This Saturday, No. 16 men’s swimming (4-1, 3-1 Pac-12) had their first loss of the season in a Senior Day dual meet at home against No. 2 Cal (6-0, 4-0 Pac-12). The Cardinal lost 198-98.
This weekend marked the end of the regular season. The team will have a week off, then will compete in Pac-12 Championships in Federal Way, Washington.
Despite the best efforts of the Cardinal, Cal claimed every event victory but two. Stanford senior Grant Shoults was able to come up big in the distance events, winning both the 1000-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle.
In the 1000, the first individual event of the afternoon, Shoults came in first (8:55.10) with a solid four-second lead ahead of Cal’s Grieshop, who came second. In the 500, he clocked in at 4:22.24, again coming in just before Grieshop in 2nd.
The Cardinal’s other strength in the meet was the diving events, which were dominated by sophomore Connor Casey. He claimed the 1-meter with a score of 431.70 — over 100 points ahead of Cal’s Connor Callahan, who came in 2nd. Casey won the 3-meter event as well with a score of 444.53.
In the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke, Stanford’s breaststrokers were unable to defeat Golden Bear phenom Reece Whitley. In the 100, Whitley came in with a time of 52.94, followed by Stanford senior Hank Poppe with 53.51. In the 200, Whitley came in with an outstanding 1:52.72, followed by sophomore Daniel Roy with 1:56.91.
Junior Alex Liang was also able to secure a second-place finish for the Cardinal, coming in after Cal’s Julian Trenton in the 200-yard butterfly. He touched the wall at 1:46.40, out-touching the Bears’ Jarod Hatch by seven hundredths.
At the conclusion of the meet, the team’s five seniors were recognized for their contributions to the team over the past four years. Benjamin Ho, William Macmillan, James Murphy, Poppe, and Shoults were all recognized. Throughout their four years at Stanford, this group won a Pac-12 championship in 2017 and earned two top-ten finishes at NCAA championships.
The Cardinal will have a week off before the postseason kicks off. Pac-12 Championships will take place from Mar. 4-7. After Pac-12s, the team will conclude their season with NCAA Championships from Mar. 25-28 in Indianapolis.
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Contact Natalie Hilderbrand at nhild ‘at’ stanford.edu