FEDERAL WAY, Wash. – No. 5 Stanford began the Pac-12 Conference Men's Swimming and Diving Championship with top-three finishes in the 200-yard medley relay and 800-yard freestyle relay on Wednesday night at the King County Aquatic Center.
"We're really happy with tonight's session," said Goldman Family Director of Men's Swimming Ted Knapp. "Both of our relays took care of business and are an indication that we can compete for big points. We're also very happy for Jimmy Yoder and Matt Anderson – both swam strong time trials which will get picked up for NCAA's along with our 200 free relay."
Stanford started the evening with a third-place finish in the 200 medley relay. The team of Ryan Dudzinski, Matt Anderson, Andrew Liang and Sam Perry (1:23.62) was .48 seconds off the program record from 2009.
The Cardinal improved its finish in the second and final event of the night, the 800 free relay. The team of Grant Shoults, Tom Kremer, Abrahm DeVine and Liam Egan (6:15.09) represented Stanford, finishing second.
After Day 1 of the championship, California (80 points) leads the second-place Cardinal (66), with USC (62) and Arizona (62) tied for third. Arizona State (58) and Utah (52) round out the field.
Stanford returns to action at the Pac-12 Championships tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. PT with the first preliminary session of the meet. Tomorrow's events include the 500-yard freestyle, the 200-yard individual medley and the 50-yard freestyle. Live streaming will be available at Pac-12.com/Live, with live statistics available at GoStanford.com.
Notes:
- Stanford's 200 medley relay team was .48 seconds off the school record held by Eugene Godsoe, John Criste, Jason Dunford and Alex Coville (1:23.14) from 2009.
- The Cardinal improved it's season-best time of 6:15.58 in the 800 free relay by .49 seconds.
- Stanford owns four of the five fastest 500 free times in the conference entering the meet –Shoults (4:12.03, first), True Sweetser (4:12.97, second), Egan (4:12.99, third) and James Murphy (4:18.54, fifth). Last season, Egan (4:13.80) finished second with senior Danny Thomson (4:14.61) in third.
- The Cardinal owns four of the top-seven 200 IM times in the conference entering the meet –DeVine (1:43.02, third), Curtis Ogren (1:44.01, fourth), Maxwell Williamson (1:44.35) and Tom Kremer (1:44.58).
- Perry, the defending Pac-12 champion in the 50 free, owns the third-fastest time (19.34) in the conference entering the meet.