Hyperion Heroes: 2017-19 Women's Swimming & Diving

The Hyperion Heroes series chronicles the notable teams, student-athletes, coaches and storylines that have defined Stanford's 49-year NCAA title streak. Authored by David Kiefer, the second installment highlights one of nine different three-peats or better during the streak, this one courtesy of the women's swimming and diving program from 2017-19. Two world-class swimmers who require no introduction - Ella Eastin and Katie Ledecky - offered their reflections on a dominant stretch.

STANFORD, Calif. - Following winter quarter finals in March 2018, the most carefree place on the Stanford campus was the suite that housed six women fresh off the most dominating NCAA swimming and diving performance in 25 years.

For a week, with no training scheduled and amidst a slew of March birthdays, they ate obscene amounts of birthday cake and frolicked to nightly “Just Dance” competitions on Wii.

One night, 10 minutes before SusieCakes was to close, Ella Eastin, Ally Howe, Katie Ledecky, Leah Stevens, Erin Voss, and Kim Williams sprinted out of their dorm, piled into a car and drove at lightning speeds to get there in time. The memories of those days are among the strongest of Ledecky’s two NCAA championship seasons.

With the four-day NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships to begin Wednesday in Atlanta, the 2025 runner-up Cardinal becomes the next team to attempt to secure the title that would extend Stanford’s streak of NCAA team championships to 50 consecutive years.

But no matter how long the streak lasts, the three-peat of 2017-19 will remain at the forefront of Stanford lore for their dominance and for the incredible talent that head coach Greg Meehan assembled.

In the 2018 NCAA meet, Stanford won all five relays (tying a record) and 13 of 18 events (also tying a record) while 16 different All-Americans combined for 52 All-America honors, five American records and eight individual-event national championships in Columbus, Ohio.

“In every event, we were deep,” Ledecky said. “We really didn’t have any weaknesses.”

Nine Cardinal were crowned NCAA champions in individual events or relays, led by
Simone Manuel with six victories, Eastin with five, and Howe with four. Stanford’s 593 points remain the most since 2005 and its 220-point margin of victory over second-place Cal is the third-highest in NCAA history.

Stanford has always been a consistent winner in the sport and won eight titles -- though none since 1993 -- before Meehan and assistant Tracy Slusser arrived in the fall of 2012. Armed with training plans and goals for each swimmer that spanned not just a season, but entire collegiate careers and Olympic cycles, Meehan coached for both short-course and long-course excellence.

Stanford hit the jackpot when Manuel arrived in 2014-15 and she immediately established dominance in the 50- and 100-yard sprints, sweeping NCAA titles each of her three collegiate seasons.

Ledecky, now considered the greatest women’s swimmer of all-time, committed to Stanford in the spring of 2014 and arrived at Stanford in the fall of 2016 with four gold medals and two world records from the just-completed Rio Olympic Games. Manuel returned after a gap year with two gold and two silver medals, becoming the first Black woman to win an individual Olympic swimming gold.

Prior to Ledecky’s arrival and Manuel’s return, the Cardinal fell just 19 points shy of Georgia for the NCAA team title in 2016, with a disqualification costing a 200 freestyle relay victory and 40 points.

“Just barely losing lit a fire under all of us to win the next year,” said Eastin, who was a member of all three NCAA title teams during the three-peat.

In stepped Ledecky.

Already an Olympian by age 15, Ledecky, from Bethesda, Maryland, was attracted to Stanford by the swimmers themselves.

Ledecky was travel roommates with longtime club teammate Janet Hu at the 2011 junior nationals at Stanford, where Hu revealed that she wanted to go to school there.

“That’s when Stanford first entered my mind,” Ledecky said.

As she got to know Manuel, Olympian Lia Neal, 2016 Olympic 200-meter backstroke gold medalist Maya DiRado (class of ’14), and Meehan through national teams, the decision took care of itself.

With Ledecky in the fold, attention multiplied and the bleachers at Avery Aquatic Center and every road venue were packed. But there were no jealousies or envy within the team.

“I had the usual nerves of starting college and living away from home for the first time,” Ledecky said. “But my swim teammates and coaches made that transition very smooth. All those people made me feel really comfortable and really excited to get out there.”

As one could imagine, training sessions could be intense.

“I would find myself going second in a lane sometimes,” Ledecky said. “Our 400 IM, you basically had to be sub-4 minutes to be leading a lane. Sub-4 minutes is really really fast. The top time in the country right now in NCAAs is 3:58. We were three or four deep at sub-4 or capable of it.

“There was really no hiding. You couldn’t hide in practice. You had to show up and you had to bring your A game every day. That prepared us well.”

On opening night of the 2017 NCAA Championships in Indianapolis, Ledecky anchored a juggernaut 800-yard free relay team to American and meet records that still stand. Manuel led off and was followed by Neal and Eastin. Their time of 6:45.91 is the oldest NCAA meet relay record by six years.

“We had an opportunity tonight to put those four together and do something historic and have fun,” Meehan said afterward.

Of all their incredible accomplishments -- including still-standing championships records by Ledecky in the 500 free (4:24.06, 2017) and 1,650 free (15:07.57, 2018) and Eastin in the 400 IM (3:54.60, 2018) – the relay record feels legendary because of the caliber of those four swimmers, though Eastin said they felt they could have gone faster. That race propelled Stanford to that elusive title, 526.5-366 over runner-up Cal.

Guess what? Meehan challenged them to do even better the next year. And they did, with a 593-373 victory over Cal. Meehan paired Katie Drabot with Ledecky throughout difficult dryland training circuits throughout the year in the hopes of a 1-2 finish in the 500 free, and it worked. Eastin won both IMs in American-record times and added a 200 butterfly title and was named Swimmer of the Meet.

“I look back and realize I was in an environment that brought out the best in me,” Eastin said. “Just being surrounded by so many other people who were incredibly motivated in multiple areas of their lives, expecting excellence in so many ways.

“That time was insanely stressful. You’re putting a lot of pressure on yourself. We were constantly challenging each other. You want to perform for people you’ve worked so hard with every day.”

The team was so close and familiar that everyone knew the goals and achievements of everyone else. Every improvement was treated as a massive win. Winning a B final could elicit the same degree of enthusiasm as for an NCAA winner. When Howe broke Natalie Coughlin’s 15-year-old American record in the 100 backstroke at 2017 Pac-12’s, the Stanford pool deck erupted with a huge roar.

Co-captain Nicole Stafford, a senior in 2017, inspired teammates by competing despite a debilitating medical condition that left her locked in a tangle of paralyzing cramps and seizure-like movements after every hard workout or race.

This was how the sisterhood of those years was created.

From the beginning, Ledecky and Meehan agreed that she would turn pro after her sophomore year to create an adjustment period that would help Ledecky better prepare for the 2020 Tokyo Games, completing her illustrious collegiate career.

But Ledecky and the graduated Manuel still were on hand to watch from the stands in Austin, Texas, when Stanford pulled off a third consecutive title in 2019 with a narrow 456.5-419 victory over Cal. And Eastin became the first, and remains the only, to win the 400 IM all four years.

Today, Ledecky, the first woman to win nine Olympic swimming gold medals, is training in Gainesville, Florida. Manuel, who owns seven Olympic medals, trains in Austin, Texas. Each is aiming for the Los Angeles Games in 2028. It would be the fifth Olympics for Ledecky and fourth for Manuel.

Eastin was forced to retire from swimming before the 2021 Olympic Trials, falling ill to Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) and Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS). Though she continues to be limited to some degree, Eastin has improved and is in her fourth year of med school at Stanford in a combined M.D./MBA program with a goal of pursuing a career in pediatrics and being an advocate for those like her who suffer from illnesses largely misunderstood.

“I’ve always wanted to have an impact-oriented career,” Eastin said. “If people don’t believe my suffering, and I once was the fastest woman to ever swim several events, then who is believing the people whose physical capacity wasn’t this high and now they’re struggling.”

Perhaps the 10-year anniversary of the 2018 team will elicit a reunion. Ledecky, for one, would love to see it.

“It was an incredible opportunity to swim with some of the best female swimmers in our nation’s history,” Ledecky said. “And to swim for some of the best coaches in Greg and Tracy. We really bonded as a team, and those team goals that you get to chase together are some of my fondest memories.”

Along with dance parties and birthday cakes.