Katie Ledecky and National Champion Stanford Women Back to the Grind

Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

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By David Rieder.

For three-plus days in mid-March, the Stanford women poured every ounce of emotional and physical energy into a swim meet, and they were rewarded with the trophy that they had spend six months working for—and much longer aiming for.

On the final night of the NCAA championships in Indianapolis, Katie Ledecky won the NCAA title in the 1650 free in dominant fashion, and Simone Manuel destroyed her own American record in the 100 free. But it wasn’t until Lia Neal swam the anchor leg of the record-setting Stanford 400 free relay that it all sunk in: The Cardinal would win a national championship.

“The whole thing was quite an experience,” Ledecky said. “Obviously the last day was pretty special, and we wanted to finish on a good note. Lia had her last swim on the 400 free relay. As part of that relay, I wanted to step up and do well. To finish with that relay and then get that trophy, celebrate with the team, jump in the pool, those are moments I’ll always remember.”

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

“That was a goal our team had for the whole year, and we really worked hard to get there,” Manuel said. “I think it sunk in a lot, but it was also short-lived, our celebration, because [head coach] Greg [Meehan] always keeps up moving towards what’s next.”

As for what was next, it was not exactly a relaxing spring break away of the pool. The team headed straight back to Palo Alto for end-of-quarter exams, and then Meehan took six of his top athletes to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs for an altitude training camp.

“We finished NCAAs up on Saturday, took Sunday off and traveled back. Monday I got in and swam 3000 on my own and then trained the rest of the week. I had finals Tuesday and Wednesday and a paper due Thursday, flew out to the OTC Thursday,” Ledecky recalled.

No time for rest, not with U.S. Nationals—the qualifying meet for this summer’s World Championships—three months away.

The crew that went to Colorado Springs included Ledecky and Manuel, both looking to follow-up golden performances from the Olympics in Rio, along with Neal, who has swum in two Olympics but faces an uncertain future in the sport after this coming summer.

Ella Eastin, a four-time NCAA champion and American record-holder, was on the trip, as were freshmen Erin Voss and Katie Drabot. Voss and Drabot each had big hoped for the NCAA championships—Voss was an Olympic Trials finalist in the 200 back, and Drabot arrived seeded sixth in the 500 free—but neither scored in any events.

“Erin and Katie Drabot, they’re so damn nervous,” Meehan said after the second day at NCAAs. “They’re spending a lot of energy trying to keep themselves calm, and the reason they get to that point is because they care so much and they feel like they have to perform because their team is counting on them.”

Looking back, Voss realizes that she did put pressure on herself at her debut NCAA championships.

“I think being on a team that has amazing people, you feel pressure to contribute,” she said. “I really hadn’t had an amazing short course meet in a while, so I wanted to get back to that and back to where I know I can be.”

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

But right now, with NCAAs behind her, it’s all about the long course goals for Voss. She hopes to get on the World University Games team or possibly even the World Championships team this summer, and that’s why she wanted to jump right back in for a long course training camp, even giving up her first college spring break to go.

“The camp was great,” Manuel said. “It allowed the six of us to go and refocus and kind of get a little jumpstart into our training for World Championships. It gives us a chance to focus on all the aspects you need to focus on all the aspects that you need to focus on.”

Specifically, long course. Even though Stanford practices long course four times per week during the NCAA season, none of the six had competed in a 50-meter pool since at least August. And even with all that preparation, long course racing would still be a different animal, as Manuel quickly figured out when she arrived for her first race at the Arena Pro Swim Series meet in Mesa, Ariz.

“Coming off of not swimming long course since Rio and getting back into it, you’re just getting used to racing again and figuring out how to race your certain races,” Manuel said. “We do a good amount of long course training the whole year, but racing is different. I think the more you race the better you get about it and the more automatic it becomes.”

The Mesa meet marks the first step in the process, building up towards U.S. Nationals at the end of June and then potentially World Championships in July—all as part of the first year of the new Olympic quad. So with the long-term view in mind, Meehan has insisted that his athletes their focus on execution, not results on the scoreboard.

“Just looking at some technical things—not really worried about time at this meet,” Ledecky said. “Find those things early in the season, start working towards them and building things up over the next four years.”

Still, the times that the six Cardinal swimmers have posted certainly have been impressive. Ledecky has already been her usual dominant self in the 200 and 400 free, posting the fastest time in the world in the later distance, while Manuel recorded in-season lifetime best times in winning both the 50 and 100.

Neal swam a quick 54.38 to finish third in the 100 free, and while Eastin was fifth in the 400 IM, she was racing an extremely deep field and in a quick time of 4:41.19. Voss took second in the 200 back in 2:12.01, and Drabot just missed breaking 2:00 in the final of the 200 free.

Yes, it’s early in the new long course season, and yes, Meehan told his athletes to not worry too much about their times this week, but the signs all point to another impressive summer for the Stanford women.

Not that it would be anything new. Ledecky and Manuel may have the Olympic hardware around their necks, but those two alone did not account for Stanford’s 160.5-point victory at the NCAA championships.

Come June and July, the rest of the world might just see that first-hand.

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Michael Maloney

7 years ago

no THEY didn’t account for the 160.5 point victory margin….better question..?? remove them totally and see what the point total would be….????…please…those 5 swimmers KL SM EE JH LN could haave won ncaas by themselves