GREENSBORO, N.C. – Stanford men's swimming and diving opened the 2021 NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships with a podium finish in the 800 free relay, Wednesday at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.
The team of Luke Maurer, Preston Forst, Mason Gonzalez and Grant Shoults swam 6:13.02 to finish seventh in the relay. The quartet took third in the fifth heat of the six-heat, timed final. The four teams in the final heat surpassed every team in heat five.
Both Forst (1:32.59) and Shoults (1:32.67) swam splits under 1:33.00.
"We are very proud of our performance on tonight's relay," said Dan Schemmel, the Goldman Family Director of Men's Swimming. "All four guys swam smart races and gave it everything they had for the team. We were one of two relays that had two freshmen which is very exciting for the future. Senior captain Grant Shoults had a stellar anchor leg and was key to us getting on the podium tonight."
With the relay being the only event contested on Wednesday, the Cardinal enter Thursday's action seventh in the team standings.
The national championships will continue tomorrow with the 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free, 1-meter diving, 200 free relay and 400 medley relay. The morning session will begin at 7 a.m. PT, with both sessions being streamed on ESPN3.
