Nine swimmers earned All-America honors to pace the Stanford women’s swimming and diving team to an eighth-place finish at the 2013 NCAA Championships this weekend in Indianapolis. It was the Cardinal’s 33rd consecutive top-10 finish at the NCAAs.
“Today was an up and down day for us, and I wish we could have finished a little stronger,” Stanford head coach Greg Meehan told GoStanford.com. “I’m extremely proud of the group’s effort.”
Felicia Lee led the way by contributing to two school records. The junior finished the 100-yard backstroke in 51.58 seconds, the fastest time in school history and good for fourth in the event.
Lee also swam for five relays, including the 400 medley relay, in which the team of junior Maya DiRado, freshman Sarah Haase, Lee, senior Andi Murez captured fourth place with a school-record time of 3:30.06.
The Cardinal earned top-10 finishes in all five relays it entered. The 200 and 800 free relays both came in fourth while the 400 free relay finished in fifth place. Stanford also took seventh in the 200 medley relay.
DiRado captured All-America recognition in three individual races as well as three relays. The highlight was a second-place finish in the 400 individual medley, in which DiRado was narrowly touched out by 2012 Olympic medalist Elizabeth Beisel of Florida.
The junior also finished third in the 200 IM and fourth in the 200 back. Her time of 1:51.35 in the finals of the 200 back was the second-fastest in Stanford history.
In her final meet for the Cardinal, Murez earned top-ten finishes in the 100 and 200 free and swam for four relays.
Stanford also received strong performances from sophomores Katie Olson and Maddy Schaefer. Olson earned All-America honors for a 15th place finish in the 200 breast and Schaefer took fourth in the 50 free to go along with an 11th place finish in the 100 free.
Freshman Julia Anderson, sophomore Annemarie Thayer and junior Alex Whitford each swam well for a relay team to help the Cardinal to their final score of 246 points.
Georgia captured 477 points to win the NCAA title. Two-time defending champion Cal came in second with 393 points. Tennessee (325.5), Texas A&M (323.5), Arizona (311), Florida (305) and USC (291) also finished ahead of the Cardinal, who end the season with a No. 4 dual meet ranking and a Pac-12 championship.
“We learned a lot about ourselves over the past six months,” Meehan said. “We didn’t really take a traditional path this season, but we walked away with a Pac-12 championship, a knowledge of how to be better next season, and a lot of self growth.”