GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Stanford’s Simone Manuel stole the show again at the NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships Saturday evening at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. The freshman set an American record in the 100-yard freestyle as part of a 1-2 Stanford finish with Lia Neal and anchored the American-record setting 400-yard freestyle relay to help the Cardinal finish in third place.
Manuel raced to a finishing time of 46.09 in the 100 freestyle to eclipse Abbey Weitzeil’s American record 46.29 from this past December and fly by the NCAA field by more than a second. The Sugar Land, Texas, native led from start to finish, including a 0.16 advantage over eventual third-place finisher Natalie Hinds of Florida at the halfway point.
“When I looked over to the right I saw my team cheering,” Manuel said. “That was all I could take away from it. I don’t have my glasses on so I couldn’t really see the time but when I did I was pretty shocked and excited.”
It was the second time Manuel was on top of the podium after an individual event, as she won the 50-yard freestyle Thursday. Manuel is the first Cardinal swimmer to win the 50 and 100 in the same year since Jenny Thompson did it in 1992 and 1993. Thompson and Jenna Johnson (1986, ’87) were previously the only two Stanford student-athletes to accomplish the feat.
Sophomore Lia Neal was the closest to Manuel at 47.13 and 0.06 ahead of Hinds. It is Neal’s second straight second-place finish in the event. The trio of Manuel, Neal and Hinds became the first African-American swimmers to finish 1-2-3 in an event in NCAA history.
Neal and Manuel later combined with freshmen Janet Hu and Lindsey Engel to take down the second American record of the night. On the final event, Stanford stopped the clock in 3:08.54, highlighted by Manuel’s finishing 45.79 split to earn its second relay title of the meet (400-yard medley relay). The time smashed the Cardinal’s season best and program record 3:10.69 from earlier this season.
Katie Olsen, Stanford’s lone senior at the meet, went for third in the 200-yard breaststroke to finish her collegiate career. Her time of 2:07.06 was just ahead of Notre Dame’s Emma Reaney’s 2:07.10 in fourth. Minnesota’s Kierra Smith stormed to a 2:04.56 to win the event.
Engel also picked up points by earning seventh in the ‘B’ final of the 200-yard butterfly. She qualified with a 1:55.60 prelim time to win the second heat before clocking 1:55.90 in the finals. Both times were well ahead of her seed time of 1:57.12.
Lilly Hinrichs chipped in a 13th-place effort in the platform diving competition earlier in the afternoon. Hinrichs missed qualifying for the finals by 0.3 before earning fifth in the consolation finals with a score of 287.25.
California’s 513 points topped Georgia’s 452 for the national championship. Stanford scored 363 for third, ahead of Texas A&M’s 231 in fourth.
Stanford extended its streak of top-eight finishes to 35 consecutive years. The Cardinal has been in the top eight every championship meet the NCAA has sponsored and claimed a top-five spot for the 11th time in the past 12 seasons.
The future is bright for Stanford, which had 10 of 16 student-athletes competing at the NCAA meet for the first time.
Head coach Greg Meehan said, "This third place finish is about as meaningful as a finish as I think I’ve ever had.”
All-America
Simone Manuel (7)
50 free (1st)
100 free (1st)
200 free (2nd)
200 free relay (2nd)
400 free relay (1st)
800 free relay (2nd)
400 medley relay (1st)
Lia Neal (6)
100 free (2nd)
200 free (3rd)
200 free relay (2nd)
400 free relay (1st)
800 free relay (2nd)
200 medley relay (9th)
Janet Hu (5)
200 free relay (2nd)
400 free relay (1st)
400 medley relay (1st)
200 medley relay (9th)
100 fly (11th)
Ally Howe (4)
100 back (7th)
200 free relay (2nd)
400 medley relay (1st)
200 medley relay (9th)
Lindsey Engel (3)
400 free relay (1st)
100 fly (12th)
200 fly (15th)
Katie Olsen (3)
100 breast (9th)
200 breast (3rd)
400 medley relay (1st)
Kassidy Cook (2)
1-meter (2nd)
3-meter (3rd)
Sarah Haase (2)
100 breast (1st)
200 medley relay (9th)
Grace Carlson (1)
800 free relay (2nd)
Nicole Stafford (1)
800 free relay (2nd)
Lilly Hinrichs (1)
Platform (13th)