Swimming Season-in-Review

STANFORD, Calif. - For the second time in three years, the Stanford women's swimming and diving team finished second at the NCAA Championships. The Cardinal, which finished unbeaten (7-0) in the regular season, ranked as high as No. 1 in the nation.

Stanford began the season with a pair of Pac-12 dual meet victories against Washington State (142-119) and Utah (177-112) in the Fall. The Cardinal then resumed dual-meet competition with a sweep of the Arizona school in late January, followed by back-to-back wins in Los Angeles against UCLA (189-118) and a come-from-behind win over No. 7 USC (152-148). Stanford closed out its undefeated campaign with a decisive win over No. 3 Cal (172-128) on Senior Day.

Two weeks later, at the Pac-12 Championships, the Cardinal won 13 events and finished as the conference runner-up. Ella Eastin swept the individual medleys, won the 200 fly and was also a member of the Pac-12 title-winning 400-yard freestyle. Gracia Leydon Mahoney and Alex Clay took home diving titles, while Lia Neal (200 free), Sarah Haase (100 breast) and Ally Howe (100 back) also earned individual Pac-12 championships.

A video posted by @stanfordwswim on Mar 10, 2016 at 11:16am PST

Stanford's most notable moments at the conference championships came from its relays which set two NCAA and American records. Ally Howe, Sarah Haase, Janet Hu and Lia Neal set their first record of the meet in the 200-yard medley relay on the first night. Two days later, the same foursome duplicated their feat in the 400-medley relay.

Stanford nearly swept the Pac-12 postseason awards. Freshman Ella Eastin was named Swimmer and Newcomer of the Year, sophomore Gracia Leydon-Mahoney was selected as Diver of the Year, and head coach Greg Meehan and head diving coach Patrick Jeffery, earned the conference's Coach and Diving Coach of the Year awards. 

Congrats to our @pac12 Swimmer/Freshman/Diver/Coaches of the Year! #GoStanford #Pac12Swim pic.twitter.com/7PsUvs0tvH

— Stanford W. Swimming (@stanfordwswim) April 7, 2016

At the NCAA Chamionships, Stanford was within striking distance of the national title heading into the final event, but finished with its second runner-up finish in three years. The Cardinal also earned its 36th straight top-eight finish (every year the NCAA has sponsored a championship meet) and its 12th top-five showing in the last 13 years. In all, Stanford had 10 different All-Americans combine for 35 All-America honors, three individual national championships and two NCAA relay titles.

Up next for several members of the team is the road to Rio. The Olympic trials are set for June 26-July 3 in Omaha, Neb., and for those that qualify, the 2016 Summer Olympics take place from Aug. 5-21 in Brazil.