Despite winning the Pac-10 Championships last month in a season when the conference was particularly strong, the Stanford women’s swimming team could not repeat the performance at the NCAA Championships, placing fourth as a team and failing to win any individual events.
The Cardinal’s 272-point finish was over 150 points behind California, which took home the title just over a month after ending Stanford’s 33-match winning streak in a dual meet. The Golden Bears (474 points) were followed by Georgia (394.5), USC (351) and Stanford, while Arizona gave the Pac-10 four of the top five in the final standings with 266 points.
Stanford finished in the top five in eight events, led by second-place finishes in the 200 IM by freshman Maya DiRado and in the 100 freestyle by senior Kate Dwelley. DiRado was also third in the 400 IM and senior Meg Hostage placed third in the one-meter.
Three of the Cardinal’s core group of seniors — Dwelley, Hostage and Liz Smith — finished their collegiate careers with top-10 finishes. Dwelley anchored the fifth-place Stanford 400 free relay team in the final event, which was one of seven All-America finishes Dwelley received in the meet. Hostage added a seventh-place finish in the platform and a 13th-place finish in the three-meter, while Smith became an All-American in the 200 breast for the fourth straight year with a ninth-place finish.
Dwelley will leave Stanford ranking eighth in team history with 23 All-America honors, while Smith finished with 13.
The fourth-place team finish marks the sixth time Stanford has been in the top five during head coach Lea Maurer’s six seasons at the Farm.
–Jacob Jaffe