Swimming and Diving: Men, women cruise past Wisconsin

Nov. 5, 2012, 11:30 p.m.

The Stanford men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams got a rare chance to compete together on Friday, with both teams taking on the University of Wisconsin.

On the men’s side, it was the first dual meet of the season and a great opportunity to match up against another ranked program in No. 25 Wisconsin. Coach Ted Knapp was pleased with his team’s performance, as his squad was able to cruise to a 184-104 victory.

Swimming and Diving: Men, women cruise past Wisconsin
Sophomore Katie Olsen swam the breaststroke leg of the Cardinal’s winning 400-yard medley relay as No. 5 Stanford women’s swimming and diving edged past No. 23 Wisconsin 159-130. The men’s team also won convincingly, racing past the Badgers 184-104. (Stanfordphoto.com)

“We got a chance to race a visiting team, we got a chance to race our teammates and we got a chance to race the clock,” Knapp said. “All in all it was exactly what we were looking for tonight.”

Although Knapp minimizes the importance of rankings, saying the real focus is the NCAA championships at the end of March, the team will likely maintain its position at No. 3 in the nation following Friday’s result.

The women were equally successful Friday, picking up their second straight dual meet win to start off the season. For the No. 5 Cardinal, No. 23 Wisconsin proved a formidable matchup, but in the end, Stanford’s depth held off the Badgers 159-130.

The meet started with the women’s 400-yard medley relay, with Maddy Schaefer, Katie Olsen, Haley Sims and Andi Murez picking up the win with a time of 3:47.11.

The men’s squad of Will Gunderson, David Nolan, Matthew Swanston and Aaron Wayne dominated the field, posting an impressive 3:15.65 and finishing well ahead of the competition. Next into the wall was the Stanford B team of Tom Kremer, Sebastian Wigstrom, Gray Umbach and Andrew Saeta.

The Badgers’ Jenny Holtzen (10:01.99) took the 1,000-yard freestyle. Stanford’s Allison Brown touched second with a time of 10:05.65.

In the men’s 1,000 free, it was freshman Danny Thomson dominating the competition. Starting out fast, he maintained his pace and ended up lapping the closest Badger swimmer to take first with an impressive time of 9:07.31.

Schaefer (1:48.57) picked up her first individual win of the day in the 200 freestyle, where she out-touched teammate Maya DiRado (1:48.98) by under a second. She would go on to win the 50-yard freestyle to make it two individual wins on the day, with the third coming on the 400 medley relay.

Led by Bryan Offutt (1:39.28), the men took second, third, fourth and fifth in the 200 free, losing only to Michael Weiss, the Badgers’ star swimmer, who took fifth in the Olympic trials last year in the 400 individual medley.

Both the women and the men swept the 100 backstroke, with Annemarie Thayer winning it for the women and Swanston taking first in the men’s event.

Freshman Sarah Haase (1:03.17) won the 100 breaststroke, getting to the wall less than half a second before teammate K.C. Moss (1:03.52). Moss (2:16.56) would also take second in the 200 breaststroke, with Olsen (2:15.29) getting the win.

For the men it was Mason Shaw picking up victories in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke, with times of 55.99 and 2:02.81, respectively.

Once again the men and women teamed up to sweep the 200 butterfly. Andie Taylor (2:02.30) won it for the women, and Mack Montgomery (1:49.26) picked up the win for the men.

Schaefer (22.81) outsprinted Wisconsin’s Ivy Martin (23.09) by under three tenths of a second to win the 50 freestyle.

Jake Hartley (20.48) led the way for the men, finishing first in a Cardinal sweep of the first four spots.

The trio of divers Stephanie Phipps, Sloan Brazina and Alexandra Clay swept the three-meter competition.

Kristian Ipsen—an Olympic bronze medalist in London—won the one-meter competition for the men with 400.95 points.

The women’s 100 freestyle proved one of the more exciting races of the day. Wisconsin’s Ruby Martin (51.36) and Ivy Martin (51.40) finished first and second in the 100 freestyle, just barely getting to the wall before Stanford’s Julia Ama (51.49).

The men would complete a sweep of the same event, with Sean Duggan posting a winning time of 45.57.

Stanford’s Andie Taylor (4:55.53) picked up an individual victory in the 500 freestyle.

Michael Weiss of Wisconsin won the 500 free for the men, but Robert Hummel, Burke Sims, Chris Pickard and Mack Montgomery took second, third, fourth and fifth, respectively.

Freshman Jaynie Pulte came up with second place in the 100 fly. For the men, Aaron Wayne won the event in his only individual event of the day with a time of 48.15.

The meet was capped off with the 200 freestyle relay. The women’s event went to Wisconsin’s A team of Ruby Martin, Ivy Martin, Rebecka Palm and Laura Miller. The Cardinal men swept the event, with its D team finishing before Wisconsin’s A team in an event that certainly energized the team.

This week, the men are looking ahead to Wednesday’s home matchup with Cal. The women will have a break in the dual meet season, with the diving team heading to the Arizona Diving Invite this weekend.



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