Stanford swimmers accounted for two silver medals and a bronze medal Saturday at the Santa Clara International Grand Prix at the George F. Haines International Swim Center.
Alex Coville and Maya DiRado grabbed the silver while Matthew Swanston grabbed the bronze. Coville completed the 50-meter free in 22.81, a touch behind event winner William Copeland. DiRado was second in the 400 IM with a time of 4:40.90. World recordholder Stephanie Rice of Australia won the event in 4:36.52, the third-fastest time in the world this year.
Swanston, a Canadian, finished the 200 back in 2:00.54 behind Michael Phelps and Mitchell Larkin. Stanford grad Tobias Oriwol, also of Canada, was fifth in the race, swimming a 2:00.82.
Stanford grad David Dunford was fifth in the 50 free with a time of 23.04 while Cardinal Andie Taylor was fourth in the 400 IM with a time of 4:42.71 and Stanford grad Julia Smit was ninth in 4:46.29.
In the 200 free, Kate Dwelley placed fifth in a time of 1:59.69 and seventh in the 50 free. Stanford’s Sam Woodward and Betsy Webb finished sixth and eighth, respectively, in the 50 free on a busy night for the Stanford women, past and present.
Palo Alto High senior Jasmine Tosky reached a pair of finals. She finished eighth in the 400 IM in 4:45.46 and ninth in the 200 free with a mark of 2:01.07. She also led off the Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics’ 800 free relay team that took eighth in 8:19.00. Team members included Ally Howe, Alicia Grima and Maddy Schaefer.
The Santa Clara Invite concludes on Sunday. The finals will be webcast on USA swimming
By Palo Alto Online Sports
By Palo Alto Online Sports
By Palo Alto Online Sports
We are looking at the times and smiling with pride at how well our local swimmers have competed at a national level. This event, and the later nationals at Stanford show how strong these local swim programs have built tremendous athletes – as well as students. For many of these swimmers it is a chance to compete against the swimmers that might have been the poster on their bedroom wall. Our own daughter found herself doing a warmup in the same lane as Michael Phelps.
Again, programs like swimming are great as they weave competition, discipline, athletics and friendship together. In our own backyard we hosted swimmers from Georgia who consumed some backyard Mexican, then launched to the pool great swims. All in all a great institution that starts when they are youngsters, and carry them through to college.
In my case – thank you Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics, and Palo Alto High swimming (as well the Weekly for telling the story).