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AUSTIN, Texas - Junior Katie Drabot, senior Ella Eastin, freshman Taylor Ruck and sophomore Brooke Forde led Stanford to a meet-opening victory in the 800-yard freestyle relay on Wednesday night at the NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships.
Stanford has now won seven consecutive relays at the NCAA Championships. The opening relay of 2019, which consisted of one member from each class, finished in 6:47.22 to earn Stanford's third straight win in the event.
Drabot opened with a split of 1:43.99, and after Eastin finished her 200 in 1:41.03, Stanford was in the lead. Ruck gave the Cardinal a big cushion with the second-fastest split of the meet at 1:39.83, and Forde split at 1:42.37 to cap the win.
"This was important, but it was not a make-or-break event," Forde said. "It's definitely important to take confidence from tonight and how we were able to perform, but we are focused on taking it one step at a time."
"We spend so much time together and I've got so close with these girls over the past few months that I'm just so happy to share this experience with them," Ruck said.
"I'm really excited for this group," added Meehan. "For them to go four seconds faster than three weeks ago is pretty awesome. We always want to be faster at this meet and for all four to improve their splits is a great place for us to start."
Stanford, which became the third school ever to sweep all five NCAA relays in 2018, also won the 400 free relay to close out its 2017 national championship.
This is also the first time the Cardinal has won three straight national titles in the 800 free relay since a string of four in a row from 1990-93.
After the only event of the opening night, Stanford is in first place with 40 points, followed by Pac-12 rivals Cal (34) and USC (32).
Up NextThursday marks the first full day of competition and the first individual events of the meet, beginning with prelims at 7 a.m. PT. Finals begin at 3 p.m. PT and will include the 200 free relay, 500 free, 200 individual medley, 50 free, 1-meter diving and 400 medley relay. Stanford's day-by-day schedule is below.
| Stanford Schedule by Day | Previous Titles | |
| Thursday | ||
| 200 Free Relay | Lineup TBD | 8: Last in 2018 |
| 500 Free | Pitzer, Tankersley, Voss, Stevens, Forde, Byrnes, Drabot | 9: Ledecky won last two |
| 200 IM | Eastin, Bartel | 10: Eastin won in 2016, 2018 |
| 50 Free | Goeders, Fackenthal, Nordmann | 11: Manuel won last two |
| 1-Meter Diving | Sculti, Lenz, Farnsworth | 1: Last in 2007 (Krug) |
| 400 Medley Relay | Lineup TBD | 14: Won last five |
| Friday | ||
| 400 IM | Eastin, Forde, Szekely, Raab, Stevens | 11: Eastin won last three |
| 100 Fly | Fackenthal | 10: Last in 2014 (Lee) |
| 200 Free | Ruck, Pitzer, Tankersley, Drabot | 3: Last in 2017 (Ledecky) |
| 100 Breast | Raab, Bartel, Zhao | 7: Last in 2015 (Haase) |
| 100 Back | Ruck, Nordmann, Voss | 7: Last in 2018 (Howe) |
| 3-Meter Diving | Sculti, Paulsen | 3: Last in 2007 (Krug) |
| 200 Medley Relay | Lineup TBD | 14: Won 2014, 2016, 2018 |
| Saturday | ||
| 1650 Free | Byrnes, Tanksersley, Stevens | 7: Ledecky won last two |
| 200 Back | Ruck, Nordmann, Voss, Szekely | 2: Last in 1998 (Hyman) |
| 100 Free | Pitzer, Fackenthal, Goeders | 10: Manuel won last two |
| 200 Breast | Raab, Bartel, Zhao, Szekely | 7: Last in 2005 (Bruce) |
| 200 Fly | Drabot, Eastin, Forde | 12: Eastin won last two |
| Platform Diving | Sculti, Paulsen, Lenz | 5: Last in 2016 (Leydon-Mahoney) |
| 400 Free Relay | Lineup TBD | 13: Won last two (4 of last 5) |
2019 National Champion Relays/Individuals
| National Champion | Event(s) |
| Katie Drabot | 800 Free Relay |
| Ella Eastin | 800 Free Relay |
| Brooke Forde | 800 Free Relay |
| Taylor Ruck | 800 Free Relay |
2019 All-Americans
| All-American | Event(s) |
| Katie Drabot | 800 Free Relay |
| Ella Eastin | 800 Free Relay |
| Brooke Forde | 800 Free Relay |
| Taylor Ruck | 800 Free Relay |
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