STANFORD, Calif. – Seniors left their mark with a trio of pool records on Senior Day at Avery Aquatic Center as No. 1 Stanford women's swimming and diving topped No. 4 Cal, 186-110, on Saturday.
More importantly, outside of the pool, the Pac-12 rivals teamed up to raise more than $1,800 for Stanford University's Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, thanks to donations from the 2,018 energized fans in attendance, and several online donations. You can make a donation here.
Stanford (8-0, 7-0) finished the dual meet season unbeaten for the third straight season. The Cardinal has won 23 straight dual meets dating back to Feb. 14, 2015 against Cal – which also marks a string of 21 straight Pac-12 dual meet victories, and 16 consecutive wins at home.
Prior to the meet, the Cardinal celebrated the contributions of eight seniors—Kassidy Cook, Sammy Gallagher, Gracia Leydon Mahoney, Alex Meyers, Simone Manuel, Janet Hu, Ally Howe and Lindsey Engel. As a group, the Senior Class of 2018 has combined for nine Pac-12 All-Academic selections, 59 All-America honors and led the Cardinal to the program's first national championship in 19 years.
"It was an amazing way for our seniors to go out," Paul A. Violich Director of Women's Swimming Greg Meehan said. "They were a class that put this program on their shoulders and carried us to this point. They have come in and delivered for four years through performance, character and leadership. I'm so proud of them."
The large and loud crowd was on its feet for the finish of the first race. Each of the first four teams in the 200-yard medley relay were under the pool record and within seven-tenths of a second. In the end, three Stanford seniors -- Howe, Hu and Manuel -- and freshman Grace Zhao set the new standard at 1:37.18. Manuel took the anchor leg and made up a deficit in a dramatic finish that broke a six-year-old pool record.
Howe and Hu each celebrated their final home meet with individual facility records, while Manuel added another victory. Hu, who also won the 100 butterfly at 51.93, broke her pool record in the 100 backstroke. She hit the wall at 51.63, just ahead of Howe (51.92), and her old mark of 51.83. Meanwhile, Howe ends her career as the Avery record holder in the 200 back. She tapped the wall at 1:53.67 and broke the standard held by Cal's Amy Bilquist (1:53.80) since 2016. And in the 100 free, Manuel won with a finish of 48.45, and still holds the pool record in that event at 47.38.
When you've got a pool full of Olympians, records are bound to be broken.@stanfordwswim's @simone_manuel, Janet Hu, and @allyjoyhowe picked up new pool records in the Card's victory over Cal.#Pac12Swim pic.twitter.com/m2V99b3Isx
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) February 10, 2018
Not lost among a day for the seniors, sophomore Katie Ledecky pulled off another incredible double in the 1000 and 200 free. She raced to a 30-second victory and stopped the clock at 9:13.74 in the distance event. She was followed by classmate Megan Byrnes (9:47.42) and junior Leah Stevens (9:49.68) as the Cardinal swept the podium. Ledecky jumped right back in the water for the next event and won the sprint in similarly dominating fashion -- her time of 1:43.00 was more than two seconds better than the rest of the field.
Ledecky also claimed a substantial victory in the 500 free. She led a group of four straight Cardinal finishers with a winning time of 4:34.54. Sophomore Katie Drabot was second (4:48.02), followed by Stevens (4:50.09) and Byrnes (4:50.76).
On the boards, sophomore Haley Farnsworth swept both events. She won the 1-meter with a score of 303.00 and was tops on the 3-meter with a score of 336.75. Freshman Mia Paulsen was the runner-up on the lower board with a score of 326.55 -- they were the only two divers to score over 300.
A pair of Stanford freshmen swept the breaststroke. Zhao edged Kim Williams (1:01.72) and won her third straight in the 100 with a finish of 1:01.27, while Brooke Forde edged Zhao in the 200 with a winning time of 2:12.07.
Junior Ella Eastin won a pair of events. She battled with Drabot (1:54.17) in the 200 butterfly once again, but eged out her teammate with a time of 1:53.79. Eastin also won the 200 individual medley at 1:56.84.
Saturday's win marked the end of the regular season and the beginning of the postseason. First up, the Pac-12 Championships are slated for Feb. 21-24 in Federal Way, Washington. The NCAA Championships are in Columbus, Ohio, March 14-17.
#GoStanford