Last year, the Stanford artistic swimming program (0-0, 0-0 MPSF), formerly known as synchronized swimming, faced discontinuation amid proposed cuts to 11 Stanford varsity teams. The team responded by winning a national championship, its first since 2016.

This year is different, with the program’s future once again firmly in the student-athletes’ hands, but the squad hopes the end result will be the same. On Saturday, the team will kick off the 2022 season at home against Wheaton College (0-0) with a repeat national championship in its sights.

The Cardinal bring back nine of the 12 student-athletes who were part of last year’s championship team, losing Caitlin Klauer ’21, Sophia Susac ’21 and Alexandra Suarez ’22. 

Still, Stanford looks threatening this year, as they’ll have fifth-year Jacklyn Luu in the pool again less than a year after she took home solo, duet and predetermined technical routine titles at 2021 nationals.

The team also added two new artistic swimmers on two-year deferments from the U.S. national team program — freshman and 2020 olympian Lindi Schroeder and freshman Nicole Goot.

After facing Wheaton at Avery Aquatic Center on Saturday at 11 a.m. and then again on Sunday for the technical competition, the Cardinal will leave Palo Alto to take on the University of the Incarnate Word and Ohio State on the road over the next three weeks. The team will then compete in the MPSF championships before heading to Western Regionals and Collegiate Nationals in March.