HOUSTON, Texas – In only its fourth competition of the season, the Stanford women's swimming and diving program finished second in both the 800 free and 400 medley relays to open the 2021 Pac-12 Women's Swimming and Diving Championship.
"We haven't had the opportunity to compete very much this year, nor were we sure this meet would even happen," said the Paul A. Violich Director of Women's Swimming Greg Meehan. "To watch the team go out there and compete tonight for each other and for Stanford was a lot of fun. From a performance perspective they were great, and we are excited to keep things rolling tomorrow morning."
The Cardinal quartet of Allie Raab, Brooke Forde, Morgan Tankersley and Lauren Pitzer just narrowly finished second to Cal in the 800 free relay, hitting the wall 61-hundreths of a second after the Golden Bears. Despite the runner-up finish, Stanford swam a NCAA A standard of 6:58.60 in the team's first go at the event this year.
Raab came back to swim a leg on the 400 medley relay squad, as that foursome finished second in 3:30.08 – another A standard. Raab was joined by Janelle Rudolph, Emma Wheal and Lauren Green in that event.
Across the country in Tucson, Ariz., Stanford's diving crew of Mia Paulsen, Daria Lenz and Julia Wortman opened the diving championship with the prelims and finals of the 1-meter. Lenz led the Cardinal with a fifth-place finish (293.55), while Paulsen won the consolation final with a score of 285.60.
The Cardinal enter Thursday's action in fourth place in the team standings with 157 points – only 22 back of first-place Arizona. Tomorrow's events will consist of the 3-meter diving, the 50 free, 200 IM, 500 free and 200 free relay. The prelims will start tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. PT, with the final session starting at 4 p.m.
For live results and streaming information check the schedule page at GoStanford.com.
