The women’s swimming and diving team and the men’s diving team will get a chance to compete against some formidable competition this weekend when they head to Columbus for the Ohio State Invitational.
The three-day meet is set to begin on Friday and will be the women’s team’s first invitational meet. For the men, it will be the second invitational meet of the season.
So far this season the No. 6 Stanford women have performed well, winning their opening two dual meets against San Jose State and Wisconsin before falling by just three points to No. 5 Texas in a matchup that saw Stanford lose a 25-point lead in the final events. The meet was decided by the last event of the day, the 400 freestyle relay, when Texas was able to claim first and third, just enough to allow them to squeeze by Stanford in the point totals. Although certainly disappointed by that result, this weekend’s competition provides the Cardinal a great opportunity for redemption.
A host of top teams from around the country will be on hand, including No. 8 Minnesota and No. 16 Ohio State.
The Cardinal women will be led by sophomore freestyler Maddy Schaefer, senior freestyler Andi Murez and IM specialist Maya DiRado, who will be competing this December in the FINA Short Course World Championships as a member of Team USA.
On the diving side, both teams will look to improve on their results at the Arizona Diving Invitational. For the men, London Olympic bronze-medalist and current sophomore Kristian Ipsen was second in the one- and three-meter finals in Arizona and will be fighting for a win in those events in Columbus. Sophomore Connor Kuremsky will also hope to build off a strong performance at Arizona, where he finished fourth in the three-meter competition and seventh in the one-meter.
The women’s diving team also had a successful meet at Arizona, with junior Stephanie Phipps winning the one-meter and freshman Lilly Hinrichs picking up second on the platform. Additionally, sophomore Sloane Brazina took sixth in the one-meter competition and freshman Kelly Markle finished ninth in the three-meter preliminaries.
After the Ohio State Invite, swimming and diving will take a break from competition until Jan. 5, when the men and women will both face the University of the Pacific at home.