STANFORD, Calif. – Ron Polonsky swept the individual medley events to highlight Stanford men’s swimming’s season-opening Triple Distance Meet against Cal at Avery Aquatic Center on Friday.
Polonsky, a 2024 Olympic semifinalist in the 200-meter individual medley and 100 breaststroke, was part of four victories in the non-scoring meet between the No. 9 Cardinal and No. 1 Bears.
The format called for individuals to compete in three races in each of six disciplines: sprint freestyle, distance freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and individual medley. In addition, there was a 200-yard freestyle relay and 200 medley relay.
On Friday, Polonsky won individual medleys over three distances – 100, 200, and 400 yards. His times were 49.38 – a personal record at the rare distance – and 1:47.62 and 3:55.53. In addition, Polonsky swam the breaststroke leg of the winning 200 medley relay (1:26.37).
The Triple Distance Meet has been held annually (except the COVID year of 2020) in early November since 2001. It began as the Double Distance Meet and has been the Triple Distance Meet since 2002. This was the 14th time the meet was held at Avery.
Stanford and Cal split 20 races, winning 10 apiece. Stanford swept the butterfly, with Rafael Gu winning in 50 fly (21.08) and 100 fly (46.77). Also, Andrei Minakov edged Cal’s Gabriel Jett in the 200 fly, 1:45.08 to 1:45.30 in one of the best races of the day.
Gu and Minakov each achieved NCAA 'B' standards: Gu in the 100 fly (46.77) and Minakov in the 200 fly (1:45.08).
Of the six event groups, three Stanford swimmers had the best combined times: Polonsky in the IM, Minakov in the butterfly, and sophomore Henry McFadden in the distance freestyle. McFadden won the distance free portion of the 200 free, in 1:39.44, and was second in the 500 and 1,000, the latter by 0.02.
Two Stanford freshmen made their collegiate debuts: Abram Mueller and Go Nagaoka in the breaststroke. Nagaoka was second in the 200 breast and third in the 100 breast.
Triple Distance Meet
Stanford vs. Cal
Non-scoring
Winners and all Stanford results
Sprint Freestyle
50 free – 1, Jack Alexy (Cal) 19.60; 2, Jonathan Tan (Stan) 19.76; 3, Avery Voss (Stan) 20.19; 4, Ethan Harrington (Stan) 20.31; 7, Andres Dupont Cabrera (Stan) 20.51.
100 free – 1, Alexy (Cal) 43.39; 2, Tan (Stan) 43.65; 3, Dupont Cabrera (Stan) 44.31; 5, Harrington (Stan) 44.94; 7, Voss (Stan) 45.22.
200 free – 1, Alexy (Cal) 1:37.16; 3, Dupont Cabrera (Stan) 1:37.78; 4, Tan (Stan) 1:38.16; 7, Harrington (Stan) 1:40.33; 8, Voss (Stan) 1:40.74.
Distance Freestyle
200 free – 1, Henry McFadden (Stan) 1:39.44; 2, Gabe Machado (Stan) 1:41.07; 4, Liam Custer (Stan) 1:42.25; 5, Henry Morrissey (Stan) 1:42.77.
500 free – 1, Matthew Chai (Cal) 4:24.27; 2, McFadden (Stan) 4:24.97; 3, Custer (Stan) 4:28.92; 4, Morrissey (Stan) 4:31.58; 5, Machado (Stan) 4:32.08.
1,000 free – 1, Chai (Cal) 9:03.55; 2, McFadden (Stan) 9:03.57; 3, Custer (Stan) 9:06.76; 4, Morrissey (Stan) 9:10.61; 5, Machado (Stan) 9:19.84.
Backstroke
50 back – 1, Bjorn Seeliger (Cal) 22.13; 2, Aaron Sequeira (Stan) 22.38; 3, Hayden Kwan (Stan) 22.49; 7, Josh Zuchowski (Stan) 23.25.
100 back – 1, Seeliger (Cal) 48.03; 2, Kwan (Stan) 48.06; 5, Sequeira (Stan) 48.58; 8, Zuchowski (Stan) 49.73.
200 back – 1, Sequeira (Stan) 1:44.85; 2, Kwan (Stan) 1:45.74; 5, Zuchowski (Stan) 1:47.29.
Breaststroke
50 breast – 1, Zhier Fan (Stan) 24.71; 4, Abram Mueller (Stan) 25.21; 5, Ethan Dang (Stan) 25.34; 6, Go Nagaoka (Stan) 25.35 (PB); 8, Hayden Zheng (Stan) 25.70.
100 breast – 1, Yamato Okadome (Cal) 53.74; 2, Fan (Stan) 53.85; 3, Nagaoka (Stan) 54.94 (PB); 4, Zheng (Stan) 54.97; 5, Dang (Stan) 55.08; 6, Mueller (Stan) 55.28.
200 breast – 1, Okadome (Cal) 1:56.52; 2, Nagaoka (Stan) 1:58.25 (PB); 3, Dang (Stan) 1:59.37; 4, Zheng (Stan) 2:00.53; 5, Fan (Stan) 2:01.84; 6, Mueller (Stan) 2:02.09.
Butterfly
50 fly – 1, Rafael Gu (Stan) 21.08; 2, Andrei Minakov (Stan) 21.21; 9, Matt Fenlon (Stan) 22.50.
100 fly – 1, Gu (Stan) 46.77; 2, Minakov (Stan) 46.95; 8, Fenlon (Stan) 49.76.
200 fly – 1, Minakov (Stan) 1:45.08; 4, Fenlon (Stan) 1:49.27; 7, Gu (Stan) 1:51.99.
Individual Medley
100 IM – 1, Ron Polonsky (Stan) 49.38 (PB); 2, Gibson Holmes (Stan) 50.19 (PB); 4, Rick Mihm (Stan) 51.28 (PB).
200 IM – 1, Polonsky (Stan) 1:47.62; 2, Holmes (Stan) 1:49.54; 3, Mihm (Stan) 1:50.26.
400 IM – 1, Polonsky (Stan) 3:55.53; 2, Mihm (Stan) 3:56.03; 3, Holmes (Stan) 3:57.36.
Relays
200 medley relay – 1, Stanford ‘A’ (Rafael Gu, Ron Polonsky, Andrei Minakov, Jonathan Tan) 1:26.37; Stanford ‘B’ (Hayden Kwan, Ethan Dang, Aaron Sequeira, Gibson Holmes) DQ.
200 free relay – 1, Cal 1:19.35; 2, Stanford ‘A’ (Ethan Harrington, Avery Voss, Andres Dupont Cabrera, Henry McFadden) 1:20.77; 4, Stanford ‘B’ (Go Nagaoka, Rick Mihm, Abram Mueller, Gabe Machado) 1:22.29.