Eastin Makes History

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AUSTIN, Texas - Senior Ella Eastin became the first woman in NCAA history to win four straight national titles in the 400-yard individual medley on Friday night at the NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships.

Freshman Taylor Ruck added another silver and bronze to her collection this week, while sophomore Brooke Forde took home bronze in the 400 IM.

Through three of four days and 14 of 21 events, two-time defending national champion Stanford is in second place with 299.5 points. Cal has taken the lead with 328 points. Michigan is third at 233.
 

First to Four Eastin led from start-to-finish and claimed her fourth consecutive championship in the 400 IM with a time of 3:57.03.  

Four other women had won three straight national titles in the 400 IM, but none claimed gold all four years. Only one man has accomplished the feat, USC's David Wharton from 1988-91.

"I think the biggest thing for me was making sure I did everything I could to get some points for my team and get my hand on the wall first," Eastin told ESPN. "This team has been one of the consistent things in my life the past couple of years, and I wanted to do this for all of those that I train with for the 400 IM because we work our butt off. I'm just really pleased for the result and to have two of my teammates in there with me doing well, too." (Eastin Press Conference Audio).

Eastin led off with a split of 54.55 in the butterfly and finished the backstroke in 59.33. She maintained a body-length lead with a split of 1:07.56 in the breaststroke and touched the wall with a finish of 55.59 in the freestyle. 

Stanford has won this event 12 times, the most in the nation. Eastin is the sixth Cardinal to win the national title in the 400 IM, a list that includes Julia Smit's three-peat from 2008-10.

History. Made.

First woman in NCAA history to win 4? NCAA titles in the 400 IM.

????? @ella_eastin
? 3:57.03#GoStanford pic.twitter.com/D6hfuzNrjm

— Stanford WSwim/Dive (@stanfordwswim) March 22, 2019

Ruck's Back-to-BackRuck earned two individual medals with a silver in the 200 free and a bronze in the 100 back.

Ruck began her back-to-back finals with the fourth-fastest finish ever in the 200 free. Her time of 1:40.37 was just behind Louisville's Mallory Comerford, who won the event for the third straight year at 1:40.26. Ruck's time also tied Simone Manuel for second on the school's all-time list, and was one-hundreth behind Katie Ledecky's school record. 

Soon after, Ruck sprinted to a third-place finish of 50.34 in the 100 back. Only Janet Hu and Ally Howe have gone faster in a Cardinal cap. 
 More MedalsForde earned her third medal of the week with a third-place finish of 3:59.26 in the 400 individual medley. It shaved eight-hundreths off her personal best and stands as the fifth-fastest in school history. The Louisville, Kentucky, product was one of three Cardinal in the A final, along with Eastin and freshman Allie Raab. 

Raab earned her first career individual All-America honor with a seventh-place finish. She hit the wall at 4:06.11, just behind her prelim time of 4:05.85 which is the eighth-fastest ever at Stanford and got her into the A final in her first NCAA meet.

 Back-to-Back on the BoardsFreshman Carolina Sculti earned her second All-America honor in as many nights with a 14th-place finish on the 3-meter springboard.

Just 24 hours after earning All-America accolades in her first career NCAA event (1-meter), the Rye, New York, native was 12th in the 3-meter prelims with a score of 328.10. She then placed sixth in the consolation final with a score 316.60.

 Adding All-AmericansSophomore Lauren Pitzer posted the program's fifth-fastest 200 free to win the B final. She led from the beep. A Fort Worth, Texas, native, she split at 24.11 to open the event, never looked back, and earned nine points for the Cardinal in her home state.

Sophomore Erin Voss was one of three Stanford finalists in the 100 back. She reached the B final as a 16 seed when she broke 52 seconds for the first time (51.95). In the final, she topped that with a career-best finish of 51.87, ninth in school history, to place 14th overall. 

Freshman Lucie Nordmann earned her first career All-America recognition in the same event. She finished third in the consolation final and 11th overall with the school's seventh-fastest finish of all-time at 51.44. 

Stanford capped the night with four more All-Americans in the 200 medley relay. The Cardinal consisted of three freshmen and a sophomore and finished seventh with a time of 1:36.13. Nordmann led off the backstroke and was followed by sophomore Grace Zhao in the breaststroke and freshman Amalie Fackenthal in the butterfly. Freshman Anya Goeders took the freestyle leg.
 Up NextA national championship team will be crowned at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.

Saturday's prelims begin at 7 a.m. PT and the finals will start at 3 p.m PT. The final seven events include the 1650 free, 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly, platform and 400 free relay. Streaming and TV information is here, and Stanford's day-by-day schedule is below.

2019 National Champions
Relays/Individuals

2019 All-Americans

#GoStanford