Fourteen Medals

STANFORD, Calif. - Stanford women's swimmers Lia Neal, Katie Ledecky and Simone Manuel combined to win 14 medals at the FINA World Championships in Budapest, July 23-30.

Ledecky and Manuel each won five golds, and Neal added two more. Ledecky added a silver and Manuel earned a bronze to give Stanford the highest medal count of any NCAA program (men's and women's combined).

Stanford's Paul A. Violich Director of Women's Swimming Greg Meehan served as the women's head coach for Team USA. The Americans totaled a record 38 medals in swimming, while three other countries finished second in the swimming medal count with 10 apiece. 

The Stanford trio helped Team USA to a gold medal and American record in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay (3:31.72) on Day One in Hungary. Neal swam in the prelims, and Ledecky and Manuel took the final two legs of the final. 

Manuel helped set world records as the anchor in the 4x100 mixed free relay and the 4x100 mixed medley relay (3:51.55), while Neal was also a medalist with a swim in the prelims as a member of the 4x100 mixed free relay. Manuel won her first individual gold when she edged Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom by four-hundreths of a second (52.27). The Sugar Land, Texas native also earned bronze in the 50 free when she became the first American to break 24 seconds in the event (23.97).

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Ledecky earned her first gold in the 400-meter freestyle (3:58.34) to open the first day of competition, and finished the day at the top of the podium with Manuel and the 4x100 free relay team. Two days later, the Bethesda, Maryland product won the 1,500 free (15:31.82). Her final individual gold was in the 800 free (8:12.68) to give her three straight wins at long course Worlds in the 400, 800 and 1500 races. She also surpassed Missy Franklin for the most career gold medals at the World Championships. Ledecky tied for silver in the 200 free (1:55.18), and also took home gold in teh 4x200 free relay.

Ledecky and Manuel will return to Stanford to help the Cardinal defend its 2017 national championship.
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