BERKELEY, Calif. – Stanford closed its regular season Saturday while facing rival Cal at the Spieker Aquatics Complex, with the men’s swimming and diving team dropping a 184.5-115.5 decision.
Seventh-ranked Cal improved to 7-0 on the season with No. 12 Stanford dipping to 5-2.
The two programs will meet again in the Pac-12 Conference Championships in Federal Way, Washington. The diving portion will take place Feb. 26-28 with the swimming competition spanning from March 4-7.
Jack DesCombes won the 50-yard freestyle in 20.15 and Thomas Stephens (44.22) added a victory in the 100-yard freestyle. DesCombes displayed his versatility with a 47.99 for second in the 100-yard butterfly.
The Cardinal dominated the boards, with Kristian Ipsen winning the 3-meter edition with 456.08 points. Bradley Christensen (340.43) was second and Tarek Abdelghany (338.25) took third. Ipsen completed the daily-double with 421.88 points to win the 1-meter event.
Stanford (1:26.98) was over a second behind Cal (1:25.86) in the meet-opening 200-yard medley relay, and the Bears went 1-2-3 in the 1,000-yard freestyle in front of Danny Thomson (9:26.45) and Liam Egan (9:29.41). Egan’s 4:27.65 in the 500-yard freestyle went down in the books for a bronze-worthy finish.
David Nolan was second in 1:36.38 during the 200-yard freestyle and notched the same finish with a 1:46.90 in the 200-yard individual medley.
Andrew Liang led the Cardinal with a 48.60 in the 100-yard backstroke. The 200-yard version featured a fourth-place swim by Patrick Conaton (1:46.92).
The 100-yard breaststroke saw Christian Brown go 55.27. Daniel Le was third in the 200-yard breaststroke with a 1:59.97.
Tom Kremer’s 1:47.48 and Gray Umbach’s 1:47.61 went down for third and fourth, respectively, in the 200-yard butterfly. Kremer (44.41) later took second in the 100 free.
The Cardinal was second with a 2:57.05 to close the meet in the 400-yard freestyle relay.