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Clutch Umbach Wins Lead Stanford Past NC State In Thriller

The Stanford Cardinal men topped high-flying NC State in Palo Alto Saturday, with senior Gray Umbach coming up with two clutch wins in a back-and-forth showdown.

Full results

Though Stanford was at home, the result is still at least mildly surprising: the Cardinal were 6th at last year’s NCAA Championships (compared to 8th for NC State) but lost national champ David Nolan to graduation and All-American Tom Kremer to redshirt. Stanford was just 10th in our season-opening Power Rankings, with NC State at #4.

The teams split the event wins at 8 apiece, but Stanford’s depth helped them accumulate 28 more points along the way. No event was more key in that effort than the 200 fly.

NC State started out red-hot, carrying momentum from their big meet with Cal Friday night and winning four straight events to open the meet and build a 26-point lead. But Stanford got its first win with a 54.92 from freshman Matt Anderson in the 100 breast, and it was a 1-2 finish.

But it was the subsequent 200 fly that really put the hurt on the visiting team. Umbach went 1:44.63 to win the race and put up the best time in the NCAA this year (pending the results of other meets this weekend), and his Stanford teammates Jimmy Yoder (1:45.55, #8 nationally) and Abrahm DeVine (1:46.84, #18) followed in a 1-2-3 gut punch. Suddenly NC State’s commanding lead had shrunk to just 2.

The teams would trade the lead again after that, but late in the meet, Umbach provided the dagger swim as well. He went 1:45.93 to win the 200 IM and rocket to #3 in the nation while also putting Stanford over the 150-point mark, officially clinching the meet.

NC State wasn’t without its bright spots, though. The Wolfpack swept the relay events in dramatic fashion. The 200 medley relay came down to three tenths of a second, with anchor Simonas Bilis splitting 19.55 to help the Pack take the night’s first win. Sophomore backstroker Hennessey Stuart led off in 22.08 to give NC Stat the early lead and the team went 1:28.01. Stanford was 1:28.33 behind a 21.12 Umbach fly split.

In the 200 free relay, Stanford actually led with 50 yards to go, but Bilis popped a 19.46 to run down the Cardinal and seal the win in 1:19.32. NC State already leads the NCAA with its 1:18.98 from last month, but tonight’s time was still faster than anyone else in the NCAA has been. Stanford was 1:19.55, 3rd in the NCAA this year.

Bilis also dominated the sprint freestyles to finish with a four-win day. His 19.47 blew out the 50 free field, and his 43.08 win in the 100 free displaces Caeleb Dressel as the top time in the NCAA for the time being.

Other notable event winners:

  • Anton Ipsen swept the 500 free (4:23.66) and 1000 free (9:03.21), both in times that would check him into the top 5 nationally. That 500 free checks in at 5th, and he already leads the nation in the 1000.
  • The Wolfpack swept all the freestyle races, with top freshman Justin Ress going 1:37.25 to win the 200.
  • But Stanford really took advantage of NC State’s breaststroke weakness. The freshman Anderson won the 100 in a 1-2 as mentioned above, and would complete a breaststroke sweep with a 1:59.21 in the 200.
  • One of the battles of the night came in the 200 back, where highly-touted sophomores Patrick Conaton and Hennessey Stuart collided. The two tied down to the hundredth of a second at the 50, and Stanford’s Conaton led by just .02 at the 100. He would ultimately hold on for the win at 1:44.35, with Stuart going 1:44.52.
  • Stuart won the 100 back during NC State’s early rampage, going 47.33.
  • Another Stanford sophomore, Andrew Liang, came up with a tight 100 fly win late, going 47.30 to the 47.60 put up by NC State’s Soeren Dahl.
  • Stanford also swept diving, with Bradley Christtensen winning on 1-meter and Ted Miclau on 3-meter.

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Revered mootfowl
9 years ago

I don’t normally root for Stanford, but I’m happy they beat NC state. It’s the old guard of swimming saying “no, we’re not done yet” to the new guard.

Best of luck to both teams this season.

KD
9 years ago

Both teams deserve tons of credit. The 100 and 200 breast, 100 fly, and 200 back all came down to the touch, and with all four going to Stanford the meet was pretty much set. Stanford swam better, but NC State did a fantastic job and is definitely one to watch, despite the loss. They’ll keep things semi-close with Texas next week given their freestyle prowess (could possibly 1-2-3 the 50 and 100).

Worth noting frosh Justin Ress notched two career bests, with a 1:37.25 200 free and 1:47.45 200 IM. That 200 free could mean he’s taking the fourth spot on the 800 free relay, vacated by David Williams graduating this past year. If he’s 1:37.2 now, definitely look… Read more »

swimming
9 years ago

Props to NC State for scheduling all these super competitive meets… Cal and Stanford in quick succession, then Texas a week later is no joke!! Smart on their part- if you want to be the best, you have to compete with the best.

ACCFAN
9 years ago

Cheri,

We are sorry if you feel that way. NOONE discredited Stanford. It was a great meet by Stanford to be a high rising NCST team. So relax…. Stanford should be good, because it is Stanford.

Cheri Bundi
9 years ago

It’s pretty laughable that after a fantastic Stanford meet, with times that are nation leading or close in most cases, the sage commenters of swim swam have yet again found a way to discount Stanford’s success. “NC state must be training hard”, “they must have worn suits”, “the flight MUST have hurt them”…. There is obviously no way that Stanford just plain beat them. I notice none of these comments appeared on the Cal article for beating NC State. Cheers!

Weirdo
9 years ago

I don’t believe going across time zones hurts that much going that way! 7 am is actually their bodies 10 am time! Much worse if Stanford went out east. I think swimming outside would be the tougher obstacle. Probably not real warm and maybe sun?!
Good meet no matter and props for NCST wanting to challenge themselves. And they have Texas at home this weekend….OUCH!

Morgan Priestley
Reply to  Weirdo
9 years ago

It was 70 and sunny yesterday…

Coast to Coast
9 years ago

Traveling from coast to coast across 3 times zones is a major pain. I am awake at 3am because my body thinks it’s 6 am and time to get up. I am falling asleep eating dinner at 8 pm because in my mind it’s really 11 pm. Some of the Wolfpack swimmers were up at 2 am stretching out because they are thinking its 5 am practice time. I fully understand and appreciate the home field advantage and easy to see why some of the Wolfpack swimmers were a little off their game.

Thighs
9 years ago

Digging through the results a bit, it looks like the Stanford sophomore Sam Perry is quickly becoming one of the nation’s top sprinters too. 19.8 in the actual event, with a 19.5 lead off leg on the 200 free relay. Very impressive!

About Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson swam for nearly twenty years. Then, Jared Anderson stopped swimming and started writing about swimming. He's not sick of swimming yet. Swimming might be sick of him, though. Jared was a YMCA and high school swimmer in northern Minnesota, and spent his college years swimming breaststroke and occasionally pretending …

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