showings in the last 13 years. Stanford has won the NCAA title eight times, the most of any team in the nation, and won an AIAW title in 1980. The Cardinal last raised a championship banner in 1998. Under head coach Greg Meehan, Stanford has finished eighth (2013), second (2014), third (2015) and second (2016) at the national championship meet.

LAST YEAR: At the 2016 NCAA Championships in Atlanta, Georgia, Stanford was within striking distance of the national title heading into the final event, but finished with its second runner-up finish in three years. In all, Stanford had 10 different All-Americans combine for 35 All-America honors, three individual national championships (Ella Eastin swept the medleys and Gracia Leydon Mahoney was tops on the platform) and two NCAA relay titles (both medleys).
 

PAC-12 CHAMPIONS: Stanford won its Pac-12 record 20th conference championship. After three straight runner-up finishes, the Cardinal finished atop the conference for the first time since 2013. The Cardinal garnered 1,587 points to top runner-up Cal's 1,392 points and USC, which finished third with 1,250 points. Stanford set five American records and won 15 of the 21 events, and freshman Katie Ledecky was named Swimmer of the Meet.
 

tfw you accomplish one of your #SquadGoals #GoStanford #Pac12Swim

A post shared by Stanford W. Swimming (@stanfordwswim) on Feb 25, 2017 at 9:44pm PST

REGULAR SEASON RECAP: For the second straight year, Stanford (8-0, 7-0 Pac-12) finished unbeaten in dual meets. Five of the eight victories came against teams ranked in the Top 20, including three against foes in the top five – No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Cal and No. 4 USC. The Cardinal topped the Longhorns, 161-137, on Nov. 12 in Palo Alto and also defeated the Trojans at Avery Aquatic Center, 202-98, on Jan. 28. Most recently, Stanford won the Big Swim at rival Cal, 177-123, on Feb. 11.
 

STREAKS: Stanford has won 15 straight dual meets. The Cardinal's last defeat in a dual was to No. 3 Cal on Feb. 14, 2015 – which also marks a string of 14 straight Pac-12 dual meet victories since that loss. The Cardinal has also won 11 straight dual meets at home dating back to Oct. 30, 2014 against Texas (156-144).

TOP OF THE POLLS: Also for the second straight year, Stanford finished No. 1 in the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) poll. Stanford received 325 points, Texas was second with 306 and Cal was third with 303.

REASON TO SMILE: Must Read: Senior Nicole Stafford finally has gained the upper hand on a rare condition that threatened her swimming career » stanford.io/2l3QiMo

CARDINAL IN THE COMMUNITY: Outside of the pool, the Cardinal has been just as active this year. Many members of the team were part of the Stanford SAAC event on the Sunday prior to Halloween. The student-athletes—most in full costume—joined groups of young children to #TrickorTREEt in Palo Alto. Also this Fall, the team hosted a group of young local swimmers from San Jose to talk water safety and spend some time in the pool as part of a PSA with USA Swimming. Most recently, the team taught some young fans swimming technique prior to a Stanford women's basketball game for National Girls and Women in Sports Day.

HONORS: Stanford earned Scholar All-America team accolades from the CSCAA with a combined team GPA of 3.59 – tops in the Pac-12. … Kassidy Cook was named Pac-12 Diver of the Month for January after she won all four of her events on the 1-meter … Katie Ledecky was the Pac-12 Swimmer of the Month after her record-setting performances in November and the Swimmer of the Meet at the Pac-12 Conference Championships … Also in November, Ledecky and Simone Manuel won Golden Goggles for Athlete of the Year, and Female Race of the Year, respectively.

CAPTAINS: Seniors Lia Neal, Lindsey Engel and Nicole Stafford were selected to lead the Cardinal for the 2016-17 season. The trio has helped guide Stanford to top-three NCAA finishes in their first three seasons.

WHAT'S AHEAD: Head coach Greg Meehan will serve as head women's coach for Team USA at the 2017 World Championships as announced by USA Swimming. The 17th FINA World Aquatics Championships will be held in Budapest, Hungary, from July 14–30, 2017.

SOCIAL SCENE: You can follow Cardinal women's swimming and diving all year long on instagram, twitter and snapchat (@StanfordwSwim).

#GoStanford