Stanford men and women’s swim and dive returns home with big smiles after taking a clean sweep of the Arizona schools this weekend. The men’s team kicked off the hot weekend in Tucson, taking on the University of Arizona Wildcats. The Cardinal claimed the win in nine of 14 contests, totaling a 59-point victory 160-101.
Stanford secured the top two spots in the 200-yard butterfly on the backs of Tom Kremer (1:47.88) and Gray Umbach (1:47.93), and Max Williamson displayed his rounded ability with a two second margin of victory in the 200-yard individual medley, posting a 1:49.47. Patrick Conaton wrangled two wins by himself, claiming the top spot in both the 100 and 200-yard backstroke. Overall, it was a very successful meet for the men, and spurred the right mentality to challenge the Arizona State University Sun Devils the next day.
The men didn’t have all the fun in Tucson, however. The women’s swim and dive team took home the W as well with a 145-111 victory. The most promising takeaway from this meet was the success of Stanford newcomers. The rookies took half the individual events (six of 12), led by freshmen Simone Manuel, who by herself claimed three events. The master of freestyle touched first in the 50, 100 and 200-yard events, though not all three came easily. The Wildcat’s most decorated swimmer Bonnie Brandon lost the 200-yard freestyle to Manuel by only five-hundredths of a second (1:46.20 to 1:46.25). But a win’s a win, and Stanford wrapped up the meet successfully, joining the men’s team with momentum on the way to Tempe.
The men’s team secured almost as comfortable of a win on Saturday as they did on Friday, besting the Sun Devils 134-96. There were some reappearing names in the victory column, but it was Sean Duggan who really hit his stroke in this meet. Duggan was part of the victorious 400-yard relay medley, as well as the 50 and 100-yard freestyle events. Duggan has had control over these events in the past — he posted NCAA top-10 times in both last season. Swim didn’t have all the fun; the dive team took the top two slots in the 1-meter, thanks to the clean work of Kristian Ipsen and Bradley Christensen. With the men’s team securing the sweep, and the women having one win under their cap, the full sweep hinged on the women’s performance in Tempe.
They did not disappoint. In a strong 131-100 finish, the women’s team concluded the 4-0 weekend. Again led by a freshmen, this time by Janet Hu, the Cardinal took eight of 13 matchups. Hu showed incredible diversity winning the 50-yard freestyle and 200-yard backstroke. Her impressive work in the 200-yard backstroke qualified her time as NCAA-B. Diving did not fare quite as well as swimming; junior Kelly Markle claimed second in the 1-meter and 3-meter contests. It didn’t matter, however, as the Cardinal pulled out the victory and headed back to campus undefeated.
The teams will stay dry until Friday, when they take on UCLA, and will square off on Saturday against USC. Both of these meets will be home meets at Avery Aquatics Center.
Contact Carlie Tenenbaum at carliet ‘at’ stanford.edu.