The annual Stanford alumni swim meet, held Friday, Oct. 23, is just like any other dual meet at the Avery Aquatic Center, except for in every possible way.
This Stanford swimming tradition pits alumni from the Stanford swim team against the program’s current varsity athletes. The returning athletes range from members from the Class of 1980 to the Class of 2015, from Olympic athletes to new mothers.
And in case the playing field wasn’t already intriguing enough, most of the varsity athletes are swimming events in which they don’t usually compete, and alumni have the uncontested power to cheat.
“I saw one relay team take off before the other guy had even gotten to the flags, so I’d say that’s a 5-meter head start, which is a pretty good one,” junior Spencer DeShon said. “I can’t wait to do that… in like 20 years.”
To top it off, half of the races on the schedule of events aren’t even real events. For example, the 25-yard shooter, possibly the most popular event of the meet, is just one lap entirely underwater. It is not uncommon to see swimmers taking off from the blocks on the “take your mark” command, bailing on their races halfway through or turning individual events into relays.
Yet despite these various advantages, the times (posted on the board without names attached) are not exactly reflective of the degree of talent in attendance. For example, when Ted Knapp, the coach for the men’s varsity team, swam in the 25 freestyle heat that boasted times averaging around 20 seconds, he began his race with an exaggerated dive form to show his boys that he “walks the walk.”
Two freshmen, Abrahm DeVine and Brad Zdroik, have a real excuse for their slower-than-usual times — they are this year’s “iron man” candidates, chosen by their predecessors as the unlucky newcomers who have to swim every heat of every event.
“It got passed down to me from my big brother and people generally don’t like Abrahm so he got it,” Brad Zdroik joked when asked about the process. “Of course, I’ll abuse it next year.”
The men’s swim team entered the meet coming off an eventful afternoon of upholding another swim team tradition: “campus run.” The team ran about seven miles all around the campus, through computer science lectures, dry fountains and libraries, in only their red Stanford speedos.
“At one point, a bunch of 80-year-old women came up to us and started taking pictures of us and cheering us on and clapping, so that was pretty funny,” sophomore Liam Egan said.
Overall, the alumni meet succeeds in creating a different vibe on the sidelines that’s “all about fun.” It’s probably one of the only times you’ll see so many top-level swimmers competing in such a carefree environment, allowing the significance of the team experience and camaraderie to overshadow that of the actual swimming and symbolizing the true nature of what the Stanford swim program really means to its athletes, both incoming and returning.
To get a feel for the range of talent and personality at the 2015 alumni meet, The Stanford Daily asked some of the swimmers for some fun facts after the meet.
Alumni: Professions — Where are they now?
Maya DiRado (‘14): Training for the Olympics, married to fellow Stanford swimmer Rob Andrews ‘12, coming off of a second-place finish in the 400 IM in the 2015 World Championships
Curtis Lovelace (‘12): Working at an mechanical engineering firm in Nashville, training for the Olympics as a breaststroker
Aaron Wayne (‘13): At Halo Neuroscience working as a field research engineer in neuromodulation
Andrew Saeta (‘13): Marketing and investor relations at Crosslink Capital, a venture capital company in San Francisco
Kate Dwelley (‘11): Starting second year teaching kindergarten in Sunnington
Kirstin Gilbert (‘05): Doing psychology research in a psychiatry department
Amy Wagner (‘05): Stay-at-home mom with 4-year-old twins
Sarah Jones Woods (‘05): Veterinarian at UC Davis, recently married
Students: Professions — What do you want to be after college? (Make it as crazy as you want!)
Brad Zdroik (‘19): Astronaut actor
Jack Walsh (‘19): Own a sports team
Simone Manuel (‘18): Work as a marketing or sales rep at Nike
Ali Howe (‘18): Doctor or photographer
Spencer DeShon (‘17): Professional surfer
Sarah Haase (‘16): Surf instructor
Allison Brown (‘16): CFO of Disneyland
Alumni: What’s one goal you have for the year?
Maya DiRado (‘14): ”Make the Olympic team!”
Andrew Saeda (‘13): “Shoot under an 80 in golf.”
Aaron Wayne (‘13): “Get back into swimming and make the Olympic trial cut.”
Mack Montgomery (‘13): “Get into law school.”
Kate Dwelley (’11): “Improve my teaching. The first year you’re figuring it out, and the second year there’s more expectations.”
Kirsten Gilbert (‘05) “Get licensed as a psychologist and do a triathlon.”
Amy Wagner (‘05): “My son has cerebral palsy and severe autism. We’re trying to get him to learn how to speak so we’re working on him saying his first words.”
Sarah Jones Woods (‘05): “I’m trying to specialize to be a veterinary radiologist so my goal is to pass boards.”
Students: What’s one goal you have for the year?
Brad Zdroik (‘19): “Taking the iron man experience and using it to be strong for the rest of the year and make the NCAAs.”
Simone Manuel (‘18): “Have fun and enjoy the journey — this is going to be a pretty big year so just focusing on enjoying every day with my teammates and at this school.”
Ali Howe (‘18): “Have fun!”
Spencer DeShon (‘17): “I think a big goal starting is to win Pac 12s — we definitely have to work hard and I think we can get there.”
Allison Brown (‘16): “Have fun and make as many finals and NCs as I can.”
Contact Kit Ramgopal at kramgopa ‘at’ stanford.edu.