STANFORD, Calif. — It’s tough to envision a better result for No. 8 Stanford men’s swimming and diving on Friday afternoon on its Senior Day against No. 5 California. In a rivalry meet and the final time competing at Avery Aquatics Center this season, Stanford sent everybody in Cardinal and White home happy with a commanding 181-119 victory over the Golden Bears.
There were just three events that Stanford did not win against a top-5 California team: the 200 medley relay, which kicked off the day, 3-meter diving, which was the last event to go final, and the 100 breast race. Nearly everything in between finished with all Cardinal at the top, and in several events, the results were blazing fast.
Ethan Ekk swept the long-distance events, taking first in the 1,000 and 500 free with times of 8:45.37 and 4:14.59, respectively. His 1,000 free time is the second-fastest in Stanford history, trailing only the school record he set in Stanford’s tri-meet earlier this season. He sneaks into the top-15 with his time in the 500 free, now holding two of the top-15 times in program history.
While Ekk didn’t make program history on Friday, one of his teammates did. Daniel Li is the new school record-holder in the 200 breast, with a time of 1:50.79, breaking the school record set in 2025 by Ron Polonsky. It’s the third-fastest time in the 200 breast posted in the ACC this season, and the sixth-fastest time in the NCAA this year.
Henry McFadden was the second individual winner of the day for Stanford, and he won twice. His first victory came in the 200 yard free where he edged out Keaton Jones of California with a time of 1:32.43, his fastest time of the season and a top-five time in program history. He then won in the shorter, 100 yard free with a time of 42.30, coming from behind to win that race. At the midway point, McFadden was in fifth, but surged ahead in the final 50 yards.
That second win for McFadden was the first of consecutive come-from-behind wins for the Cardinal. Ray Liu escaped with a win in the 200 back after a dominant final 50 yards, posting a time of 1:41.37. He was trailing Keaton Jones by just over 0.2 seconds midway through, and then was virtually tied with 50 yards remaining. In the other backstroke event, Finn Harland won the 100 yard event with a time of 45.98, a new-personal record and a top-10 time in Stanford history.
Josh Zuchowski was one of the seniors to earn a win on his Senior Day. He took first in the 200 fly with a time of 1:42.21, easily an NCAA qualifying time and one of the fastest in his career. He trailed 50 yards in, but once he took the lead during the next 50 yards, he never looked back, beating teammate Gibson Holmes by 0.51 seconds.
That win by a senior was followed by another senior winning. Rafael Gu took first in the 50 free with a time of 19.23, finishing above a pair of Golden Bears. It’s his second-fastest 50 free time that he’s posted, and sent Stanford into the 15-minute intermission with a commanding lead.
The final individual winners for Stanford came in the 100 fly and 200 IM. Gu claimed another victory when he took first in the 100 fly, a wire-to-wire win at 45.61. The last victory came from Omer Wiener, who led a 1-2-3-4 finish by the Cardinal. He trailed at the midway point, but used an incredible third leg to close in for the lead, and took control in the final 50 yards.
On the diving side, Gunnar Grubbs finished the day as the top diver for Stanford. He won in 1-meter diving with a score of 349.35, earning his second diving victory at Avery this season, while posting his second-highest score in 1-meter this season. He finished second in 3-meter, scoring 389.93, which was a new career-high and an NCAA qualifying score.
The 2026 ACC Swimming and Diving Championships run from Feb. 15-21 in Atlanta, Ga., hosted by Georgia Tech. The diving portion takes place on Feb. 15-17, while the swimming events will take place on Feb. 17-21.