COLUMBUS, Ohio - Behind 13 event wins, including three from senior captain Ella Eastin, No. 3 Stanford women's swimming and diving won the Ohio State Invitational at McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion over the weekend.
In a return to the site where the Cardinal won its 2018 national championship, Stanford totaled 2,499 points in 21 events to top second-place Notre Dame's 2,011.5 points. Kentucky was third with 1,898 and the host Buckeyes were fourth with 1,849 points.
In its last visit to Columbus, Stanford became the third school to sweep all five relays at the NCAA Championships. That trend continued at the three-day Fall meet. Stanford swept the relays with wins in the 200 free (1:27.93), 400 free (3:12.08), 200 medley (1:37.26), 400 medley (3:32.28) and 800 free (6:59.66).
Deja Vu
Eastin swept the individual medleys. The defending NCAA champion in those events, she was first in the 200 with an 'A' qualifying time of 1:53.41, and then hit the same standard in the 400 with a finish of 4:00.70. The Irvine, California, native was also tops in the 200 butterfly - eight months removed from her American record-setting performance in the same pool - she bested the Fall field at 1:52.07. And once again, in similar fashion to the NCAA meet in Columbus, junior teammate Katie Drabot was the runner-up in the 200 fly (1:53.38).
Eastin and Drabot were also part of the winning 800 free relay, while Drabot won the 200 free with a time of 1:45.36 -- freshman Morgan Tankersley was fourth in the event (1:45.59).
Medal Count
Meanwhile, sophomore Brooke Forde took home four medals. She won the 500 free with a time of 4:38.50, which was just ahead of junior Megan Byrnes (4:40.50) and Drabot (4:41.06). Forde also took silver in the 400 individual medley (4:04.89) and bronze in the 200 individual medley (1:56.42), and earned a spot on the podium with a third-place finish in the 200 breast (2:09.54).
In addition to second place in the 500 free, Byrnes won the 1650 free. She stopped the clock at 15:55.57, while senior captain Leah Stevens was just a few seconds behind with a second-place time of 16:02.66.
Fast Freshmen
Freshman Taylor Ruck continued an impressive start to her collegiate career. She won the 50 free at 22.12, and was the runner-up in the 100 back (51.70) and 200 back (1:51.83). Ruck was also a member of all five winning relay teams.
Fellow freshman Amalie Fackenthal and Zoe Bartel were equally as impressive over the weekend. Fackenthal was second in the 100 free (48.63), third behind Ruck in the 50 free (22.45) and fourth in the 100 fly (53.07), while Bartel was second in the 100 breast (1:00.19) and 200 breast (2:08.65).
Diving Title
On the boards, freshman Carolina Sculti won on the 1-meter with a score of 286.00 to edge out freshman teammate Daria Lenz (278.90). Sculti was also sixth on the 3-meter (280.00), while sophomore Mia Paulsen was seventh (274.70). Paulsen was also eighth on platform (220.70).
More Highlights
Other highlights for the Cardinal included a 2-3-4-5-6-7 finish in the 200 breast and six of the top nine finishers in the 200 IM. Junior Allie Szekely was fourth in the 400 IM (4:07.98) as Stanford took six of the top 10 spots. The two-time defending national champions also had four of the top seven finishers in the 100 breast, and had three of the top five finishers in the 200 back (Ruck, Erin Voss and Lucie Nordman).
Up Next
As a team, the Cardinal will next be in action on Jan. 25 at Arizona and Jan. 26 at Arizona State.
