STANFORD, Calif. - The Cardinal started the new year with a dominant victory over Pacific on Friday afternoon, 179-67. It marked Stanford's second dual meet of the season and its ninth straight dual meet victory, dating back to October 15 of 2021 against Utah.
"Really good effort across the board," said The Goldman Family Director of Men's Swimming and Diving Dan Schemmel. "We had a really good block of winter training which carried over into this week, so the guys had every excuse to not be ready to race, but they pushed through it and had great efforts and attitudes across the board."
The Cardinal won each of the 14 events on the day in the victory, including two strong relay titles to bookend the meet. In the 200 medley relay, Aaron Sequeira, Ethan Dang, Andrei Minakov, and Luke Maurer combined for a 1:28.14, earning the event title. Rafael Gu, Leon MacAlister, Ron Polonsky, and Ethan Dang swam a 1:21.10 to earn the event title in the 200 free relay.
"The milers were awesome with Liam Custer going faster than he was at the midseason meet, a best time for Matt Fenlon, and Henry Morrissey being right off his time from midseason," added Schemmel. "Rafael Gu was also exceptionally good today."
The trio of 1650 swimmers swept the top three spots, with Custer finishing in first at 15:15.47, Matt Fenlon in second with 15:26.00, and Henry Morrissey took third with 15:35.59.
Neel Roy recorded his first career event title in the 200 free, beating out Andres Dupont and Rick Mihm for the top spot. Roy recorded a 1:37.55 to claim the individual win. Hayden Zheng and Avery Voss each added their own first career individual titles, with Zheng taking the 100 breast with a 56.17 and Voss claiming the 50 free at 20.43.
Rafael Gu and Ron Polonsky each added a pair of individual titles on the day as well, as Gu took the top spot in the both the 100 back and the 100 fly. Polonsky took the 200 fly and 200 breast titles.
Andrei Minakov, Hayden Kwan, Andrew Matejka, and Luke Maurer also added individual titles to make it 14 event wins for the Cardinal on Friday.
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Jack Ryan took second overall on the 1-meter to open the Bruin Diving Invite. He finished with a final score of 710.05, only behind Shangfei Wang from USC. Peyton Donald took fourth overall in the event as well, scoring a 643.40.
The divers are back in action on the 3-meter tomorrow in Los Angeles, while the Cardinal are back in action in another dual meet next Friday at ASU.
