FEDERAL WAY, Wash. - Stanford recorded two podium finishes on day two of the Pac-12 Championships as the team moved into third place in the standings, behind Arizona State and California. Ron Polonsky finished third overall in the 200 IM while Andrei Minakov took third in the 50 free.
The morning session began with the 500 free, 200 IM, and 50 free prelims, which saw four Cardinal swimmers earn spots in A finals and 16 total swimmers secure spots in a finals A, B, or C heat.
The finals session began at 6 p.m. in the 500 free, where six Stanford swimmers competed across the three finals heats. Preston Forst was the top finisher, taking seventh overall in the A final while swimming Stanford's fastest time this season with a 4:15.01.
In the B final, the Card claimed spots two, three, and four, thanks to strong swims from Andrew Matejka (4:18.07), Gabe Machado (4:18.23), and Matt Fenlon (4:20.20). The C final had two of Stanford's freshmen, with Liam Custer (4:22.13) winning the heat and Henry Morrissey (4:24.70) taking seventh.
In the 200 IM, two Stanford swimmers, Ron Polonsky and Jonathan Affeld, competed in the A final. Polonsky finished third overall with a 1:40.42, the fourth-fastest time in program history. Affeld took eighth in the A final, swimming a 1:43.38 while earning 11 points for Stanford.
The B final featured Rick Mihm (1:42.63) taking third, Josh Zuchowski (1:43.86) tying for fourth, and Shane Blinkman (1:44.63) taking seventh. In the C final, Zhier Fan (1:44.09) finished in first place.
The 50 free was Stanford's second podium finish of the evening, with Andrei Minakov representing the Cardinal in the A final and swimming a 19.07 for third place. He shaved one one-hundredth off his fastest swim for Stanford, the fourth-fastest 50 free in program history.
In the B final, Luke Maurer (19.46) tied for fourth place, while Rafael Gu (19.57) took eighth. In the C final, Avery Voss (19.75) finished in second and Andres Dupont (19.79) tied for third place.
The Cardinal concluded the evening in the 200 free relay, with Andrei Minakov, Rafael Gu, Jonny Affeld, and Luke Maurer combining to swim a 1:16.24 and take fourth place, behind California, Arizona State, and Arizona.
Stanford returns to action for the third day of the Pac-12 Swimming Championships on Friday. Prelims of the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, and 100 back will begin at 11 a.m. with finals set to start at 6 p.m. and include the 400 medley relay as the final event of the day.
