Ledecky Shatters Janet Evans’ Pool Record as Stanford Beats Texas

STANFORD VS. TEXAS

• Results
• Hosted by Stanford University
• Saturday, November 12th
• 25 yards
• Dual meet format

FINAL TEAM SCORES:

• Stanford – 161
• Texas – 137

The Texas Longhorns traveled to Stanford University for a women’s dual meet on Saturday, with the Cardinal taking a 161-137 victory to give Texas their first loss of the season. Katie Ledecky continued to shine in her debut season for the Cardinal, setting a pool record yet again. This time, Ledecky swam to a 9:10.49 to break the 26-year-old Pool Record of 9:30.69 set by Janet Evans. She then went on to break her own Pool Record in the 500 free, clocking a 4:33.94.

Olympic gold medalist Simone Manuel and All-American Janet Hu also brought down pool records for the Cardinal. Manuel swam to a 1:44.25 victory in the 200 free before going on to break her own Pool Record in the 50 free with a quick 22.07. Hu, on the other hand, took down the Pool Record in the 100 back, touching the wall in 51.94. Hu also won the 100 fly, where she touched first in 52.30.

The Longhorns also had a swimmer set a pool record courtesy of All-American Madisyn Cox in the 200 IM. Cox posted a dominant win by nearly 3 full seconds, setting the new Pool Record mark at 1:55.87. She also won the 200 breast, putting herself 4 seconds ahead of the field with her 2:10.34.

Additional Event Winners:

• 400 medley relay- Stanford (Howe, Williams, Hu, Manuel), 3:33.24 *POOL RECORD*
• 100 breast- Olivia Anderson, Texas, 1:01.46
• 200 fly- Remedy Rule, Texas, 1:55.52
• 100 free- Lia Neal, Stanford, 48.31
• 200 back- Tasija Karosas, Texas, 1:55.02
• 200 free relay- Stanford (Neal, Hu, Howe, Manuel), 1:29.83 *POOL RECORD*

PRESS RELEASE – STANFORD:

STANFORD, Calif. – A large and loud crowd at Avery Aquatics Center boosted the Stanford women’s swimming team to six pool records and a 161-137 victory over Texas on Saturday.

An estimated 1,800 fans packed the stands, and about 500 stayed for an autograph session with the Stanford swimmers, who signed for about 90 minutes following the meet.

“Our crowd was incredible today,” said head coach Greg Meehan. “The local club teams came out in droves to sit in the stands and chant names as the races were going on. The team certainly feels that energy on the deck as they’re getting ready to swim their races.

“We really appreciate that support, and we were grateful for the opportunity to connect with our fans at the autograph session. I’d like to thank everyone who attended and waited in line patiently to meet our student-athletes.”

The swimmers put on quite a show. The two teams combined for seven pool records — six from Stanford and another by the Longhorns. Freshman Katie Ledecky had two, juniors Simone Manuel and Janet Hu each had one, and Texas’ Madisyn Cox set the Avery standard in the 200 individual medley (1:55.87). Stanford bookended the meet with facility records in the 400-yard medley relay and 200 freestyle relay.

Ally Howe, Kim Williams, Hu and Manuel opened the meet with the fastest 400 medley relay in Avery history. The quartet slightly trailed the Longhorns after the first three legs, but Manuel pushed Stanford into the lead and stopped the clock at 3:33.24. Howe, Hu and Manuel joined Neal for the record-setting 200 free relay (1:29.83) to cap the meet.

In the second race of the day, the Cardinal set its second pool record. Ledecky finished the 1,000 free in 9:10.49. That broke Olympian Janet Evans’s 26-year-old mark more than 20 seconds (9:30.69). Freshman Megan Byrnes was second with an impressive finish of 9:45.34.

Hu was the next to break an Avery record. In the 100 backstroke, she touched the pad at 51.95 to best the standard set by Cal’s Amy Bilquist in 2015.

Manuel, who also won the 200 free (1:44.25), broke the 50 free pool record that she set as a freshman. She improved her time by about a quarter of a second to 22.07.

Ledecky then broke her own record in the 500 free. She was three seconds faster than her swim in the home opener with an Avery-best of 4:33.94.

“It was a really fun day,” Meehan said. “The pool records are nice, but that’s more a byproduct of the strength of our team. We got pushed by a really good and well-coached Texas team. It’s the first time we’ve beaten them here in the last three meets, and it was really great to be in a very competitive environment.”

Each of the last three meetings between these programs came down to the final race. This time, the Cardinal held off the Longhorns and avenged a close loss during Texas’ last visit to Avery in 2014. Since that defeat, Stanford has won nine straight dual meets at home.

Lia Neal won the 100 free in 48.31, Hu earned her second win in the 100 fly (52.30), while freshman Haley Farnsworth was third in the 1-meter diving and fourth on the 3-meter for the Cardinal.

“Janet Hu was one that really stood out to me today,” Meehan said. “She’s really been progressing nicely and had some great swims today. We also had some really good swims from Hannah Boyd, Allie Szekely and Megan Byrnes out of our freshmen class. Everybody took care of business.”

The Cardinal has just one meet remaining in the Fall. The team heads to Columbus, Ohio, next weekend for the Ohio State Invitational, Nov. 18-20.

PRESS RELEASE – TEXAS:

STANFORD, Calif. – No. 4 Texas (7-1) gave No. 1 Stanford all it wanted in a tightly-contested dual meet, but the Cardinal, behind Olympic gold medalists Simone Manuel and Katie Ledecky, dealt the Longhorns a 161-137 defeat Saturday afternoon at Stanford’s Avery Aquatics Center.

Stanford opened the meet with a win in the 400-yard medley relay, as Manuel, the Rio Olympics co-gold medalist in the 100m freestyle, anchored the Cardinal to victory in 3:33.24.  Texas yielded a couple of points with the disqualification of its “A” relay, though the Horns’ “B” relay managed to take second overall at 3:38.47.

Ledecky, a gold medalist at both the London and Rio Olympic Games, won the 1,000 freestyle in 9:10.49.  Manuel returned to win the 200 freestyle at 1:44.25 while UT All-America senior Madisyn Cox settled for second at 1:45.05, ahead of Stanford Olympian Lia Neal.

Stanford went one-two in the 100 backstroke before the Horns collected their first individual win from All-America sophomore Olivia Anderson.  The Minnesotan put away the 100 breaststroke in 1:01.46.

Texas sophomore Remedy Rule defeated the 2016 NCAA runner-up on her way to victory in the 200 butterfly.  Rule put away the victory in 1:55.52 while Stanford sophomore Ella Eastin, the reigning NCAA runner-up, took second at 1:56.91.  Ledecky competed in the same event and placed third at 1:57.23.

Stanford’s Manuel and Neal took first and second, respectively, in the 50 freestyle before Texas returned the favor in the one-meter diving event.  UT sophomore Meghan O’Brien claimed the event with 301.35 points while freshman Alison Gibson took second with 297.38 points.

Stanford’s Neal returned to win the 100 freestyle before Texas posted consecutive wins in the 200 backstroke and 200 breaststroke.  UT senior Tasija Karosas edged teammate Claire Adams for the win at 1:55.02 while Adams posted a strong mid-season time of 1:55.19 for second.

Cox notched her first win of the afternoon in the 200 breaststroke at 2:10.39 while Anderson added a second-place mark of 2:14.39.  Ledecky claimed the 500 freestyle with an exceptional mark of 4:33.94 while UT’s Joanna Evans, a Rio Olympian herself, took second at 4:47.17.

Gibson delivered Texas a sweep of the diving events with her winning three-meter mark of 325.88 points.  O’Brien added a second-place total of 321.08 points.

Cox finished off her second individual win of the day and defeated Eastin, the reigning NCAA champion in the 200 IM.  Cox took the victory at 1:55.87 while Stanford’s Allie Szekely took second at 1:58.69.

Stanford, who clinched the team win by way of its second, third and fourth-place showings in the 200 IM, finished the meet with a victory in the 200 freestyle relay at 1:29.83.

The Texas divers resume fall competition next week at the UT Diving Invitational (Nov. 17-19) while the swimmers conclude the fall at the annual Texas Invitational that kicks off on Nov. 30.

POST-MEET COMMENTS
Texas head coach Carol Capitani
There’s a reason Stanford is No. 1 in the dual meet rankings, and I’m proud of the way we fought hard from start to finish. Our 200s were pretty solid – with wins in the fly, back, breast and IM.  Olivia Anderson‘s win in the 100 breast and our divers being able to crush it on the boards were also reasons to celebrate, so again, what a total team effort.

It’s always fun to go up against some of the best, and with so many pool records broken today, It was great to race in front of such a large and enthusiastic crowd.