This weekend will mark the final home meets for four seniors as No. 2 Stanford women’s swimming and diving welcomes No. 19 UCLA and No. 4 USC to Avery Aquatics Center. The Cardinal goes head-to-head with the Bruins on Friday at 2 p.m., and welcomes the Trojans on Saturday at noon. Admission is free to all meets.
WATCH: Don’t worry. If you can’t make it to Avery this weekend, you can watch Friday’s meet live on twitter or GoStanford.com, andSaturday’s meet will be televised on Pac-12 Network.
SENIOR DAY: Saturday marks the final home meet at Avery Aquatic Center for seniors Bridget Boushka, Tara Halsted, Lia Neal and Nicole Stafford. Boushka is a three-year letterwinner and two-time Pac-12 All-Academic honoree; Halsted is a two-time Olympic Trials qualifier and Pac-12 All-Academic selection; Neal is a two-time Olympian, six-time national champion and scholar All-American; Stafford is a four-time All-American, 2014 national champion in the 200 MR and has earned two Pac-12 Academic honors. In their three years on The Farm, Stanford has never finished worse than third at the NCAA Championships with runner-up finishes in 2014 and 2016.
RECENT HISTORY: Last season against the Bruins, freshman Ella Eastin, sophomore Janet Hu, sophomore Ally Howe and junior Lia Neal all won twice to lead Stanford to a 189-118 victory in Los Angeles. In the last matchup at Avery, Stanford topped UCLA, 151-92, behind Neal, Kassidy Cook and Howe, who each won multiple events. Last season against the Trojans, No. 2 Stanford rallied for a 152-148 victory over No. 7 USC in Los Angeles. The Cardinal clinched the meet with a second-place finish in the final event of the afternoon. In the last matchup at Avery, the Cardinal defeated USC, 182-110, with 13 wins in 16 events on Senior Day in 2014.
LAST TIME OUT: Last weekend, Stanford earned a sweep in the desert with a 178-113 win at Arizona State on Friday, and a 190-104 victory over Arizona on Saturday. Four different Cardinal won multiple events to pace the Cardinal past the Sun Devils, and the following day, junior Janet Hu won four times and senior Kassidy Cook swept the diving events to cap the weekend with another win.
STREAKS: Stanford has won 12 straight dual meets. The Cardinal’s last defeat in a dual meet was 158-142 to No. 3 Cal on Feb. 14, 2014 – which also marks a string of 11 straight Pac-12 dual meet victories since that loss. The Cardinal has also won nine straight dual meets at home dating back to Oct. 30, 2014 against Texas (156-144).
MORE NOTABLES: Stanford was tops in every event at both Arizona meets over the weekend, and has done so in four of five duals this year (also at Oregon State and vs. Washington State) … Stanford has defeated two top 25 teams this year in Arizona (No. 17) and Texas (No. 4 and currently No. 1).
CSCAA HONOREES: Stanford earned Scholar All-America team accolades from the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) on Wednesday. The Cardinal, which finished its Fall season ranked atop the CSCAA rankings, also earned one of the top team GPA’s in the nation during that time with a combined 3.59 GPA.
FALL IN A FLASH: Stanford went 3-0 with dual meet wins at Oregon State and at home against Washington State and Texas, and finished first in a 10-team meet at the Ohio State Invitational.
MEEHAN TO LEAD USA: Head coach Greg Meehan will serve as head women’s coach for Team USA at the 2017 World Championships as announced by USA Swimming. The 17th FINA World Aquatics Championships will be held in Budapest, Hungary, from July 14–30, 2017. Dave Durden, the men’s head coach at Cal, will lead the American men.
CARDINAL IN THE COMMUNITY: Outside of the pool, the Cardinal has been just as active this year. Many members of the team were part of the Stanford SAAC event on the Sunday prior to Halloween. The student-athletes—most in full costume—joined groups of young children to #TrickorTREEt in Palo Alto. Also this Fall, the team hosted a group of young local swimmers from San Jose to talk water safety and spend some time in the pool as part of a PSA with USA Swimming.
SWIMMING ON SOCIAL (@StanfordWswim): Stanford women’s swimming and diving can be found on instagram, twitter and snapchat (@StanfordWswim).
WHAT’S AHEAD: Only one regular season meet remains. The Cardinal face off with arch rival Cal on Feb. 11 in Berkeley. The meet begins atnoon and can be seen on the Pac-12 Network.
News courtesy of Stanford Athletics.
Well the Texas men can beat the Stanford women…I think, maybe….aw probably not
The CSCAA ranking is a joke. Look at the voters!
Uh number 2 Stanford? Who’s number one? Texas? Hahahahahaha 😀