FEDERAL Way, Wash. – Jack Ryan placed third in 3-meter diving to highlight a Friday in which Stanford earned five top-10 places and broke three school records at the NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships.
With one day left in the four-day meet, Stanford is eighth with 162 points, just 0.5 points behind Tennessee and 10 points behind Arizona State.
In individual championship finals, Ron Polonsky was fifth in the 100-yard breaststroke, Andrei Minakov was sixth in the 100 butterfly, and Henry McFadden was eighth in the 200 free at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center.
The Cardinal placed fifth in the 400 medley relay in a school record 3:00.91. The team was: Aaron Sequeira, Ron Polonsky, Andrei Minakov, and Andres Dupont Cabrera.
Also, two school records were broken in the prelims, by McFadden in the 200 free (1:30.83) and Polonsky in the 100 breast (50.47). Both broke their own records: McFadden’s 1:31.30 at the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships, and Polonsky’s 50.87 from the 2024 NCAA prelims.
The previous relay record was 3:01.45 by Leon MacAlister, Polonsky, Minakov, and Luke Maurer in 2022.
A day after placing second at 1-meter, Ryan was again in contention while earning his fifth top-four NCAA placing.
Ryan crushed his opening dive, scoring 89.25 on a reverse 1 ½ somersault 3 ½ twist free to take the lead. Ryan maintained it through two rounds before missing his third dive and fell into fourth.
However, Ryan clawed back with high scores on difficult dives. He scored 87.50 on his fourth dive, a reverse 3 ½ somersault tuck with a 3.5 degree of difficulty to move into third. He then scored 76.05 on his fifth, with a 3.9 degree of difficulty.
Ryan’s final dive – a forward 4 ½ somersault tuck with a 3.8 degree of difficulty – scored 83.60 and brought him within 9.55 points of winner Carson Tyler of Indiana.
Some facts about the Cardinal finalists: McFadden, a sophomore, was competing in his first NCAA individual championship final; Polonsky earned his second fifth-place finish in as many days, after his performance in the 200 individual medley; and Minakov earned his 23rd and 24th All-America honors.
Minakov ties Sabir Muhammad (1995-98) and Peter Marshall (2001-04) with 24. The program record for All-America honors is 26 by Brian Retterer (1991-95).
NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships
At Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center
Team leaders (Day 3 of 4) – 1, Texas 368; 2, California 312.5; 3, Indiana 304; 4, Florida 233; 5, Georgia 177.5; 6, Arizona State 172; 7, Tennessee 162.5; 8, Stanford 162; 9, North Carolina State 128; 10, Michigan 83.
200-yard freestyle – Final: 8, Henry McFadden (Stanford) 1:31.45. Prelims: 7, McFadden 1:30.83 (PB; school record); 28, Andres Dupont Cabrera (Stanford) 1:32.56.
100 backstroke – Consolation Final: 14, Aaron Sequeira (Stanford) 45.00. Prelims: 12, Sequeira 44.86 (PB; No. 3 Stanford AT); 39, Josh Zuchowski (Stanford) 46.17 (PB; No. 13 Stanford AT).
100 breaststroke – Final: 5, Ron Polonsky (Stanford) 50.60. Prelims: 5, Polonsky 50.47 (PB; school record); 20, Rick Mihm (Stanford) 51.74 (PB; No. 3 Stanford AT); 28, Daniel Li (Stanford) 51.89 (PB; No. 5 Stanford AT); 30, Zhier Fan (Stanford) 51.91.
100 butterfly – Final: 6, Andrei Minakov (Stanford) 43.97. Prelims: 6, Minakov 44.05; 35, Kaihan Gu (Stanford) 45.75.
400 individual medley -- Prelims: 23, Gibson Holmes (Stanford) 3:43.03; Liam Custer (Stanford) DFS; Josh Zuchowski (Stanford) DFS.
400 medley relay – Final: 7, Stanford (Aaron Sequeira, Ron Polonsky, Andrei Minakov, Andres Dupont Cabrera) 3:00.91 (school record).
3-meter diving – Final: 3, Jack Ryan (Stanford) 457.90. Prelims: 3, Ryan 411.00; 36, Hunter Hollenbeck (Stanford) 303.65.
PB = personal best
AT = all-time
Stanford’s Saturday Schedule
10 a.m. (Prelims)
200 back (Aaron Sequeira, Josh Zuchowski)
100 free (Andres Dupont Cabrera, Kaihan Gu, Henry McFadden)
200 breast (Zhier Fan, Daniel Li, Rick Mihm, Ron Polonsky)
200 fly (Gibson Holmes, Andrei Minakov)
Platform diving (Misha Andriyuk)
6:03 p.m. (Finals)
1,650 free (Liam Custer)
200 back
100 free
200 breast
200 fly
Platform diving
400 MR (Stanford)