OVER THE COURSE of a season, there are championships to be won and goals to be reached. But one highlight, maybe the biggest of Stanford's men's swimming and diving season came during a dual meet: Stanford's 170-130 victory over rival Cal.
Jonathan Tan battled to the wall on the anchor leg of the meet's opening event, the 200-yard medley relay team, to give Stanford a victory and a lead it would not relinquish against the two-time defending NCAA champions. Stanford won 10 of 16 events, sweeping the top-three places in the 200 breaststroke, and took a 103-23 lead in a series that began in 1916.
Stanford had its share of postseason highs too. Jack Ryan, who left the team briefly midseason to compete for the U.S. at the World Championships in Qatar, swept the springboard diving events at the final Pac-12 Championships and was named as the conference's Men's Diver of the Year.
At the NCAA Championships, Ryan placed third in the 3-meter event and fourth at 1-meter, giving Stanford it's best places on the way to taking eighth as a team.
In the 3-meter final, Ryan secured third with his best dive of the day, scoring 84.00 on a reverse 1 1/2 somersault 3 1/2 twist free with a 3.5 degree of difficulty, on his final attempt. Ryan finished with 444.20 points, his best six-dive score in an NCAA championship event.
On the same evening at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis, Ryan's teammates earned an unexpected fifth in the 400 medley relay.
This was the first time this season that Dan Schemmel, Stanford's Goldman Family Director of Men's Swimming, used a 400 medley relay lineup of Aaron Sequeira, Ron Polonsky, Andrei Minakov and Rafael Gu. They responded with a season-best 3:01.97, not far off the 2022 school record of 3:01.45 that Polonsky and Minakov were part of.
Sequeira opened on the backstroke with a 100 split of 45.57 and Polonsky followed with a breaststroke split of 51.21. Minakov took off in fourth place on the butterfly and unleashed a split of 43.92, moving into first in the final 25 yards. Minakov's split was the third-fastest of all four heats and definitely the fastest in Stanford's Heat 3. And Gu closed it out with a freestyle leg of 41.27.
It was Stanford's best swimming place, among relays or individuals, at the meet.
Stanford closed out the meet with school record in the 400 free relay, clocking 2:46.06. Minakov led off and was followed by Gu, Andres Dupont Cabrera, and Henry McFadden. Minakov, a junior, now owns eight school records – four in individual events and four on relays – and has 19 All-America honors.
In a dual against Arizona State earlier in the season, Minakov broke a school record in the 200 fly that had stood since 2011, swimming 1:38.63, and on the same day, set the Avery Aquatic Center record in the 100 fly (44.16). And at the NCAA 100 breaststroke trials, Polonsky crushed his own school record with a time of 50.87.
Schemmel, who is Stanford's sixth head coach in 108 seasons, led the Cardinal to a 6-1 dual-meet record and is 22-5 in his five seasons.
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Honors and Achievements
Team
Eighth at NCAA Championships
Second at Pac-12 Championships
6-1 dual-meet record
Beat Cal, 170-130
Andres Dupont Cabrera
First-team All-American (400 FR)
School record: 400 free relay (2:46.06)
Rafael Gu
First-team All-American (200 MR, 400 MR, 400 FR)
Second-team All-American (200 FR)
School record: 400 free relay (2:46.06)
Luke Maurer
First-team All-American (800 FR)
Second-team All-American (200 FR)
Second-team Academic All-American
Rex Maurer
First-team All-American (200 MR)
Pac-12 Men's Swimmer of the Month (October)
Henry McFadden
First-team All-American (800 FR, 400 FR)
Second-team All-American (200 free)
School record: 400 free relay (2:46.06)
Rick Mihm
Second-team Academic All-American
Andrei Minakov
First-team All-American (200 MR, 800 FR, 400 MR, 400 FR)
Second-team All-American (200 fly, 200 FR)
Pac-12 Men's Swimmer of the Week (Feb. 27)
School record: 200 butterfly (1:38.63)
School record: 400 free relay (2:46.06)
Avery Aquatic Center record: 100 butterfly (44.16)
Ron Polonsky
First-team All-American (100 breast, 200 MR, 800 FR, 400 MR)
Second-team All-American (200 IM)
First-team Academic All-American
School record: 100 breaststroke (50.87)
Avery Aquatic Center record: 100 breaststroke (51.39)
Jack Ryan
First-team All-American (1-meter diving, 3-meter diving)
Pac-12 Men's Diver of the Year
Pac-12 diving champion (1-meter, 3-meter)
Zone E diving champion (1-meter, 3-meter)
Pac-12 Men's Diver of the Week (Feb. 27)
Aaron Sequeira
First-team All-American (400 MR)
Avery Voss
Second-team All-American (200 FR)
Patrick Jeffrey
Pac-12 Men's Diving Coach of the Year