Stanford’s No. 1 ranked women’s (1-0, 1-0 Pac-12) and No. 3 ranked men’s (1-0, 1-0 Pac-12) swimming and diving jumped out to a quick victory on Friday, Oct. 20 in their first dual meet of the year against the Utah Utes.
Sophomore diver Haley Farnsworth swept the 1-meter (268.88) and 3-meter (305.40) events to claim her first ever collegiate victories, leading the Cardinal women to a 143-95 victory in the meet. She beat out Utah freshman Emma Ruchala in the 1-meter event by just .4 points, an incredibly slim margin.
Stanford rookies had spectacular performances for the women, with five freshmen claiming their first race wins in Friday’s meet. Lauren Pitzer won the 200 yard freestyle (1:49.44), Lauren Green took the 50 free (23.68), Hannah Kukurugya took the 200 fly (1:59.81), Katie Glavinovich won the 500 free (5:00.64) and Grace Zhao claimed the 200 breaststroke (2:17.47).
The men’s rookies had an equally productive day in their 141.5-95.5 win over Utah, with freshmen Johannes Calloni (9:22.54) and Matthew Hirschberger (9:34.47) taking first and second respectively in the 1,000 yard freestyle. Alberto Mestre won the 50 yard freestyle (20.69) in his first performance, and Alex Liang claimed the 200 yard individual medley (1:51.75) for his first win. Rounding out the freshmen victories was Brennan Pastorek winning the 200 yard breaststroke (2:03.90).
The Utah meet was ripe for freshmen debuts, as five top-ranking swimmers from the men’s and women’s team were noticeably absent. These 10 Cardinal athletes were in Los Angeles for the Pac-12 versus Team USA meet happening on Oct. 21 and 22. This exhibitional meet placed the best swimmers in the Pac-12 versus the US national teams, and the Pac-12 schools claimed victory in the men’s and women’s meets.
Stanford swimmers Katie Drabot, Katie Ledecky, Janet Hu, Brooke Forde and Ella Eastin led the way in a 326.5-286.5 victory over Team USA for the Pac-12 women. Ledecky swept the 200, 500 and 1,000 yard freestyle, and Eastin claimed victory in the 200 and 400 yard individual medleys as well as the 200 butterfly. An unlikely partnership between Stanford and Cal blossomed in the 800 yard free relay, and Eastin and Ledecky teamed up with two Golden Bears to take first in the relay with a time of 6:57.98.
Stanford was represented in the Pac-12 men’s team by Matt Anderson, Abrahm Devine, Sam Perry, Grant Shoults and True Sweetser, as they also took down Team USA 326.5-286.5. The men had a more difficult time finding individual victories, and their best individual finish of the weekend was DeVine’s second place finish in the 200 yard individual medley (1:44.02). Shoults swam the opening leg of the first place 800 yard free relay (6:19.96), and Perry sealed the meet with a victory in the 400 yard freestyle relay (2:51.58) to secure the Pac-12 win.
Contact Bobby Pragada at bpragada ‘at’ stanford.edu.