FEDERAL WAY, Wash. - Stanford opened its Pac-12 Conference title defense by getting first- and second-place finishes in two relay events Wednesday night at King County Aquatics Center.
The Cardinal won the 200 medley relay to open the meet and finished second in the 800 free relay during the only two events of the night. Stanford and Cal are tied for first with 120 points, while USC is in third with 108.
Felicia Lee, Katie Olsen, Nicole Stafford and Maddy Schaefer combined to smash the previous program record in the 200 medley relay. The group finished in 1:35.74, 0.8 seconds faster than the 1:36.54 Stanford used to finish third in the event last year.
Lee started the race with the fastest backstroke portion (23.67) and Maddy Schaefer (21.70) held off Cal’s Missy Franklin in the final freestyle leg. Olsen swam the breaststroke (26.83) and Stafford completed the butterfly (23.54) through the middle of the event.
California won the 800 free relay in 6:53.57 behind a strong 1:42.89 leadoff from Franklin. Stanford was behind the Bears in 6:58.23, with Maya DiRado clocking a 1:43.28 for the Cardinal’s best leg.
Julia Anderson started with a 1:44.76, DiRado was second, Schaefer touched in 1:45.84 during the third leg and Lia Neal finished the event by covering the distance in 1:44.35.
The meet resumes tomorrow at 11 a.m. with the 500 free, 200 IM and 50 free prelims. One-meter diving prelims and finals will be held at 3 p.m. and the finals from the morning swims will start at 6 p.m.
Notes
Stanford is looking for its second straight Pac-12 title and fourth championship in the last five years … Stanford’s 200 medley relay time of 1:35.74 is the second quickest in the country behind Georgia (1:35.52) … Cal’s 800 free relay is the second fast time in the country behind Georgia (6:53.04) … Stanford’s 800 free relay is the third best time in the NCAA to date … The Cardinal went 10-0 in dual meets in 2013-14, including a 7-0 mark against Pac-12 teams.