STANFORD, Calif. – Andrei Minakov swam Stanford's fastest 200-yard freestyle race of the season among his three victories that helped the No. 9 Cardinal beat No. 20 Arizona, 198.5-88.5 in the rain on Saturday at Avery Aquatic Center.
Minakov and Ron Polonsky finished 1-2 in a 200 free matchup between 2020 Olympians who each were competing in that event for the first time this season. Minakov clocked 1:32.19 to Polonsky's 1:33.06.
Their performances strengthened Stanford's depth in its strongest event. Minakov already owns the Stanford record in this event, but now teammates Minakov, Henry McFadden, and Polonsky each are among Stanford's all-time top 8. McFadden, a freshman, reached that at the Texas Invitational in November with a 1:32.78. And Polonsky, by virtue of his personal best Saturday, moved up from No. 15 to No. 8.
Altogether, eight different Stanford swimmers have reached the NCAA 'B' standard of 1:35.79 in that event, including freshman Gibson Holmes, who earned that cut Saturday with 1:35.52, a three-second personal best.
Minakov won the 100 free in 42.17 to earn his second new 'B' standard of the day and led off Stanford's winning 200 free relay team, which clocked 1:18.19.
Arizona won the opening event, the 200 medley relay, to take a quick 11-6 lead, but Stanford went ahead for good in the next event, the 1,000 free. Freshman Rex Maurer, a day after becoming No. 4 in school history in that event during a dual against Arizona State, captured first while leading a 1-2-3 sweep ahead of Gabe Machado and Henry Morrissey. That gave Stanford a 22-14 lead it never relinquished. In fact, Stanford won 15 consecutive events after the initial loss.
Hayden Zheng achieved a season-best while winning the 200 breaststroke in 1:55.84. And Luke Maurer, older brother of Rex, won the 500 free in a season-best 4:22.81.
In all, Stanford swimmers earned nine personal bests and 10 NCAA 'B' standards.
Jack Ryan won the 3-meter diving event in his final Stanford competition before representing the U.S. in the 1-meter springboard at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar, on February 2-3.
Stanford improved to 4-1 in dual meets while Arizona dropped to 4-4. The Cardinal next competes on February 3 at USC, which is coached by Lea Maurer, the mother of Luke and Rex.
Stanford's home season concludes with a Senior Day showdown against rival Cal on February 24.
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Stanford 198.5, Arizona 88.5
At Avery Aquatic Center
Winners and Stanford results
200-yard medley relay – 1, Arizona 1:25.66; 2, Stanford A (Aaron Sequeira, Zhier Fan, Rafael Gu, Luke Maurer) 1:25.73; 3, Stanford B (Josh Zuchowski, Rick Mihm, Ethan Harrington, Andres Dupont) 1:26.41.
1,000 freestyle – 1, Rex Maurer (Stanford) 8:55.03; 2, Gabe Machado (Stanford) 9:04.34; 3, Henry Morrissey (Stanford) 9:07.97.
200 free – 1, Andrei Minakov (Stanford) 1:32.19 (new B standard); 2, Ron Polonsky (Stanford) 1:33.06 (PB; No. 8 Stanford AT; new B standard); 4, Jonathan Tan (Stanford) 1:35.83. Unplaced: Gibson Holmes (Stanford) 1:35.52 (PB; new B standard); Matt Fenlon (Stanford) 1:37.00 (PB); Andrew Matejka (Stanford) 1:39.47; Liam Custer (Stanford) 1:40.94.
100 backstroke – 1, Aaron Sequeira (Stanford) 47.66; 2, Hayden Kwan (Stanford) 47.96.
100 breaststroke – 1, Zhier Fan (Stanford) 53.61; 4, Hayden Zheng (Stanford) 54.25; 5, Rick Mihm (Stanford) 54.53 (PB). Unplaced: Ethan Dang (Stanford) 53.39.
200 butterfly – 1, Rafael Gu (Stanford) 1:43.69 (new B standard); 3, Henry McFadden (Stanford) 1:44.46 (new B standard); 4, Josh Zuchowski (Stanford) 1:46.40 (PB); 6, Preston Forst (Stanford) 1:47.42.
50 free – 1, Andres Dupont (Stanford) 19.87; 4, Luke Maurer (Stanford) 20.31; 5, Ethan Harrington (Stanford) 20.33. Unplaced: Ethan Hu (Stanford) 20.82.
3-meter diving – 1, Jack Ryan (Stanford) 296.45; 4, Hunter Hollenbeck (Stanford) 288.45.
100 free – 1, Andrei Minakov (Stanford) 42.17 (new B standard); 3, Henry McFadden (Stanford) 43.52; 4, Avery Voss (Stanford) 44.08; 8, Preston Forst (Stanford) 45.14.
200 back – 1, Hayden Kwan (Stanford) 1:45.36; 2, Gabe Machado (Stanford) 1:46.02.
200 breast – 1, Hayden Zheng (Stanford) 1:55.84; 2, Zhier Fan (Stanford) 1:56.44 (new B standard); 6, Rick Mihm (Stanford) 2:00.85.
500 free – 1, Luke Maurer (Stanford) 4:22.81; 2, Henry Morrissey (Stanford) 4:28.93; 3, Andrew Matejka (Stanford) 4:30.52. Unplaced: Ethan Dang (Stanford) 4:36.89 (PB).
100 fly – 1, Jonathan Tan (Stanford) 46.67 (PB; new B standard); 2, Aaron Sequeira (Stanford) 46.96; 4, Avery Voss (Stanford) 47.39. Unplaced: Gibson Holmes (Stanford) 47.11; Andres Dupont (Stanford) 47.23 (PB); Ethan Hu (Stanford) 47.51; Matt Fenlon (Stanford) 48.25; Ethan Harrington (Stanford) 48.36.
1-meter diving – 1, Hunter Hollenbeck (Stanford) 350.93.
400 individual medley – 1, Ron Polonsky (Stanford) 3:47.82 (new B standard). Unplaced: Josh Zuchowski (Stanford) 3:50.48 (new B standard); Liam Custer (Stanford) 3:51.73.
200 free relay – 1, Stanford A (Andrei Minakov, Henry McFadden, Luke Maurer, Rafael Gu) 1:18.19. Unplaced: Stanford B (Jonathan Tan, Rick Mihm, Ethan Harrington, Andres Dupont) 1:19.23; Stanford C (Avery Voss, Aaron Sequeira, Hayden Kwan, Preston Forst) 1:21.44.
PB = Personal best
AT = All-time
