Three current Stanford swimmers and two alumni were featured on the USA Swimming rosters for the 2026 Pan-Pacific Championship Teams (known as Pan Pacs), which was released on Sept. 16.
Held in Irvine, Calif., from Aug. 12-15, 2026, the Pan Pacs Championships feature countries and federations that border the Pacific Ocean, most notably the United States, Canada, Australia, China and Japan.
For the United States, rosters for major international meets such as the Olympics and some World Championships are usually determined by a trials meet, taking place roughly two months before the events. This year’s Pan Pacs roster, however, was decided a year in advance of the meet and is determined by the fastest times posted in the A finals of the 2025 summer meets: USA Swimming Championships (International Team Trials), World Championships, World Junior Championships, World University Games and the TYR Summer Championships.
The meet, hosted for the first time since 2018 due to COVID-19, serves as a chance to compete internationally in an off-year, one without a World Championships or Olympic Games. More importantly, this will be the first major international meet hosted on home soil since 2010.
“[It] should play a huge role in the lead up to a home Olympics in LA 28,” said USA Swimming National Team Managing Director and former Stanford women’s swimming coach Greg Meehan in a USA Swimming article.
Two Stanford affiliates, known for their strengths across multiple events, play a major role in the U.S. women’s depth. Redshirt-Senior Torri Huske (50/100/200 Freestyle, 100 Butterfly) and Katie Ledecky ‘20 (200/400/800/1500 Freestyle) both qualified in four events.
After her breakout meet at USA Swimming Championships, junior Caroline Bricker qualified for the Pan Pacs team in the 200 butterfly. Her first place finish from that meet places her third among Americans, and she’ll compete in the event in Irvine following her international debut this past summer in Singapore.
Freestyle veteran Simone Manuel ‘18 is one of five swimmers to have appeared on the last Pan Pacs roster from 2018. She’ll feature again in her signature event, the 100 freestyle.
Junior Henry McFadden is the sole male representative from Stanford to earn a spot on the United States’ team, and he will compete in the 200 freestyle.
Manuel and McFadden, as qualifiers in the 100 and 200 freestyles, will swim on the 4×100 and 4×200 freestyle relay teams, respectively.
It is quite the achievement to earn a roster spot on the Pan Pacs team. With a limit of 26 swimmers per team, selection follows a strict priority system intended to build both event coverage and relay depth. First priority goes to the fastest swimmer in each event and the four fastest in the 100 and 200 freestyles for relays. Next come the second-fastest swimmers in each event (excluding additional 100 and 200 freestylers), followed by the fifth-fastest in the 100 and 200 freestyles to round out relays. Remaining spots then consider the third- and fourth-fastest swimmers in each non-100/200 freestyle event until the roster is filled. The women’s team benefited from athletes who qualified in multiple events, enabling a deeper roster; the men’s side was more constrained by the second-priority selections, with many athletes qualifying in only one event.
Rosters for the other countries have not been finalized yet. Swimmers like freshman Ethan Ekk (Canada), sophomore Finn Harland (New Zealand), junior Jonathan Tan and sophomore Levenia Sim (both Singapore) all represented their countries at the most recent World Championships, and will likely be featured upon their respective countries’ release of rosters. Seniors Andres Dupont (Mexico) and Hayden Kwan (Hong Kong) also represented their countries at World Championships, but Mexico and Hong Kong have not been seen at Pan Pacs since 1997 and 2014, respectively.