GREENSBORO, N.C. - The Cardinal closed out its midseason meets on Saturday, wrapping up three days of competition at the NC State/GAC Invite and the Texas Diving Invite.
"We are really proud of how we competed this weekend," said The Goldman Family Director of Men's Swimming Dan Schemmel. "Both swimming and diving had some very encouraging performances. We believe we have the pieces to put together a special season and this weekend was a testament of our potential."
Stanford began the third day of the NC State/GAC Invite strong, kicking off the finals session with a seventh place finish in the 1650 free from Gabe Machado at 15:17.91 and a ninth place finish from Liam Custer with a 15:20.56. Both times earned an NCAA B Standard cut.
The Cardinal kept the momentum going with four swimmers in the A final of the 200 back. Leon MacAlister snagged the individual event win to begin the evening.
Stanford's backstroke record-holder swam a 1:40.13 in the heat, earning an NCAA B Standard cut in the process. Aaron Sequeira took fifth in the heat as well after dropping 1.78 seconds from his prelims time, clocking a 1:42.68.
Hayden Kwan and Josh Zuchowski rounded out the A final for Stanford, nabbing seventh and eighth place. Shane Blinkman and Gabe Machado finished tenth and 12th overall as well, pushing Stanford to six top-12 swimmers in the event.
In the 100 free, Luke Maurer was the Cardinal's top finisher. He swam a 42.71, good for fifth place and an NCAA B Standard cut. Andres Dupont earned his own B cut as well, swimming a 43.25 and finished 11th overall.
Rafael Gu, Avery Voss, and Neel Roy each swam inside the top-20, making it five total top-20 performances in the 100 free for Stanford.
Zhier Fan and Ethan Dang swam in the A final of the 200 breast, both earning NCAA B Standard cuts. Fan took fourth with a 1:55.61 and Dang finished sixth overall at 1:56.24.
Ron Polonsky and Hayden Zheng competed in the B final, finishing 10th and 14th overall respectively.
Two Cardinal swimmers swam in the A final of the 200 fly, with Matt Fenlon leading the way at 1:43.79 and in sixth place. Jonathan Affeld finished in eighth with a 1:46.96, but he also clocked a 1:44.82 in prelims, giving both Fenlon and Affled NCAA B Standard cuts.
Ethan Hu topped the B final, taking ninth place with a 1:45.31 while Rick Mihm and Preston Forst each scored as well, taking 11th and 12th.
Stanford closed out the meet with a strong performance in the 400 free relay. The A relay of Luke Maurer, Leon MacAlister, Ron Polonsky, and Andres Dupont earned fourth with a 2:50.38, good for an NCAA B Standard cut.
Neel Roy, Rafael Gu, Aaron Sequeira, and Avery Voss took sixth place with a 2:55.05.
Meanwhile, at the Texas Diving Invite, Ethan Foster competed in the platform event. The junior diver took sixth place overall, earning a score of 305.80.
This concludes Stanford's fall season. The Cardinal will return to action on January 13 at the Bruin Diving Invite and against Pacific.
