ATLANTA - Five individuals earned All-American Honorable Mention honors on day two of the NCAA Championships, helping the team to a total score of 94 points at the halfway point.
"It was another superb day," said the Goldman Family Director of Men's Swimming, Dan Schemmel. "We had some really good prelim morning swims where we fell just a little short of making it into the final, but tonight we capitalized on our opportunities."
Multiple Stanford swimmers and divers narrowly missed out on competing in the A finals of their individual events on day two.
In the 500 free, Preston Forst and Grant Shoults finished 11th and 15th respectively during the morning session, just a handful of places out of the top eight A final.
Similarly in the 200 IM, Ron Polonsky took 10th overall in prelims, just three tenths of a second away from an eighth place finish. Jonny Affeld meanwhile narrowly missed out on a spot in the B final, finishing with a 1:42.57 and in 18th place.
Despite missing out on a few opportunities in prelims, the Cardinal fought hard to make the most of the evening events. Each student-athlete competing in an individual event in finals improved upon their position following prelims.
"The guys swam out of their minds," Said Schemmel.
Conor Casey and Jack Ryan competed in the 1-meter competition today, with each diver scoring points in the B final.
"We also dove super well today," added Schemmel. "Jack and Conor had a rough start, but they rebounded, got themselves into scoring position, and ended up having a great consolation final."
To cap off the day, Andrei Minakov, Mason Gonzalez, Jonny Affeld, and Luke Maurer swam a season best time in the 200 free relay by nearly half a second. The team finished 14th overall in the event and took second place in their heat.
"All around, it was a really good day," said Schemmel. "Last year we finished the meet with 99 points, and we have 94 after day two so it's a really good improvement from last year."
Stanford will be back in action with more individual events tomorrow morning for the third day's preliminary session. The Cardinal will compete in the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, and 3-meter diving.