No. 5 Stanford will aim to defend its conference title this week when it heads to Federal Way, Washington, to compete in the Pac-12 Conference Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships.
The Cardinal (4-1, 3-1 Pac-12) wrapped up its regular season with a narrow defeat at top-ranked Cal on Feb. 18 after conference dual meet wins over Arizona State (Jan. 20), Arizona (Jan. 21) and Southern California (Feb. 4).
Five Pac-12 schools enter the meet ranked in the College Swimming Coaches Association of America’s top-25, including Cal (1), Stanford (5), USC (13), Arizona State (t-15) and Arizona (t-15). The meet starts Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. PT with the swimming of the 200-yard medley relay and the 800-yard freestyle relay. From Thursday to Saturday, morning preliminary sessions start at 11 a.m. with the evening finals sessions taking place at 6 p.m.
Stanford enters the meet having already scored significant points courtesy of the Cardinal divers, who scored wins in the 1-meter springboard and platform championships.
Senior Bradley Christensen (375.90) defended his 1-meter title from 2016, while Tarek Abdelghany finished third and Cameron Thatcher took fourth. Abdelghany and Ted Miclau dueled until the final dive for the Platform championship, which Abdelghany won by less than one point – Miclau’s final dive of 87.45 was the highest scored dive of the competition.
Live streaming of all sessions from the King County Aquatic Center will be available throughout the week at Pac-12.com/now, and the final session of the meet on Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. PT will air live on Pac-12 Networks following the 1,650-yard freestyle at 6 p.m.
Last season, individual titles from Christensen, Liam Egan and Sam Perry and an all-around team effort propelled Stanford to its first Pac-12 Conference championship since the 2011-12 season.
The win was the 63rd such title in program history. The Cardinal earned top-three finishes in 12 of 18 individual events, winning three, and had a podium finish in each of the three diving events.
Perry won two individual events, the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard freestyle. Egan finished second in the 500-yard freestyle before winning the 1,650-yard freestyle on the final day, essentially clinching the trophy for Stanford. The Cardinal dominated the individual medleys, taking three of the top four spots in the 200-yard IM and four of the top seven in the 400-yard IM.
Following the Pac-12 Swimming and Diving Championships, Stanford’s divers will compete in the NCAA Zone E Championships March 5-7, which will decide which divers will compete at the NCAA Championships. The NCAA Championships take place March 23-25 in Indianapolis.