FEDERAL WAY, Wash. – As Henry McFadden touched the wall to anchor a third-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay, Stanford men's swimming and diving's time in the Pac-12 Conference came to a close.
In a conference that held men's swimming and diving championships since 1961, Stanford won 33 titles. On Saturday, the Cardinal closed out its Pac-12 chapter with a second-place team finish, scoring 733.5 points to winner Arizona State's 1,036.
Stanford achieved its 45th top-two team finish at this meet. With the conference disbanding as we know it, the Cardinal will attempt to continue its run of success in the Atlanta Coast Conference in 2024.
On the fourth and final day of competition at the King County Aquatic Center, the Cardinal had two podium finishes, both third-places. One was the 400 free relay team of Luke Maurer, Rafael Gu, Ron Polonsky, and McFadden, which clocked 2:48.62. The other was Rex Maurer in the 200 backstroke. Maurer was timed in 1:39.83.
In his first conference championship meet, the freshman Maurer was a Cardinal standout. Maurer swam in five events and reached the podium (top three) in all of them. Individually, he was third in the 200 back, 400 individual medley, and 500 free. He was second in the 400 medley relay and third in the 200 medley relay.
There were six additions or improvements to Stanford's Top-15 lists on Saturday, all of them in the prelims. The highest of those was Aaron Sequeira's 1:39.62 in the 200 back prelims. It placed him No. 4 all-time at Stanford. Sequeira went on to place fifth in the A final, in 1:40.55.
The Cardinal also established seven personal bests.
Though Stanford did not win a swimming event in these championships, it did earn victories in the 1- and 3-meter springboard diving events last week, thanks to Jack Ryan.
Next up for the Cardinal is the Zone E Diving Championships to be held Monday through Wednesday in Flagstaff, Arizona. Ryan and Hunter Hollenbeck will compete in the springboard events. The meet acts as a qualifier for the NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships, which are March 27-30 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
* * *
Pac-12 Championships
At King County Aquatic Center
Winners and all Stanford results
Final team scores – 1, Arizona State 1,036; 2, Stanford 733.5; 3, Cal 595; 4, Arizona 433; 5 USC 394.5; 6, Utah 211.
1,650-yard freestyle – 1, Zalan Sarkany (ASU) 14:23.01; 4, Liam Custer (Stanford) 14:46.22; 5, Gabe Machado (Stanford) 14:55.52; 9, Andrew Matejka (Stanford) 15:08.69. Unplaced: Henry Morrissey (Stanford) 14:56.06 (PB).
200-yard backstroke – A final: 1, Hubert Kos (ASU) 1:35.69; 3, Rex Maurer (Stanford) 1:39.83; 5, Aaron Sequeira (Stanford) 1:40.55; 7, Josh Zuchowski (Stanford) 1:40.71. B final: 12, Hayden Kwan (Stanford) 1:41.45. Prelims: 3, Sequeira 1:39.62 (PB; No. 4 Stanford AT); 5, Zuchowski 1:40.62; 6, R. Maurer 1:40.68; 13, Kwan 1:42.16.
100 free – A final: 1, Matthew Jensen (Cal) 41.63; 7, Rafael Gu (Stanford) 42.45; 8, Luke Maurer (Stanford) 42.61. B final: 14, Jonathan Tan (Stanford) 43.07. C final: 18, Avery Voss (Stanford) 43.37. Prelims: 7, Gu 42.18 (PB; No. 6 Stanford AT); 9, L. Maurer 42.20 (PB; No. 7 Stanford AT); 13, Tan 43.05; 17, Voss 43.23; 23, Ethan Harrington (Stanford) 43.78.
200 breaststroke – A final: 1, Leon Marchand (ASU) 1:48.60; 4, Ron Polonsky (Stanford) 1:52.27; 6, Zhier Fan (Stanford) 1:53.62. B final: 9, Hayden Zheng (Stanford) 1:54.74; 10, Ethan Dang (Stanford) 1:54.90. Prelims: 5, Fan 1:53.03; 7, Polonsky 1:53.84; 9, Zheng 1:54.45 (PB; No. 14 Stanford AT); 10, Dang 1:55.11.
200 butterfly – A final: 1, Ilya Kharun (ASU) 1:38.64; 5, Gibson Holmes (Stanford) 1:42.35; 7, Henry McFadden (Stanford) 1:43.24. B final: 9, Matt Fenlon (Stanford) 1:42.99; 11, Rick Mihm (Stanford) 1:43.60. C final: 21, Preston Forst (Stanford) 1:50.51. Prelims: 6, Holmes 1:42.95 (No. 13 Stanford AT); 7, McFadden 1:43.11 (PB; No. 15 Stanford AT); 9, Mihm 1:43.57 (PB); 10, Fenlon 1:43.86; 20, Forst 1:47.22. Unplaced: Ethan Hu (Stanford) 1:46.82.
400 free relay – 1, Arizona State 2:44.23; 3, Stanford A (Luke Maurer, Rafael Gu, Ron Polonsky, Henry McFadden) 2:48.62. Unplaced: Stanford B (Avery Voss, Ethan Harrington, Aaron Sequeira, Jonathan Tan) 2:53.15; Stanford C (Gibson Holmes, Andrew Matejka, Preston Forst, Rick Mihm) 2:59.77.
