STANFORD, Calif. -- It was a perfect setting Saturday at Avery Aquatic Center for the Stanford women’s swimming and diving team to send off its seniors with a 182-110 victory over USC in the final home meet of the season. With sunny skies and temperatures approaching 72 degrees, the Cardinal won 13 of the 16 events.
“We had some really good performances from our seniors,” said head coach Greg Meehan. “Katie Olsen doing what she did in the breaststroke events, Haley Sims and Mackenzie Stein were awesome in the 200 fly and Sloane Brazina had one of her best performances in the diving events. It’s very rewarding to see them here enjoying the moment for the last time.”
Senior management science and engineering major Katie Olsen led the Class of 2015 with two event victories, as she swept the breaststrokes ahead of junior human biology major Sarah Haase and freshman Heidi Poppe, who went 2-3 in each event. Freshman Ally Howe claimed both backstrokes and classmate Simone Manual won the 50- and 200-yard freestyles before finishing second in the 500-yard freestyle.
Sophomore Lia Neal (100-yard freestyle, 49.26), freshman Janet Hu (100-yard butterfly, 53.36) and freshman Lindsey Engel (200-yard butterfly, 1:59.56) also took top spots for the Cardinal. Engel out-raced Cardinal Tara Halsted, Stein and Sims, who finished third, fourth and fifth, in the 200 fly.
No. 2-ranked Stanford (7-1, 5-0 Pac-12) finished 1-2-3 in four events and 1-2 in four others.
“It was amazing,” said Sims, a civil engineering major. “A dream. Everything I could’ve asked for my final time with the team. The sun was out, everyone had a great time, everyone swam super fast; it was just the perfect day to end my career.”
“It has been a dream come true,” added senior human biology major Sloane Brazina. “I wouldn’t have wanted to go out any other way. It was a very positive atmosphere out here on the pool deck. We had so much fun all day.”
Brazina was fourth in the 1-meter diving competition, while sophomore Kassidy Cook finished second. USC’s Haley Ishimatsu, the reigning NCAA platform champion, won both diving events, but Stanford’s Alex Clay went for second in the 3-meter and Cook was third.
No. 17 USC's (4-3, 3-3 Pac-12) only other event victory came in the 500-yard freestyle, when Chelsea Chenault edged Manual.
Stanford takes two weeks off from dual meets, before traveling across the Bay for a date with No. 3 California on Valentine’s Day. The Pac-12 Championships are Feb. 25-28 in Federal Way, Washington, and the NCAA Championships are scheduled for March 19-21 in Greensboro, North Carolina.
“I certainly feel like we are getting momentum towards the championships season,” expressed Meehan. “Now is the time to get going fast. The work that we did in the fall is showing itself, the work that we did in Colorado Springs is starting to show, so we are really excited about where we are trending.”