STOCKTON, Calif. – No. 10 Stanford's 2019-20 season kicked off on Friday and Saturday with a win at the Pacific Invitational.
The Cardinal amassed 1,329 points, well ahead of second-place Pacific (747), third-place UC Santa Cruz (521) and fourth-place Fresno Pacific University (497). Benjamin Ho led Stanford with five total wins, including three individual races, and Will Macmillan had the second-most with four wins.
Stanford started the meet by taking the top three spots in the 200-yard medley relay, led by the team of Ho, Hank Poppe, Macmillan and Alberto Mestre (1:29.48). Ho (49.46) made it two wins in a row, taking the top spot in the 100-yard backstroke while Shane Blinkman (51.19) placed third.
Poppe (53.62), Daniel Roy (55.53) and Brennan Pastorek (56.12) swept the podium in the 100-yard breaststroke before the Cardinal took the top eight spots in the 200-yard freestyle, led by winner Grant Shoults (1:38.09) and followed by Macmillan (1:38.17) and Jack Levant (1:38.61).
Roy (3:54.62) was the fastest swimmer in the 400-yard individual medley by over 13 seconds, ahead of second-place Blinkman (4:07.59) and third-place Jonathan Cook (4:09.99). Mestre (20.49) placed first in the 50-yard freestyle, ahead of third-place Ho (21.05) and Alex Liang (1:49.49) won the 200-yard butterfly while Macmillan (1:51.55) was second and Levant (1:51.74) third.
Stanford's team of James Murphy, Matthew Hirschberger, Jordan Greenberg and Mestre (3:04.21) wrapped up Day 1 on Friday night with a win in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Day 2 began in similar fashion with the quartet of Ho, Poppe, Macmillan and Mestre (3:17.19) earning the top spot in the 400-yard medley relay. Murphy (4:29.11) followed it up with a win in the 500-yard freestyle as teammates Levant (4:30.35) and Hirschberger (4:33.38) rounded out the podium.
Ho (1:49.08) won his fourth event, the 200-yard backstroke, ahead of Blinkman (1:51.04) and Alex Liang (1:53.76) before Macmillan (44.86) captured the 100-yard freestyle with Gonzalez (45.32) and Murphy (45.84) taking second and third place, respectively.
Roy (1:58.92) made it two individual wins with a victory in the 200-yard breaststroke ahead of Poppe (2:01.05) and Cook (2:05.86) and Macmillan (49.59) won his second event of the day, the 100-yard butterfly, with Sean Slusiewicz (50.32) and Levant (50.60) making it a one-two-three finish.
Ho (1:50.38) wasn't finished, winning the 200-yard individual medley while Blinkman (1:51.27) finished second and Roy (1:51.67) placed third. Shoults (15:03.12) won the final individual event of the meet, the 1,650-yard freestyle, while freshman Andrew Matejka (15:57.78) was the runner up.
No. 10 Stanford hosts its Alumni Meet Oct. 25 at 5:30 p.m. PT followed by its annual Triple-Distance Meet against California in Berkeley, California, on Nov. 8. The Cardinal wraps up its fall season Nov. 21-23 at the Art Adamson Invitational in College Station, Texas.
