The No. 7 Cardinal continued to drop time at the Pac-12 Men’s Swimming Championship with the conclusion of the third day of competition. The Cardinal have held onto their second-place standing going into the final day of the championships.
After being named the Pac-12 Men’s Swimming Scholar Athlete of the Year, senior Matt Anderson secured the second podium finish for the Cardinal in the 100-yard breaststroke. Anderson (52.18) out-touched a USC swimmer by four one-hundredths of a second to claim the bronze. Junior Hank Poppe (52.53) was able to pick up fifth place. Sophomore Brennan Pastorek (52.93) claimed the B final title.
“The highlight of tonight was Matt Anderson being recognized as the Pac-12’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year,” said head coach Ted Knapp. “Matt has thoroughly earned this award and he showed what kind of swimmer he is with an excellent showing in the 100 breast tonight.”
Sophomore Alex Liang was Stanford’s top finisher in the 400-yard IM. Liang (3:43.10) picked up another fifth place finish for the Cardinal, while senior Abrahm DeVine (3:43.42) won the B final with the sixth fastest time overall. Sophomore Johannes Calloni (3:45.29) and freshman Daniel Roy (3:48.03) made it a sweep for the Cardinal in the B final. All the guys in the B final set new season bests.
Senior Brad Zdroik put up a new season best as well in the 100-yard butterfly. Zdroik stopped the clock at 46.12, out-touching an Arizona swimmer for sixth place. Freshman David Madej (47.56) was the only other enter Stanford swimmer, and he placed sixth as well in the B final.
The 200-yard freestyle was equally exciting and disappointing for Stanford. Freshman Jack LeVant (1:34.60) had entered with the second fastest seed time, but he finished two seconds slower for fifth. On the other hand, classmate Mason Gonzalez (1:34.93) dropped two seconds from his season best and followed right behind LeVant for sixth. Junior James Murphy (1:34.47) had the fifth-fastest time overall and took home the B final.
Senior Ryan Dudzinski clocked 46.14 in the 100-yard backstroke to shave some time off of his season best. That time was good for sixth place. Junior Ben Ho (46.64) dropped half a second and took home Stanford’s fourth B final of the night in 46.64, while sophomore Glen Cowand took third in the B final and improved his season time to 46.78.
The day ended with the 400-yard medley relay, which Stanford (3:06.86) finished fourth in. The relay team of DeVine, Anderson, Zdroik and LeVant managed to shave off only half a second from their seed time.
The Golden Bears (644 points) have extended a wide lead over the rest of the field. Tomorrow, Stanford (499 points) will look to see if they can stave off Arizona (410 points) and Arizona State (359 points) to prevent their first finish outside of the top two since 1981.
Contact James Hemker at jahemker ‘at’ stanford.edu.