Jimmy Yoder (1:44.02) set a pool record in the 200-yard butterfly, to help Stanford’s first home swim meet of the season get off to a good tart Wednesday in an unscored triple distance meet against California.
“This meet was a real thrill with some great competition on a great day, and you can’t always depend on all that to come together, but it did nicely today,” said Director of Men’s Swimming Ted Knapp. “We talked about being ready to race, even after a solid morning in the weight room they were fully ready to go. Wednesday is usually our recovery day, so give all the guys credit for digging deep and breaking routine to come out and be so competitive.”
The format of the meet, which does not include a team score, was to swim three distances in one of six disciplines – butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, spring freestyle, individual medley and distance freestyle.
Jimmy Yoder (22.47) and Sacred Heart Prep grad Tom Kremer (22.88) got the meet started with third and fourth-place finishes in the 50-yard butterfly. Patrick Conaton (22.64) backed it up with a runner-up in the 50-yard backstroke with Jack Walsh (22.99) in fourth.
Matt Anderson (25.50) scored a runner-up result finish in the 50-yard breaststroke, then Sam Perry (20.58) added a second-place finish of his own in the 50-yard freestyle. Perry won the 50 free last season at the Pac-12 Swimming and Diving Championships.
Abrahm DeVine (49.86) was edged by 0.47 seconds in the 100-yard individual medley, settling for second place. Grant Shoults (1:37.13) bagged Stanford’s first win of the day in the 200-yard freestyle, with True Sweetser (1:39.21), Liam Egan (1:39.87) and James Murphy (1:40.17) in second, third and fourth place, respectively.
“I thought the freshmen as a whole were very good,” said Knapp. “They had a fantastic showing in the distance freestyle events, and they are all making positive strides every day in training.”
Yoder (48.55) was second in the 100-yard butterfly with William Macmillan (49.84) in fourth. Conaton (49.06) and Benjamin Ho (49.49) finished second and third, respectively, in the 100-yard backstroke, while Anderson (55.91) finished third in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Perry (44.09) improved on his runner-up in the 50 free by winning the 100-yard freestyle before DeVine (1:45.91) finished second in the 200-yard individual medley.
Shoults (4:23.85) won his second event of the day, the 500-yard freestyle. Stanford swept the top-four, with Sweetser (4:26.58), Egan (4:30.30) and Murphy (4:32.24) also posting strong times.
Yoder (1:44.02) set a pool record in the 200-yard butterfly, breaking Gray Umbach’s record from Stanford’s last meeting with Cal in the 2015-16 season.
“As a senior, to break a pool record in the first home meet of the season — not to mention after having his tonsils taken out in August — is incredible,” said Knapp. “He’s the guy we are pointing to on our 200 medley relay team right now, and that’s a testament to the hard work he’s been putting in over the past six weeks.”
Ho (1:48.85) was Stanford’s highest finisher in the 200-yard backstroke placing third, with Conaton (1:49.20) not far behind in fourth.
Maxwell Williamson (2:00.17) won the 200-yard breaststroke while Anderson (2:02.65) took fourth. Perry (1:38.48) and Cogswell (1:38.77) finished third and fourth in the final sprint freestyle event of the afternoon, the 200-yard freestyle.
DeVine (3:50.38) made it three runner-up finishes in IM events, with Justin Buck (3:54.63) and Curtis Ogren (3:55.68) rounding out the top four.
The Cardinal swept the top four of the final distance freestyle event, the 1000-yard freestyle. Sweetser (9:04.98) finished ahead of runner-up Shoults (9:16.28), third-place Murphy (9:16.50) and fourth-place Egan (9:16.90).
Stanford added a pair of runner-up finishes in the 200-yard medley relay and 200-yard freestyle relay to finish the meet. The Cardinal quartet of Ryan Dudzinski, Anderson, Yoder and Cogswell (1:30.35) were second in the 200 medley relay, while Perry, Kremer, Conaton and Spencer DeShon (1:20.84) were runners-up in the 200 free relay.
Stanford returns to action Nov. 30-Dec. 3 when it travels to Austin, Texas, for the Texas Invitational, hosted by defending national champions Texas.
By Stanford Athletics
By Stanford Athletics
By Stanford Athletics