FEDERAL WAY, Wash. - Stanford narrowly lost out on winning its first Pac-12 championship since 2017, taking second place to California by a score of 853.5 to 760. California claimed its fifth Pac-12 title in a row, winning each title since Stanford's last victory.
The Cardinal performed well throughout the fourth day of competition, but were unable to overcome California's impressive depth.
The finals session began with the 1,650 free and Grant Shoults claiming second place with a 14:45.38 after finishing fourth in the preliminary round. Andrew Matejka earned points in the event as well, finishing ninth overall.
In the 200 back, Leon MacAlister led the way for the Cardinal as he's done all year, taking third overall with a time 1:39.18. The time marked the second fastest time in program history, just one one-hundredth behind the record.
Aaron Sequeira finished the event in eighth place with a 1:41.20, a season-best time by over two seconds. Shane Blinkman and Alex Boratto scored for the Cardinal as well, taking third and fifth in the B final.
Stanford missed out on the A final of the 100 free but had three swimmers in the B final, led by Andrei Minakov who won the heat with a time of 42.27. Luke Maurer and Mason Gonzalez also scored in the B final, finishing fifth and seventh.
Daniel Roy took home fourth in the 200 breast, narrowly missing out on breaking his own school record by two tenths of a second with a time of 1:51.27. Ron Polonsky earned sixth in the A final as well finishing with a 1:51.73, making him the second-fastest 200 breast swimmer at Stanford behind Roy.
Jon Cook, Ethan Dang, and Hayden Zheng rounded out the Cardinal's scoring in the B final, with Cook taking ninth, Dang finishing 13th, and Zheng claiming 16th overall.
In the 200 fly, Stanford's projected top performer Jonny Affeld was a late scratch from prelims, leaving Preston Forst as the top seed. The Pac-12 champion in the 500 free performed well, snagging fifth in the A final with a 1:41.70. The swim moved Forst from tenth to third on the all-time Stanford record book.
Four more Cardinal rounded out the B final for Stanford led by Alex Liang who finished ninth. Rick Mihm took 12th, Matt Fenlon finished 15th, and Ethan Hu brought home 16th overall.
To close out the meet, Stanford swam a program record 400 free relay. The team of Andrei Minakov, Ron Polonsky, Leon MacAlister, and Luke Maurer finished third in the event with a time of 2:47.17.
Saturday marked the end of a successful first postseason meet for the Cardinal, with multiple event titles, program records, and a new conference record set throughout the four day meet.
Stanford will look to build on this momentum heading into the NCAA championships, taking place from March 23-26. The divers will compete at the NCAA zones diving competition from March 8-10.