ATLANTA — Stanford found its way back onto the podium for the final night of the 2026 men’s swimming and diving championships at the McAuley Aquatic Center at Georgia Tech. The season comes to a close with Stanford earning another top ten finish in the country, with a bit of program history made on the platform.
The spotlight on the final day came on the platform, with Misha Andriyuk and Gunnar Grubbs taking part in the final diving event of the season. Grubbs capped off his freshman season with a 12th-place finish, earning second-team All-America status with a 371.10, finishing 10 points shy of a career-high. He nearly got himself into the finals thanks to a late charge, highlighted by an inward 3 ½ somersault tuck that scored 80.00, the highest scoring dive of round five.
Andriyuk stole the show in the trials, however. He finished second in the trials with a 421.30, one of the best scores he’s had on the platform in his career. He scored an 89.00 on his fourth dive, a back 3 ½ somersault tuck, that vaulted him up the leaderboard, and his fifth dive (reverse 3 ½ somersault tuck) scored the second most points in the round.
He struggled during the first three dives of the finals, placing seventh through three dives, but put on a show during his fifth dive. He scored a 93.50 on a reverse 3 ½ somersault tuck, including a pair of perfect 10s on the board. It was the highest-scoring dive of the finals, and it vaulted him back into the hunt for a top-three spot. He scored 398.90 overall in the finals, finishing fifth, a career-high finish. He also became just the third Stanford diver to become a two-time first team All-American in platform diving.
The biggest event for the Stanford swimmers came in the 200 back. Ethan Ekk hit the pool first in the second heat and shaved over two seconds off his previous best, finishing in 1:38.78, which was just .05 seconds shy of Josh Zuchowski’s Stanford record. The senior from Jupiter, Fla. then decided to add a little more separation between he and the freshman. Zuchowski finished fourth in his heat with a school record of 1:38.33, dropping four-tenths of a second from his previous best time this season.
It led to a pair of second-team All-America selections for the Cardinal. Zuchowski finished tenth, his career-best finish at the NCAA championships, while Ekk landed in 12th and snagged his second individual All-America honors of the week.
Prior to Ekk and Zuchowski finishing in the top-16, Gibson Holmes scored his first All-America honors of the week. He swam the 200 fly and finished sixth in his heat, but set a new personal record with a 1:40.27, moving up to second in Stanford history. It’s the second time in as many seasons that Holmes has been named a second-team All-American in the 200 fly, doing so last year as well.
Henry McFadden joined Holmes in the 200 fly, swimming in the second heat. McFadden was leading with just 50 yards to remaining before finishing third in the heat and 23rd overall with a 1:42.39.
The first swimmer in the pool on Saturday for Stanford was Andres Dupont Cabrera, taking part in the fourth heat of the 100 free. His seed time of 41.71 is tied for second-best in Stanford history, and he just missed that mark in Atlanta, swimming the 100 free in 41.82, which was good for fifth in his heat, placing him 23rd overall.
In Stanford’s final relay of the week, the Cardinal sent out Dupont Cabrera, McFadden, Rafael Gu, and Jonathan Tan in the 400 free relay. In the final morning relay swim, the Cardinal finished in 2:47.78, which put them in sixth overall heading into the nighttime swim, guaranteeing themselves All-America status and finishing 13th overall.
Stanford finished tenth as a team with 128 team points, which was good for fourth in the ACC. Texas (419.5) won the 2026 national championship ahead of Florida (384) and Indiana (327). It is the second consecutive NCAA title for the Longhorns.
2026 marked the fifth consecutive season with a top-10 finish at the NCAA swimming and diving championships for the Cardinal. The last time the team finished in the top five was in 2017.