For Stanford Women, Pac-12 Title Just a Step Towards the Ultimate Goal

stanford-pac-12-championship-celebration (1)
Photo Courtesy: Chuckarelei / Pac-12

By David Rieder.

Stanford coaches Greg Meehan and Tracy Slusser had won a Pac-12 championship before, but it came in their first season on the Farm, in 2013. That one had been a validation, a breakthrough moment for the new coaching staff.

But even though the Cardinal had finished second each of the previous three seasons and thus none of the women on the current roster had ever won a conference or national team championship, the team still seemed somewhat reserved after wrapping up this year’s conference title late Saturday night.

“Totally different experience with a totally different group,” Meehan said.” Both very special but for different reasons. I think at that point it was the end of the first year, and it was just really exciting to get that Pac-12 championship. This year it’s kind of a byproduct of how strong our group is, how great our coaching staff is.”

Stanford finished the 18th and final swimming event of the meet just as it had 13 of the previous 17—with a win. Simone Manuel, Katie Ledecky, Janet Hu and Lia Neal pulled away from USC and Cal to win the 400 free relay in 3:08.51, a new American record—the fifth set by Stanford swimmers over the four-day meet.

Even though the meet was secured well before the relay, Meehan wanted Neal, a senior in her final Pac-12s, to be the one on the anchor leg.

“We like to put her last,” Meehan said. “She’s one of the best relay swimmers in the world. She’s just done some amazing anchor legs for us, and that’s the relay order we’ve had all year. I think there’s a lot to be said for having a senior on the end of the last relay, on the last day.”

Neal avoided getting sentimental, but the opportunity toswim the last leg was one she relished and one she believes she can thrive in.

“I think it kind of brings it full circle because when I was growing up, doing age group swimming, I always anchored relays,” she said. “I do tend to really like anchoring relays because I don’t overthink like I normally do—I’m just trying to get my hand on the wall for my team.”

Neal remains an important piece to what the Cardinal pulled off over the weekend in Federal Way, Wash., and what they hope to accomplish moving forward, but what Meehan believes was one of her biggest contributions to the program came years ago.

In the fall of 2012, Meehan inherited a good group that included future NCAA champions Maya DiRado and Felicia Lee—the core that would lead Stanford to a conference title in year one. But then, within the first couple months, he secured the commitment of Neal, just months after she swam the third leg on the Olympic bronze medal-winning U.S. 400 free relay in London.

“When she made that decision, she really legitimized us as coaches and as a program, to say ‘This is an option for people,’” Meehan said. “And we’re so grateful that she did that because then she made it okay for the Allys and the Janets and the Simones and the Katies and the Katies and the Megans—just everyone to follow along. She really put us on this path.”

The Cardinal program gets so much attention for the Olympian stars—in particular, Simone Manuel and Katie Ledecky—but the program is so much more than just that dynamic duo. Stanford will enter the NCAA championships with the top time in the country in 10 of 13 individual swimming events and in three of five relays.

The only events where a Stanford swimmer will not be ranked No. 1 when the psych sheets for the NCAA championships come out this week? The 100 and 200 breast, where Olympic gold medalist Lilly King is predictably ranked first in both, and in the 200 back, where Kathleen Baker’s 1:48.33 is just over a second ahead of Stanford’s Janet Hu (1:49.36).

Ledecky will have to choose to swim either the 400 IM or the 200 free at the NCAA championships, but she can hardly make a wrong decision since Stanford finished 1-2-3 in both events at Pac-12s. Ledecky sat out the 1650 free Saturday night and watched from the sidelines as teammates Megan Byrnes and Leah Stevens swept the top two spots.

“You can point to one person or two people, but the reality is we were great this weekend because of A to Z,” Meehan said. “It didn’t really matter what distance event or sprint event. I’m really proud of the group but just knowing that we’re continuing on here in a couple weeks.”

But for all the big moments the Cardinal women experienced this week, the one that tops Neal’s list—and plenty others—was watching Ally Howe smash the American and NCAA record in the 100 back.

“When she touched, when I saw she went 49.6, pretty far under the American record, such an insane record after 15 years, I just thought back to the beginning of the season when we all talked about our goals, and she stood up and said that she wanted to break the American record,” Neal said. “I was just like, ‘She said she wanted to break the American record, and she did it!’ That’s just so baller.”

But there comes a next step, in just over two weeks’ time when the Cardinal fly to Indianapolis in hopes of winning the team’s first national championship since 1998.

Every Stanford swimmer and coach I spoke to in Federal Way insisted that the team did not fully taper for Pac-12s, but more importantly, the team refused to consider the conference meet as anything but the last box to check off before heading to the big one.

“At the beginning of the year, Greg talked about NCAAs being our team goal, and I think we’re just kind of using this meet to really prep for that,” Howe said. “While focusing on things in the moment and doing well here, he keeps reminding us that NCAAs is the focus, and we need to find ways to be better.”

Already heavily favored to win this year’s NCAA title, Stanford did nothing this weekend to change that perception. And if Stanford can improve from the conference meet to the national championships, that’s a scary thought for the rest of the country.

All commentaries are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Swimming World Magazine nor its staff.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

2 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Vikki Kolbe
7 years ago

great team

Steve Friederang
7 years ago

I think one thing we too rearely talk about with Stanford is how challenging getting in and matriculating in this environment is. I used to talk abou this with Richard, and it’s no less amazing in this generation. Congratulations to all of you, coaches and swimmers, for demonstrating a phenomenal combination of student and athlete. Stanfor should be proud and every university in the nation should learn and aspire to give full support to great athletic programs that demonstrate the same excellence and focus on mastery that their academic programs do. Any President of any university who even considers dropping competitive swimming should think again and aim his or her univeristy toward the inpsiring example of these women, these coaches, and this university. Steve Friederang, CompetitiveSwimmer.com

2
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x