STANFORD, Calif. — No. 8 Stanford men’s swimming and diving hosted the first day of a double dual with No. 3 Arizona State and No. 4 California on Friday afternoon at Avery Aquatics Center. Stanford holds a strong 125-73 lead over the Golden Bears while trailing Arizona State 106-90 after Friday’s action.
Double duals feature split head-to-head results. Stanford competes directly against both California and Arizona State, with a chance to earn multiple wins over top 10 programs in the same afternoon.
The day began with Stanford receiving a massive win from Ethan Ekk in the 1000 free. The freshman was incredible, leading the first 24 laps before giving way to fellow freshman Ryan Erisman of California past the midway point. He recovered to lead the final laps that mattered, pulling ahead by over a second with a time of 8:42.25. Not only is it a new personal best for Ekk, but it is a new school record, breaking the mark set by Grant Shoults in 2022.
The next Stanford win came in the 200 free, with Jason Zhao taking care of business in the second heat with a time of 1:34.93, edging out JT Ewing of Arizona State by less than a second. It is the first win in the career of Zhao, another freshman, and when paired with the Gibson Holmes win in the 200 fly that followed a few races later, it helped give Stanford an advantage over California midway through the dual.
Stanford did not pull off any other individual wins, but still recorded fast times in some close battles. Ekk was a factor once again in the 400 IM, where he was closing on Michael Hochwalt of Arizona State. He fell by less than half of a second despite closing in by several strokes over the final two laps. Ekk finished with a 3:44.78, while Hochwalt won with a 3:44.33.
Gone are the days of NCAA “A” Standard and “B” Standard times, with the NCAA moving to a single qualifying mark. Stanford hit that in a number of events, all chronicled below:
- 200 free – Henry McFadden (1:32.73)
- 200 fly – Gibson Holmes (1:42.35)
- 100 breast – Zhier Fan (52.44)
- 100 free – Andres Dupont Cabrera (42.17)
- 1m Diving – Misha Andriyuk (302.95)
- 3m Diving – Gunnar Grubbs (382.85)
Andriyuk finished third in 1-meter diving with his 302.95, and Stanford also saw the debuts of Gunnar Grubbs and Grant Schneider on the diving side. Grubbs finished fourth behind Andriyuk, scoring 281.30. Grubbs took the top spot in 3-meter diving with a 382.85, hitting an impressive NCAA standard right out of the chute.
All three teams will reconvene tomorrow morning at Spieker Aquatics Complex in Berkeley. The first heats begin at 11 a.m. with eight scheduled races on deck for the Cardinal. The second day will once again be televised on ACC Network Extra