ATLANTA - The Cardinal broke three school records in just two events to start the NCAA Championships and finished in the top eight in both relays on day one.
"It was a fantastic start to the meet, especially coming off of the Pac-12 Championships, that was a heck of a meet for us," said The Goldman Family Director of Men's Swimming, Dan Schemmel. "For us to improve on our times and our placing was just fantastic."
The Cardinal came out ready to make waves, breaking the 200 medley relay school record that was set earlier this month at the Pac-12 championships. Prior to this season, the record had stood for 13 years.
The time of 1:22.41 secured Stanford a spot on the podium for the top eight finishers. With the eighth place finish, the relay team of Leon MacAlister, Ron Polonsky, Andrei Minakov, Jonny Affeld became automatic NCAA All-America selections.
"I'm super proud of the guys," Schemmel added. "That was the best time for Leon leading off, it was the best time for Ron, Andrei, and Jonny right on his best."
The Cardinal kept the momentum heading into the second and final event of the day, the 800 free relay. The team was made up of Andrei Minakov, Luke Maurer, Ron Polonsky, and Preston Forst.
"Andrei and Ron were on both relays which is a tough double, and they held their own and put up fantastic splits so that was really great," said Schemmel "All the splits across the board were awesome. In the 800, all four of those guys had best times."
Andrei Minakov led off with a blistering 1:31.49, breaking Jack Levant's record of 1:32.61 from 2018. Luke Maurer, Ron Polonsky, and Preston Forst kept the speed up throughout the race helping Stanford snag bronze with a time of 6:06.83.
This marked another school record, breaking the previous record set at the Pac-12 championships by nearly two seconds. The Cardinal's third place finish was its best in the event since another third place finish in 2015.
Stanford will begin the individual events tomorrow morning in the preliminary round at 10 a.m.
"We want to keep the momentum going, it's going to be a very fast session," said Schemmel. "I think we've shown we're ready to be fast as well so we just want to be competitive and get as many final swims as we can."
The Cardinal will compete in 500 free, 200 I.M., 50 free, and 1-meter diving, and the 200 free relay tomorrow.
