Stanford’s men’s and women’s swim teams went head-to-head against the University of California, Berkeley, The Ohio State University and Auburn University at Avery Aquatic Center on Friday. This was the third of eight matches in the inaugural season of the College Swimming League (CSL) and the largest ticketed college swimming event since 2016 with more than 2,000 spectators in attendance. Stanford came out on top after an electrifying win in the final event of the meet, scoring 550 total points between the men’s and women’s teams.
CSL meets have a nontraditional competition format including “skins” and “super skins” relays, as well as the opportunity for a first-place finisher to absorb or “jackpot” other teams’ points by beating their competitors by a certain time threshold which varies by event. Swimmers raced in a variety of events with distances ranging from 50 to 500 yards. In the end, Cal came in second overall with 543.5 points, Auburn finished third with 371.5 and OSU finished fourth with 255 points.
The Stanford men’s squad featured four freshmen, four sophomores, one junior and three seniors. Sophomores dominated the women’s team, with five representing the Cardinal at CSL alongside two freshmen, three juniors, two seniors and one fifth-year.
Sophomore Ethan Ekk earned Stanford’s first win of the evening in the men’s 200 backstroke, swimming a 1:39.02 and earning the meet’s first jackpot bonus. Freshman Sander Sorensen achieved the men’s other individual win in the 100 freestyle, beating Auburn’s second-place finisher by 0.12 seconds.
The women’s team took their first of four individual wins when Senior Caroline Bricker finished first in the 200 fly, earning additional jackpot points with her time of 1:52.42. Sophomore Annam Olasewere swam a 22.38 winning the 50 free. Bricker won the 200 individual medly with a time of 1:54.09 and brought home her third individual win of the night in the penultimate women’s event, clocking a 1:44.26 in the 200 free.
The meet’s four relay events — the 4×50 freestyle and 4×50 medley super skins events for both genders — were a highlight thanks to their high scoring potential and the athletes’ thrilling performances.
Sophomore Alana Berlin won all four 50 backstroke rounds of the women’s skins-style racing. Junior Levenia Sim also had a great showing in the skins, and the two raced each other in the final round after their other competitors had been eliminated.
“If you’re in the skins event, you’ve got to be tough as nails because it’s a lot of racing,” said men’s head coach Dan Schemmel. “It really brings out the grittiness of people and the toughness of giving it everything you’ve got multiple times in a row [with] little rest.”
Stanford swimmers showcased this grit during the last event of the evening, the super skins relay. The medley relay team of Berlin, Senior Lucy Thomas, Sophomore Ella Jablonski and Olasewere won the women’s event with a 1:38.50 in the final round, and their points nearly doubled when they absorbed the second-place points after OSU’s disqualification.
After the women’s super skins, Stanford sat just behind Cal with 468 points to Berkeley’s 473.5. The Cardinal fell behind again after one of the men’s relay teams was eliminated in the first round of the men’s super skins, finishing behind Cal in the final super skins round to earn 14 points. In a dramatic upset, however, Stanford ended the meet as champions after absorbing Cal’s 18 first-place points due to another disqualification.
Stanford now sits third out of 12 schools in CSL, which the university officially joined in May. The men’s and women’s teams are scheduled to compete against Cal, Indiana University and North Carolina State University in the CSL’s fifth match later this month.
“It’s very early [in the] season for us. … We’re still kind of finding our flow, getting back into gear,” said women’s head coach Chris Lindauer. “I’m absolutely inspired by our performance. … To be able to come here for our first meet and really rise to the energy and match a home environment brings out the best in our athletes.”
Results from Friday’s CSL match can be found here.