Forde Takes Title

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AUSTIN, Texas - Sophomore Brooke Forde highlighted Stanford's second day at the NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships with a national title in the 500-yard freestyle on Thursday.

Through two days and seven of 21 events, Stanford leads by the slimmest of margins. The Cardinal has accumulated 173.5 points, while second-place Cal has 173 points. Michigan is third with 129. 
 

Forde's 500 FreeForde, who was a member of the national champion 800 free relay on Wednesday night and in 2018, earned her first career individual NCAA title with a finish of 4:31.34. It is the second-fastest time in school history behind only Katie Ledecky (4:24.06). 

A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Forde took off more than six seconds from her previous career best with a torrid finish. Each of her last three splits were under 27 seconds and she finished the final 50 yards in 26.29.

"I knew I could trust my training to carry me through the back half," Forde said. "So long as I stayed up with everyone in the front half, I knew I could be good coming home. We have such a great 500 group to train with back at school. It is probably one of the deepest training groups in the country and its something I don't take for granted. There's Katie Ledecky in the lane over and there's Katie Drabot on the other side of me -- two of the best 500 freestylers in history. It's something I think is so special and it has been a huge part of making my freestyle better so I'm just really thankful.

I'm part of such a great history of swimming, not just with my family, but with Stanford, too," Forde added. "We have tons of alumni up in the stands so just being part of that great group is really just an honor for me."

This is the 10th time Stanford has won the national title in the 500 free, most in the nation. Forde is the sixth Cardinal to do it, joining Marybeth Linzmeier (1982-84), Janet Evans (1990-91), Lisa Jacob (1993), Jessica Foschi (2001) and Ledecky (2017-18).
 

Diving TrioStanford had three divers qualify on the 1-meter. All three scored and all three earned their first career All-America honor.

Freshmen Carolina Sculti and Daria Lenz and junior Haley Farnsworth all made the consolation finals. The trio made the cut from 50 divers down to the 16 scoring positions with 12th, 13th and 14th-place finishes, respectively, in the preliminary round. 

In the consolation final, Lenz was third and placed 11th overall (302.65), Sculti finished fourth and 12th overall (297.80) and Farnsworth was eighth to finish 16th overall (277.85). 

In total, the trio added 12 points for the Cardinal.
 
 All-American SwimsSenior Ella Eastin added her fourth All-America honor in the 200 individual medley. She was the runner-up with a finish of 1:51.81. In her four-year career, she never finished lower than second in the event at the NCAA meet, winning the title in 2016 and 2018. 

In addition to Forde in the 500 free, Lauren Pitzer earned All-America accolades with a sixth-place finish. Moments after swimming the second leg in the 200 free relay, she powered through the 500 with a time of 4:36.67. She was one of four All-American Cardinal in the event as sophomore Katie Drabot finished 11th overall with a time of 4:37.87 and freshman Morgan Tankersley was 14th at 4:38.43.

Freshman Anya Goeders earned her first career individual All-America honors with a 12th-place finish in the 50 free. She became the eighth Stanford swimmer to break 22 seconds in the event in the prelims (21.98), and then finished fourth in the B final with a time of 22.07.
 RelaysThursday night started with the 200 free relay. Stanford finished third for another 32 points. Ruck's leadoff of 21.73 was the fourth-fastest 100 free in school history. She was followed by Pitzer (21.66), Fackenthal (21.45) and Geoders (21.66) stopped the clock at 1:26.50.

The night ended with a sixth-place finish of 3:28.45 in the 400 medley relay. Eastin led off with a 51.43 in the backstroke, Allie Raab followed with a split of 59.06 in the breaststroke, Fackenthal was home in 52.16 in the fly, and Taylor Ruck finished with the fastest freestyle of the heat at 45.80.
 Up NextFriday will be the busiest day yet with seven events, including the 400 IM, 100 butterfly, 200 free, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke, 3-meter diving and 200 medley relay. Prelims begin at 7 a.m. PT, while the finals start at 3 p.m. PT. Streaming and TV information is here, and Stanford's day-by-day schedule is below.

2019 National Champions
Relays/Individuals

2019 All-Americans

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