FEDERAL WAY, Wash. – Seniors Maya DiRado and Stephanie Phipps won individual Pac-12 titles Thursday to put the Stanford women’s swimming & diving team in first place after the second day of the conference’s championship meet. The Cardinal has 507 points, ahead of USC in second with 448 and Cal with 400.5.
“We rebounded from a lackluster session this morning and had a great session tonight,“ said head coach Greg Meehan. "Mackenzie Stein got us started with a huge swim in the 500 free and we rolled from there. A special acknowledgement to Dr. Rick Schavone and our diving crew; they were awesome today."
Stein won the C final of the 500, one of two Cardinal to take C finals along with Grace Carlson in the 200 IM.
DiRado produced her fifth career Pac-12 first-place finish by edging Cal’s Celina Li and Elizabeth Pelton in second and third in the A final of the 200 IM. The Bears’ duo touched the wall in 1:54.89 and 1:55.65, respectively, while DiRado came in at 1:54.67. DiRado trailed Li heading into the final 50 but used a 26.90 final split compared to Li’s 27.57 in the last 50 to pull ahead.
Phipps took the one-meter championship with 332.25 points, while Stanford divers held four of the eight finals spots. Alex Clay was in fourth (309.20), Kassidy Cook was sixth (292.75) and Lilly Hinrichs earned eighth (284.95).
“All the girls dived great,” expressed Schavone. “It was nice having Stephanie win a title her senior year but still more excited all are diving so well.”
Phipps will look for her second crown of the meet during tomorrow’s three-meter competition, an event she won in 2013. The 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast and 100 back titles will also be up for grabs with prelims starting at 11 a.m. and finals beginning at 6 p.m.
Schavone also noted that tomorrow could be more difficult for the Cardinal divers. “Kassidy Cook is not ready yet to dive three-meter so that will hurt. The rest of the girls will have to step up.”
Julia Anderson was Stanford’s top finisher in the 500 free (12th, 4:43.60) and Maddy Schaefer was third in the 50 free (22.10). Lia Neal also made the A final of the 50 free and finished fifth (22.25).
Notes
DiRado has previously won conference titles in the 200 Back (2011, 2012), 400 IM (2013) and 800 Free Relay (2013) … DiRado’s win in the 200 IM was Stanford’s first at the Pac-12 meet since Julia Smit won the event in 2010 … Stanford has won the 200 IM a total of 18 times at the Pac-12 meet, the most of any event for the Cardinal … Phipps became the fourth Stanford diver to win one- and three-meter Pac-12 titles in her career (Katie Connors, Eileen Richetelli, Cassidy Krug) … Phipps is the Cardinal’s first one-meter winner since Sarah Ohr in 2008.
2014 Pac-12 Titles
200 Medley Relay – Lee, Olsen, Stafford, Schaefer (1:35.74*)
200 IM – Maya DiRado (1:54.67)
Three-meter Diving – Stephanie Phipps (332.25)