An all-around team effort helped Stanford maintain its lead at the Pac-12 Conference Swimming and Diving Championships on Friday night at the King County Aquatic Center.
“We came off of a modest morning session with tremendous execution tonight,” said Goldman Family Director of Men’s Swimming Ted Knapp. “I am very proud of Andrew Liang and Ryan Dudzinski for their evening swims. Brad Zdroik also deserves major credit for setting the tone with his 100 fly, and our medley relay team was an inspiring way to cap the night.”
Stanford began the session with four swimmers scoring points in the 400-yard individual medley. Abrahm DeVine (3:41.76) led the Cardinal in second place for the second straight season, with Maxwell Williamson (3:44.61) in fourth. DeVine shaved nearly three seconds off his preliminary time, while Williamson dropped over four seconds. Justin Buck (3:47.73) and Curtis Ogren (3:48.54) scored more points in seventh and eighth place, respectively.
Andrew Liang (45.52) dropped nearly a second from preliminaries to finish third in the 100-yard butterfly after Sam Perry (46.30) won the B-final. Ryan Dudzinski (46.84) also qualified for the B-final, finishing fourth. Brad Zdroik (45.91) won the C-final, likely punching his ticket to the NCAA Championship with a time that would have finished sixth in the A-final.
Grant Shoults (1:33.74) continued his impressive Pac-12 Championship debut, finishing third in the 200-yard freestyle. Shoults dropped nearly a whole second from his preliminary time, as did Tom Kremer (1:34.11), who won the B-final. Liam Egan (1:35.27) backed him up in third place, and James Murphy (1:36.47) and Cole Cogswell (1:36.93) also swam the B-final, finishing seventh and eighth, respectively.
Matt Anderson (52.70) represented Stanford in the 100-yard breaststroke final, finishing fifth.
In the 100-yard backstroke, Stanford had two swimmers each in the A and B-finals. Patrick Conaton (47.24) finished fifth in the B-final, and Jack Walsh (47.39) was sixth. Ryan Dudzinski (45.88) led Stanford in the A-final with a fourth-place finish, while Andrew Liang (46.17) finished fifth.
Stanford finished third in the final event of the night, the 400-yard medley relay. The team of Dudzinski, Anderson, Liang and Perry (3:04.50) shaved nearly three seconds off its fastest 400 medley relay time of the season.
With one day to go, Stanford (588 points) leads the championship with Cal (523) in second and USC (494) in third. Arizona State (373), Arizona (246) and Utah (193) round out the field.
Stanford returns to action tomorrow for the final day of the Pac-12 Swimming and Diving Championships. Events include the 200-yard backstroke, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard breaststroke, 200-yard butterfly, 1,650-yard freestyle and 400-yard freestyle relay. Every heat except the final heat of the 1,650-yard freestyle will take place at 4 p.m. PT, with the final heat set for the start of the evening session at 6 p.m.
The morning preliminary session will start at 11 a.m. PT with coverage available at Pac-12.com/Live. Pac-12 Networks will broadcast the evening session, and live statistics will be available at GoStanford.com.
Saturday Notes:
-Stanford owns three of the four fastest mile times in the conference this season – True Sweetser (14:35.03) has an A-cut to lead the league, while Egan (14:53.07) and Shoults (14:53.44) sit third and fourth, respectively.
-Egan won the Pac-12 1,650 free championship last year in 14:44.85.
-Conaton leads Stanford in the 200 back – his 1:41.41 time at the Texas Invite ranks third in the league this season. He finished second at last season’s Pac-12 meet.
-Perry (42.55) ranks third in the conference in the 100 free. Perry swept the sprint freestyle events at last season’s Pac-12 Championship.
-Anderson (1:55.26) has the second fastest 200 breast time in the conference this season. Williamson (1:55.91) is not far behind in fifth.
-Anderson (1:54.77) finished second in the 200 breast at last season’s conference meet.
-Jimmy Yoder (1:43.95) has the fifth-fastest Pac-12 time in the 200 fly. Tom Kremer (1:45.17) is next fastest with the ninth-fastest time.
-Stanford’s 400 free relay time (2:52.70) ranks third in the conference. On Day 2 of the meet, Stanford shaved nearly 1.5 seconds off its 200 free relay time.
