Daniel Li 200 Breast Record Leads Stanford Over California
Daniel Li set the Stanford record in the men’s 200 breaststroke as the Cardinal celebrated Senior Day with a win over California.
No. 8 Stanford dominated the meet at Avery Aquatics Center, tipping the No. 5 Golden Bears by a 181-119 score. That’s despite a school record in 3-meter diving from Joshua Tai in which he scored 401.78 points.
Li went 1:50.79 to in the 200 breast, downing the 2025 record set by Ron Polonsky. Li was also third in the 100 breast, with teammate Zhier Fan second.
Stanford’s performance was commanding, winning 13 of 16 events. Ethan Ekk led the way, winning the 1,000 freestyle in 8:45.37 and the 500 free in 4:14.59. The former is the second fastest time in school history, trailing only his school record from this season.
Rafael Gu prevailed in the 50 free in 19.23, then went 45.61 to win the 100 butterfly. He teamed with Andres Dupont Cabrera, Jonathan Tan and Henry McFadden to claim the 400 free relay in 2:51.01, nearly three seconds up on Cal’s A squad.
McFadden won the 200 free in 1:32.43 and the 100 free in 42.30, with Dupont Cabrera second in the latter. Finn Harland went 45.98 to win the 100 backstroke, then Ray Liu’s 1:41.37 claimed the 200 back. Gunnar Grubbs scored 349.35 for a 1-2 finish on 1-meter diving with Misha Andriyuk. Omer Wiener won the 200 IM in 1:44.32, a 1-2-3 with Jason Zhao and Liu, and Josh Zuchowski won the 200 fly in 1:42.21.
Cal had started the meet with a win in the 200 medley relay. Evan Petty, Yamato Okadome, Samuel Quarles and Lucca Battaglini went 1:23.68 to win by .33 seconds. Okadome went 51.34 to win the 100 breast and was second in the 200 breast. Petty was second in the 100 back, as was Keaton Jones in the 200 free and 200 back. Battaglini was the runner-up in the 50 free.
That left Thai’s triumph on 3-meter more impressive. After finishing fourth on the lower board, the senior scored 401.78 to best Grubbs by a dozen points. Thai downed the record set in 2013 by Thomas Selby at 391.50.
“Ever since my freshman year, I’ve really wanted a school record and I’ve wanted to break 400 points,” Thai said in Cal’s release. “It means everything. It’s a culmination of four years of hard work. To do it at the end of my career with all of my teammates there, it just means the world.”