AUSTIN, Texas - Three runner-up finishes and an all-around team effort led Stanford to a strong showing on Day 3 of the Texas Invitational at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
"Today was another great effort with the amount of top-10 times in the nation we swam," said Goldman Family Director of Men's Swimming Ted Knapp. "We're very pleased with the amount of depth we have in several events."
Andrew Liang paced the Cardinal in the first event of the night, the 100-yard butterfly. Liang touched in 46.41 for fifth place and Sam Perry (46.66) was just behind in sixth, with both swimmers cutting time from their morning swims. Brad Zdroik (47.01) finished fourth in the B-final, also improving his time from the morning session.
Three great swims from Curtis Ogren, Abrahm DeVine and Max Williamson in the 400 IM final. All three drop ? from prelims! #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/5Sbkt61Gau
— Stanford Swimming (@stanfordmswim) December 3, 2016
The 400-yard individual medley was hotly-contested with the five fastest swimmers finishing within one second of each other. Curtis Ogren (3:42.04) was out-touched by .39 seconds to finish second. Abrahm DeVine (3:42.15) was right there in third and Maxwell Williamson (3:42.53) rounded out the top four. Ogren, DeVine and Williamson all shaved at least four seconds off their morning times.
Grant Shoults finishes 2nd in the 200 free, while Liam Egan and James Murphy take 7th and 8th, respectively. #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/NWUrwwmPE2
— Stanford Swimming (@stanfordmswim) December 3, 2016
In the 200-yard freestyle, Grant Shoults (1:34.15) finished second with Liam Egan (1:35.22) in seventh and James Murphy (1:35.70) in eighth. Shoults took more than one and a half seconds off his prelim time after making the final as a result of Tom Kremer withdrawing to focus on the 100-yard backstroke. Kremer's 1:34.66 was the second-fastest time in preliminaries.
Matt Anderson (53.24) was Stanford's lone representative in the 100-yard breaststroke final, improving his preliminary time to finish third.
Ryan Dudzinski (47.08) led the Cardinal in the 100-yard backstroke, finishing fifth. Patrick Conaton (47.11) was sixth and Kremer (47.33) took seventh. Stanford had a one-two finish in the B-final, with Benjamin Ho (47.58) out-touching Jack Walsh (47.68) for the win.
The quartet of Dudzinski, Anderson, Liang and Perry (1:25.58) ended the night on a high note for the Cardinal, finishing second in the 200-yard medley relay. Stanford's "B" team of Walsh, Ogren, Jimmy Yoder and Kremer (1:27.90) finished seventh.
Stanford (1:25.58) finishes 2nd in the 200-yard medley relay to wrap up Day 3 of the Texas Invite. #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/LRRykfuJev
— Stanford Swimming (@stanfordmswim) December 3, 2016
The four-day meet, which has an environment similar to that of the Pac-12 and NCAA Championship meets, features hosts Texas, USC, Arizona, Brigham Young, Harvard, Denver and Oklahoma Baptist.
The Cardinal returns to action Saturday morning in preliminaries, beginning at 7 a.m. PT. Events include the 200-yard backstroke, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard breaststroke, 200-yard butterfly and 1,650-yard freestyle. The evening session will also feature the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Longhorn Network (ESPN) will air live coverage of all "A" final heats during the evening session.
Live stats will be available at GoStanford.com.