Freshmen Drabot, Sweetser Shine as Stanford Downs ASU

ARIZONA STATE VS. STANFORD

• Results
• Hosted by ASU
• Friday, January 20th
• 25 yards
• Dual meet format

FINAL TEAM SCORES:

• MEN- Stanford 159, ASU 141
• WOMEN- Stanford 178, ASU 113

Freshman Katie Drabot had a standout performance on Friday night as the Stanford Cardinal beat Arizona State on the road. She was one of 4 Stanford women to pull off a successful double, as Ally Howe (100 fly, 200 fly), Lindsey Engel (100 back, 100 free), and Ella Eastin (100 breast, 500 free) each came away with multiple individual wins as well.

Drabot got the ball rolling in the 1000 free, winning by 12 seconds with her 9:45.38. That was within 2 seconds of the Pool Record, which stands at a 9:43.49 done by Tristan Baxter in 2012. She bookended the individual events, closing things out with a win in the 200 IM. Teammate Janet Hu was ahead through the first 100 yards, but Drabot closed the gap on breaststroke and finished with a 27.20 free split to win in 2:00.53 to Hu’s 2:01.37.

Distance ace Katie Ledecky was absent from the distance free races today, but she did pick up a victory in the 200 free with her 1:44.55. She also swam to 3rd place with a 2:01.95 in the 200 back, which was won by freshman teammate Erin Voss (1:56.59). In the 100 fly, she made a late charge to try and run down teammate Lia Neal, but came up just short. Stanford’s Ally Howe won the race in 54.84, followed by Neal (55.13), Ledecky (55.16), and Simone Manuel (56.48) for a Cardinal sweep of the top 4.

On the men’s side, freshman True Sweetser helped the Cardinal men win a close meet with the Sun Devils. He swept the distance freestyles, turning in winning times of 9:01.99 in the 1000 free and 4:24.40 in the 500 free. He also swam the 200 free, placing 7th in 1:43.27. Fellow Stanford freshman Grant Shoults won that race in 1:37.37.

While Sweetser took control of the distance races, Pac-12 sprint champ Sam Perry took care of the shorter freestyles. He first threw down a 20.18 to edge out ASU’s Tadas Duskinas (20.36) in the 50 free. Perry then held of ASU’s Richard Bohus (44.32) for another close victory in the 100 free, winning with a 44.15.

PRESS RELEASE – STANFORD WOMEN

TEMPE, Ariz. — Freshman Katie Drabot, sophomore Ella Eastin, junior Lindsey Engel and junior Ally Howe each won a pair of races as Stanford women’s swimming and diving earned a 178-113 win over Arizona State on Friday afternoon.

On a rainy day at Mona Plummer Aquatic Center in Tempe, the Cardinal posted its 11th consecutive dual meet victory and improved to 4-0 overall and 3-0 in Pac-12 duals this season.

Stanford won every event at the meet, and Drabot bookended the individual events with a victory in the 1,000-yard freestyle and the top time in the 200 individual medley. Her collegiate-best finish of 9:45.38 marked her second career victory in the 1,000 free, and she was the first to touch the wall as an exhibition swimmer in the IM with a time of 2:00.53.

Howe swept the 100 and 200 butterfly. She earned her first victory with a finish of 1:59.70 in the 200, and then had the top time in the 100 at 54.84.

Eastin won a pair of races, including a rare appearances in the 500 free where she touched the wall in 4:48.15. In the 200 breast, Eastin (1:02.79) and Heidi Poppe (1:02.84) finished 1-2 for the Cardinal.

Engel took first in the 100 backstroke at 54.98 and the 100 free at 50.22.

Stanford also swept the diving events as Kassidy Cook won the 1-meter event (331.13) and freshman Haley Farnsworth was tops on the 3-meter (315.60).

Freshman Erin Voss earned her first collegiate victory with a time of 1:56.59 in the 200 back. A short while later, classmate Allie Szekely was tops in the 200 breast at 2:12.72, while freshman Katie Ledecky earned a win in the 200 free with a finish of 1:44.55.

Hu picked up where she left off in the Fall. The junior computer science major finished first in five different events during the Fall season, and began the winter schedule with a victory in the 50 free (23.03), just ahead of senior teammate Lia Neal (23.06).

Stanford also took both relays. The Cardinal opened the meet with a win in the 200 medley relay. Hu, Kim Williams, Howe and Alex Meyers finished first in 1:40.19. Then to cap the meet, Simone Manuel, Engel, Howe and Meyers earned the top spot in the 400 free relay at 3:20.02.

SOCIAL SCENCE
Hu took over the team snapchat (stanfordwswim) for the weekend road trip. You can also follow the Cardinal on twitter and Instagram (stanfordwswim).

WHAT’S AHEAD
Stanford takes the short drive to Tucson to complete the Arizona weekend against the Wildcats. The meet is set to begin at 11 a.m. PT. There will be no live stream or live stats available, but a full recap will be posted on GoStanford.com.

PRESS RELEASE – STANFORD MEN

TEMPE, Ariz. – No. 8 Stanford opened Pac-12 Conference play with a 159-141 win against Arizona State on Friday at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center.

Stanford’s 200-yard medley relay team of Ryan Dudzinski, Matt Anderson, Andrew Liang and Sam Perry (1:28.34) led off the meet with a tie for first place. Patrick Conaton, Curtis Ogren, Brad Zdroik and Spencer DeShon (1:30.33) finished fourth.

True Sweetser (9:01.99) led off the individual events with a win in the 1,000-yard freestyle, with Abrahm DeVine (9:12.51) and James Murphy (9:27.96) taking second and fourth, respectively.

In the 200-yard freestyle, freshman Grant Shoults (1:37.37) claimed the fastest time with senior Tom Kremer (1:38.02) backing him up in second place.

Conaton (48.31) placed second in the 100-yard backstroke with Dudzinski (48.79) right behind him in third. Anderson (55.93), swimming near his hometown of Scottsdale, took third place in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Jimmy Yoder (1:46.62) won the 200-yard butterfly with a charging Will Macmillan (1:48.16) coming from behind to finish second.

Sam Perry (20.18) won the first sprint of the meet in the 50-yard freestyle, with DeShon (20.67) in fourth and Zdroik (20.74) in fifth. After a short break for diving, Perry (44.15) won the next event, the 100-yard freestyle, with Kremer (45.00) scoring points in fourth place.

Conaton (1:45.45) scored another runner-up finish in the 200-yard backstroke, while Benjamin Ho (1:48.14) was fourth.

Anderson (2:01.04) was edged for second place in the 200-yard breaststroke. Maxwell Williamson (2:02.15) was not far behind in third place.

The Cardinal took control of the meet with three of the top four times in the 500-yard freestyle. Sweetser (4:24.40) beat out fellow freshman Shoults (4:25.98) while James Murphy (4:38.35) rounded out the top four.

Andrew Liang (47.54) scored valuable points with a second-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly before Stanford swept the 200-yard individual medley podium, clinching the meet. DeVine (1:47.07) claimed the top time, with Ogren (1:50.36) in second and Williamson (1:52.22) in third.

Stanford’s team of Perry, Cole Cogswell, Kremer and Shoults (2:58.88) finished the day with a runner-up finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay.

In the diving events, Bradley Christensen (376.50) claimed the 1-meter springboard and finished third (363.15) in the 3-meter. Ted Miclau (338.55) was fourth in the 1-meter and second (371.40) in the 3-meter, just ahead of Christensen.

Stanford returns to the pool tomorrow when it travels to Tucson, Arizona, to face No. 17 Arizona in another coed dual meet. Live stats and stream will be unavailable, but full results and a recap of the meet will be posted to GoStanford.com immediately following the conclusion.

PRESS RELEASE – ASU

TEMPE, Ariz. – Amidst a pouring rain uncharacteristic for the Phoenix valley, the Sun Devils battled Stanford but ultimately fell short, the men dropping a close 159-141 decision while the women fell, 178-113, to the #2 Cardinal.

“I would like to be a little bit better but overall I liked the way we raced and we did some really good things,” reflected head coach Bob Bowman. “I think we handled some really tough conditions pretty well. We made a couple of mistakes on the men’s side that would have made it a little closer had we changed a couple of things but all in all, I’m very pleased with their effort. I’m sure that’s the closest ASU has come to Stanford in a very long time on the men’s side, so we’re very happy about that.”

Despite the losses, the #12 Sun Devil men posted their best team score vs. #8 Stanford since the 1999-2000 season, when just 10 points separated the two. The ASU “A” men’s 200 medley relay – Andrew Porter, Christian Lorenz, Tadas Duskinas, and Richard Bohus –  tied the Stanford “A” team early while Bohus, Patrick Park, Duskinas, and Cameron Craig captured a victory in the 400-free relay.

“It’s just another step in our process, and it’s a good step. The guys stepped up today. I don’t know when the men have won a relay against Stanford. We tied one and we won one so I think that’s a pretty good step for us. Every meet we have now is just sharpening us up for the Pac-12s. That’s the main event for us so that we can qualify people for the NCAAs.”

Bowman pinpointed Bohus, Lorenz, and Duskinas for posting top performances against one of the nation’s best. Duskinas won the 100 fly and was a member of both top-performing Devil “A” relay teams.

“Richard Bohus raced really hard and Christian Lorenz came through with two wins for us. Tadas Duskinas probably had the best day overall in terms of really stepping up four times. I thought he did an amazing job on that.”

Though the rain steadied and worsened throughout the afternoon, Bowman believed the test prepares the teams for adversity down the stretch.

“It doesn’t really affect me but when it’s really raining like that, they tend to get cold between the races. It just makes everything a little more difficult. It doesn’t make it impossible but it just makes everybody uncomfortable, which is a good thing. I’d like for them to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.”

On the women’s side, Stanford women brought star power in Rio Olympic gold medalists Katie Ledecky and Simone Manuel silver medalist Lia Neal.

“It’s awesome to have all these people here and to see Katie [Ledecky] come in and do her thing, and Simone [Manuel] and Lia Neal, we had a lot of Olympians here swimming here today. It was really fun for our guys to race them and to see what they do and learn some things.”

The Sun Devils have a quick turnaround, hosting top-ranked Cal men and sixth-ranked Cal women on Saturday at noon. The meet, which starts at noon, features a senior ceremony prior to the meet (11:45 am) in the senior class’ final career home meet.

“For tomorrow, we will just step up and keep chipping away at it. Just what we did today. Get up, race as hard as you can, see what you did, learn from it and come back tomorrow, maybe we’ll correct some mistakes.”

Saturday’s meet at Mona Plummer Aquatic Center is free to the public.