Year in Review

STANFORD, Calif. - Stanford women's swimming and diving capped another memorable season with an unbeaten dual meet record, a third straight Pac-12 championship and its third consecutive NCAA championship.

Tree-Peat National Champions» Stanford was the first school to win three straight NCAA women's swimming titles since Auburn did so from 2002-04. Stanford last won three in a row during a five-year run from 1992-96.
» Stanford has won 12 national titles and 11 NCAA championships, both are the most all-time.
» Stanford's 22 NCAA qualifiers (18 swimmers, four divers) were the most in the nation.
» The Cardinal had 18 different All-Americans combine for 51 All-America honors, two individual national championships and one relay title.
» Stanford finished with 456.5 points and earned its 39th straight top-eight finish (every year the NCAA has sponsored a championship meet), including 15 top-five showings in the last 16 years. Cal was second with 419 points and Michigan was third with 314.
» Cardinal freshmen combined to score 127 points, which was the most of any class (any school) at the NCAA meet. At her first NCAA Championships, Ruck led all Stanford athletes with seven All-America honors.

Splash. ?? #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/LpRx49OMLf

— Stanford WSwim/Dive (@stanfordwswim) March 24, 2019

» Senior Ella Eastin became the first woman in NCAA history to win four straight national titles in the 400-yard individual medley. Only one man has accomplished the feat, USC's David Wharton from 1988-91.
» Sophomore Brooke Forde highlighted Stanford's second day at the NCAA Championships with a national title in the 500-yard freestyle. She finished with the fifth-fastest time in NCAA history, 4:31.34, to earn her first individual national title. It is the second-fastest time in school history behind only Katie Ledecky (4:24.06). 
» Forde and Eastin were also members of Stanford's national champion 800 free relay on opening night. Joined by junior Katie Drabot and freshman Taylor Ruck, Stanford won in 6:47.22. It marked the seventh consecutive NCAA relay title for Stanford, which swept all five in 2018 and won the final relay in 2017.  
» Stanford had 13 different individual scorers on the final day, including Eastin and Ruck, who each earned silver medals. Ruck set a school record in the 200 backstroke with a second-place finish of 1:47.59. She is the first Stanford swimmer to break 1:48 in the event as she topped the previous record by -- set by Eastin earlier this year -- by more than a second. 
» A full day-by-day NCAA recap is here. 

National champion??
?????500 Free
?: 4:31.34

Congrats, @forde_b! #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/TG6VLZ2ClZ

— Stanford WSwim/Dive (@stanfordwswim) March 21, 2019

Pac-12 Champions» Stanford is the first school to win three consecutive Pac-12 Conference titles since Arizona from 2006-08. The Wildcats and Cardinal are the only programs to three-peat as Stanford also did so as champions of the first 13 conference meets (1987-99). 
» Stanford won six individual events by four individuals -- Ella Eastin (500 free, 200 back, 400 IM), Mia Paulsen (platform), Leah Stevens (1650 free) and Grace Zhao (200 breast). 
» Eastin finished her career with nine individual Pac-12 titles, which is tied for fourth-most in conference history.
» The top-ranked Cardinal's 1,775 points were the third-most ever scored at the Pac-12 Championships – just 1.5 points shy of last year's national title team and 29 points fewer than Stanford's 1992 national championship team that famously featured several Olympians, including Summer Sanders and Jenny Thompson.
» Cal finished as the runner-up with 1,352 points. The 423-point difference is the largest margin of victory at this meet since Stanford outscored runner-up UCLA by 599.5 points in 1996. 
» Stanford has won four titles under Meehan, and has never finished lower than second in his seven seasons. The Cardinal also extended its streak to 10 straight seasons in the top two at the conference meet (six titles, four runner-up finishes). Overall, this is Stanford's 22nd conference title, most all-time.

?????? in a row! #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/UyJOuXlRst

— Stanford WSwim/Dive (@stanfordwswim) March 3, 2019

Unbeaten Again

» Stanford finished undefeated in dual meets for the fourth straight season.
» Seniors Ella Eastin, Leah Stevens and Kim Williams finished their careers with an unblemished record of 30-0.
» Stanford has won 29 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 27 straight Pac-12 dual meet victories since that loss.
» The Cardinal has also won 19 straight dual meets at home dating back to Oct. 30, 2014 against Texas (156-144).
» Stanford finished the regular season atop the polls for the fourth straight season.

A four-year journey: "Everyone here is so special and I think you forget that in the midst of it."

My Stanford Story: @kim_williams22#GoStanford pic.twitter.com/ittMU0TWEP

— Stanford WSwim/Dive (@stanfordwswim) March 20, 2019

Championships and Otter Pops

» To plainly declare a goal like the "Olympics" used to scare senior swimmer Ella Eastin. Now, it drives her. After winning the 400 IM crown and NCAA team championship, the next hope is that the world will take notice.

"I'm just waiting for the world to have mercy on me a little bit," @stanfordwswim's Ella Eastin says. "To be able to prove myself in a moment where it matters." https://t.co/hQvz9cM9vt pic.twitter.com/LrFgtLSHAI

— Stanford University (@Stanford) April 28, 2019

Award Winners and Honorees

» Freshman Carolina Sculti was named the Pac-12 Women's Diving Newcomer of the Year and Taylor Ruck was selected as the Pac-12 Women's Swimming Newcomer of the Year. Ruck is the fifth straight Cardinal to win Pac-12 Swimming Newcomer of the Year and the eighth in school history. Sculti is the program's sixth Pac-12 Diving Newcomer of the Year and first since Haley Farnsworth in 2017. 
» Senior human biology major Ella Eastin was recognized as the Pac-12 Women's Swimming and Diving Scholar Athlete of the Year. A full rundown of her accolades is here.
» All 16 eligible members of the Stanford women's swimming and diving team were named to the Pac-12 All-Academic teams. Stanford led the league with six first-team honorees. A full list of the Cardinal honorees is here.
 

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Two-time All-American. Best of the @pac12conference freshmen. #GoStanford

A post shared by Stanford W. Swim/Dive (@stanfordwswim) on Apr 2, 2019 at 1:32pm PDT

2019 National Champions
Relays/Individuals

2019 All-Americans

Summer Cardinal

»  Greg Meehan was named head coach for Team USA at the 2019 FINA World Championships, and Tracy Slusser will lead Team USA at the World University Games in July. More info is here.
» Stanford will also be well-represented on the World University Games and World Championships rosters. You can follow Cardinal women's swimming and diving all summer long on instagram, twitter and Facebook (@StanfordWSwim). 
» Next summer, Meehan will serve as head coach of Team USA at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. More on that Dec. 3 announcement is here. 

In 7 years under Meehan/Slusser:

?? » 3 NCAA championships
?? » 4 Pac-12 championships
?? » 17 national champ. relays
?? » 25 individual NCAA champs
?? » 36 different All-Americans
?? » 278 All-America honors#GoStanford

— Stanford WSwim/Dive (@stanfordwswim) May 1, 2019

Future Cardinal

» Stanford has a bright future ahead as well. The newest Cardinal include Kira Crage, Alex Crisera, Emma Wheal and Julia Wortman.
» Crage specializes in the freestyle, Crisera's strokes include the free and back, Wheal primarily swims the sprint frees and Wortman is a diver. Two hail from California, one from Florida and another from Texas. 
» For a more in-depth look at the incoming freshman class, click here.
 

#GoStanford