ATLANTA — Tuesday was an eventful day for Stanford men’s swimming and diving. The Cardinal claimed its first two ACC titles of the week, vaulting itself up the team leaderboard as the championship concludes day three.
The first ACC title of the day came in the 800 free relay, with one of the most dramatic events of the week to this point. Andres Dupont Cabrera, Ethan Ekk, Jason Zhao, and Henry McFadden teamed up to come roaring from behind to pass NC State in the final yards. The Cardinal trailed by over two seconds after the first 200 yards, but slowly started to make up ground. In the final 200 yards, the Cardinal trailed by over a second, but that’s when McFadden got in the pool. He narrowed the gap on Daniel Diehl considerably before pulling into a dead heat in the final yards. McFadden touched the wall at 6:07.40, just 0.02 seconds ahead of NC State to secure the title for Stanford.
The Cardinal’s time is the fastest in the NCAA this season, shaving nearly five seconds off its entry time.
The second ACC title came in the final diving event of the week: the platform dive. Stanford placed two in the finals, with Gunnar Grubbs finishing third (361.50) and Misha Andriyuk finishing fourth (359.60). In the finals, Grubbs wound up placing fifth overall with a 352.95, just missing his career-high that he posted in the prelims. With Grubbs landing a top-five finish, it helped Stanford score a higher number of team points as the only team with multiple platform divers in the top-eight.
Andriyuk took home Stanford’s first-ever ACC title in the platform dive, and Stanford’s second-ever ACC diving title with a score of 412.30 in the finals. He cleared the field with ease after his fourth dive, a back 3 ½ somersault dive, that scored 89.10, moving him from in front of the field by nearly 40 points. He joins former teammate Jack Ryan as the only Cardinal to win an ACC diving championship.
In its lone additional swimming event, Stanford took fifth in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:22.73, an NCAA qualifying mark and just a half-second shy of the program record set last year. That group was led by Ethan Harrington, Zhier Fan, Rafael Gu, and Jonathan Tan.
Following Tuesday’s results, Stanford (244) now leads California (218) after opening the day tied for sixth overall.
Platform Dive – Final: 1. Misha Andriyuk (412.30), 5. Gunnar Grubbs (352.95). Prelims: 3. Grubbs (361.50 – personal best), 4. Andriyuk (359.60), 17. Grant Schneider (288.80)
200 Medley Relay – 1. Florida State 1:22.28, 5. Stanford (Ethan Harrington, Zhier Fan, Rafael Gu, Jonathan Tan – season best) 1:22.73
800 Free Relay – 1. Stanford (Andres Dupont Cabrera, Ethan Ekk, Jason Zhao, Henry McFadden – season best) 6:07.40
The diving portion of the ACC Championships has concluded, with only swimming events on the schedule for the next four days. Tomorrow, four swimming events are featured: 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free, and the 200 free relay. The Cardinal will begin at 7:10 a.m. PT with the 500 free prelims and should finish prelims around 8:30 a.m. PT. Finals begin around 2:45 p.m. PT.