"Tonight was a great start for us," said Goldman Family Director of Men's Swimming Ted Knapp. "We just have to keep performing the way we're capable of."
The Cardinal (6:12.66) was represented by freshman Grant Shoults (1:33.65 split), senior Tom Kremer (1:31.75), sophomore Abrahm DeVine (1:33.49) and junior Liam Egan (1:33.77) in the second of three heats.
Grant, Tom, Abe & Liam (6:12.66 - ?? record) earn first-team AA honors with 7th place in the 800 free relay! #GoStanford #NCAASwimDive pic.twitter.com/LgB0CRavLk
— Stanford Swimming (@stanfordmswim) March 22, 2017
The quartet out-touched Stanford's 2015 NCAA Championship team of Drew Cosgarea, Thomas Stephens, David Nolan and Kremer (6:14.83), who placed third that year.
With only one event on Day 1, the Cardinal (24 points) enters Thursday in seventh place behind Georgia (26), USC (28), Cal (30), Florida (32), Texas (34) and North Carolina State (40).
Stanford returns to the pool tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. PT with the first preliminary session of the meet, which includes the 500-yard freestyle, the 200-yard individual medley and the 50-yard freestyle. At 9:15 p.m., 1-meter diving preliminaries take place, followed by the consolation final 15 minutes after prelims.
.@SwimSwamNews sat down with our distance swimmers to talk training & NCAA's. ?????? #GoStanford https://t.co/F8eOIEy2tV
— Stanford Swimming (@stanfordmswim) March 21, 2017
Day 2 finals begin at 3 p.m., starting with the 200-yard freestyle relay. After the 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free and 1-meter diving finals, the session wraps up with the 400-yard medley relay. Streaming and live results will be available at GoStanford.com.
Day 2 Notes
- Stanford owns three of 12 NCAA A-cuts nationally in the 500 free – Shoults (2nd, 4:10.67), True Sweetser (11th, 4:12.97) and Egan (12th, 4:12.99).
- Last season, 4:13.27 in the A-final from Egan was good enough for fifth place and first-team All-America honors.
- Before the 2016-17 season, no Stanford swimmer had ever gone under 4:13.00 in the 500 free.
- Shoults won the Pac-12 500 free, setting program and championship records in the process. Sweetser finished runner up, with Egan rounding out the top four.
- Stanford enters four swimmers in the 200 IM – Tom Kremer, Maxwell Williamson, Curtis Ogren and Abrahm DeVine.
- DeVine (1:43.05) finished 11th in the 200 IM at last season's NCAA Championships – he swam 1:42.59 at this season's conference meet.
- Kremer owns two All-America finishes in the 200 IM – ninth place in 2013 and fourth in 2015.
- Sam Perry, who finished second in the 50-yard freestyle at the Pac-12 Championships (19.30), finished 12th in last season's championships.
- Perry enters this season's championship with the 18th-fastest time in the nation, while Patrick Conaton (20.08) and Brad Zdroik (20.08) will also be in the field.
- Stanford (1:17.11) enters the 200 free relay with the 11th-fastest time in the nation. Last season, the Cardinal team of Perry, Jeff Garnier, Spencer DeShon and Sean Duggan (1:17.77) finished 10th.
- The Cardinal (3:04.50) owns the eighth fastest 400 medley relay time in the nation entering the meet. Last season, Ryan Dudzinski, Matt Anderson, Andrew Liang and Perry (3:06.81) claimed All-America honors in 13th place.
- Bradley Christensen (385.35) owns the best Pac-12 score on the 1-meter springboard, having already won the Pac-12 Championship before finishing second at the Zone E championships.
- Joining Christensen in the field will be juniors Ted Miclau and Tarek Abdelghany, and freshman Cameron Thatcher, who earned his NCAA debut with an outstanding final dive on the 1-meter at Zones.