Spurred on by the whoops and cheers of a home crowd once again, Stanford women’s swimming & diving (7-0, 6-0 Pac-12) logged another win against a Pac-12 rival as the team bested USC (5-2, 3-2 Pac-12) 175-123 on Saturday. Stanford is now 22-0 all-time against the Trojans.
As the tendrils of fog that had crept over the Farm in the day’s early hours cleared, the Cardinal took to the Avery Aquatic Center’s sun-soaked deck and delivered a win for the seventh time in seven dual meets this season, kicked off by a win in the 200-yard medley relay.
Freshman Claire Curzan, seniors Allie Raab and Emma Wheal, and sophomore Amy Tang put up a 1:39.02 to take the win in the opening event by just over a second. Curzan and Tang were then joined by sophomore Torri Huske and senior Taylor Ruck in the 400-yard freestyle relay, winning in a time of 3:15.15.
Wheal (22.95) and Tang (23.01) then turned friendly competitors as the two finished first and second, respectively, in the 50-yard freestyle, before Tang grabbed a win of her own in the 100-yard freestyle, clocking in at 49.85. Ruck (50.23) was the Cardinal’s next quickest over 100-yards, in third place.
Ruck had earlier finished second in a Stanford sweep of the 200-yard freestyle podium, the Canadian record holder ahead of third-placed sophomore Lillie Nordmann and beaten only by Huske (first, 1:46.30). Perhaps looking ahead to the construction of his relay lineups for the upcoming championship season, head coach Greg Meehan also entered seven exhibition-only swimmers in that event — the fastest being freshman Natalie Mannion at 1:48.03.
That was Huske’s first of two individual wins against the Trojans; the other came in a tight battle against international teammate Curzan in the 100-yard butterfly. The sophomore held off a charging second 50 yards from Curzan to take the top spot, her time of 50.99 just 0.16 seconds ahead of her teammate in second place. Wheal touched in 53.67 for third place.
Curzan (51.51) found herself atop another podium steep for the Cardinal in the 100-yard backstroke, followed by senior Alex Crisera (second, 54.15) and junior Janelle Rudolph (third, 54.54). Crisera, meanwhile, improved on that placing in the 200-yard backstroke, a time of 1:56.84 earning the senior first place.
As was the case in Saturday’s other butterfly event, the 200-yard butterfly served up another heated duel between a pair of Stanford’s underclassmen. Charlotte Hook was a tenth of a second behind fellow freshman Lucy Bell at the race’s halfway point, but unleashed a strong second 100 yards to take the win, clocking 1:56.84 to Bell’s 1:57.98. At the end of the session, Bell (1:59.80) bounced back to be crowned champion in the 200-yard individual medley.
Sophomore Aurora Roghair was twice the victor in the day’s distance events — putting up times of 4:48.10 and 9:53.66 for first place in the 500 and 1000-yard freestyle, respectively. Joining Roghair in the top three of the 500-yard event were freshman Kayla Wilson (second, 4:48.62) and graduate student Morgan Tankersley (third, 4:51.26), while freshman Sophie (second, 10:02.71) was next to the wall over 1000-yards.
In the diving well, sophomore Lauren Burch and freshman Emilie Moore each earned third place in the 1-meter and 3-meter events, respectively.
Full results can be found here.
Next up
Meehan’s squad will be back in action on Feb. 11, when they’ll take on Cal at the Avery Aquatic Center in their final dual meet of the season. Then it’s championship time, as Pac-12s and NCAA Championships loom.