Thanks to victories by sophomore Grant Shoults and junior Abrahm DeVine, No. 7 Stanford men’s swimming (1-0, 1-0 Pac-12) made a substantial splash at the University of Texas’ Invitational in Austin this past Wednesday through Saturday. Shoults took home first in both the 500- and 1,650-yard free, followed closely by his teammates who helped the Cardinal claim four of the top seven spots in each event.
Shoults (4:11.34) was flanked in the 500 free by senior Liam Egan (4:14.03) who nabbed second place, freshman Johannes Calloni (4:16.60) in fifth and sophomore True Sweetser (4:16.82) in sixth. In the 1,650, the Cardinal was led by Shoults (14:39.59) with an NCAA ‘A’ qualifying time in first immediately followed by Sweetster (14:41.48), while Calloni (14:52.59) and Egan (14:58.33) claimed fifth and seventh respectively.
Junior Abrahm DeVine won the 200-yard individual medley with a career-best of 1:41.99, the third best time in Stanford history, while freshman Alex Liang (1:45.21) came in fifth. Devine (3:44.75) also claimed third place in the 400 IM, as Liang (3:45.32) came in fourth and senior Curtis Ogren (3:45.56) in fifth.
Even though the Cardinal competed against 11 other strong men’s teams, most notably No. 7 USC, No. 9 Texas and No. 11 Arizona State, Stanford placed consistently over the course of the four days.
In the freestyle sprints, senior Sam Perry nabbed fourth place in the 50 free with a time of 19.68, and placed seventh with a seasonal personal record of 42.54 in the 100 free.
Freshman Brennan Pastorek represented the Cardinal in fifth place in the 200 breaststroke, swimming a team seasonal record of 1:55.69, a NCAA ‘B’ qualifying time.
In the group events, Stanford nabbed third-place finish in both the 200- and 400-yard medley relays with times of 1:25.50 and 3:07.65 respectively.
As further proof of their prowess in the distance free, the Cardinal attained a (6:19.93) fourth place finish in the 800 free relay, a 1:18.07 third place finish in the 200 free relay, and concluded the meet with a third place victory in the 400 free relay thanks to DeVine, Perry, junior Cole Cogswell and senior Andrew Liang’s NCAA ‘A’ qualifying time of 2:51.00.
Designed to imitate the competitive and structural nature of a championship meet, the invitational was a fitting end to the Cardinal’s fall season. Stanford’s performance in Austin reflected the team’s steady improvement over the course of the year and likely foreshadows some strong, record-making performances ahead.
Stanford will pick up where it left off when it hosts a dual-meet versus the University of the Pacific at Avery Aquatic Center on Jan. 12.
Contact Sylvie Ashford at sylviash ‘at’ stanford.edu