Leah Stevens, Stanford Seniors Aim For Remarkable Finish

Photo Courtesy: Stanford Athletics

When Leah Stevens looked around, she saw her family, teammates and coaches.

She also took a long look at Avery Aquatic Center, the site of some of her most challenging moments, but a place that has become home to the Stanford senior swimmer.

Senior day is full of emotions and memories in that regard, and for Stevens, that was no different.

“I was just trying to soak everything in,” Stevens told Swimming World. “I tend to get really excited at big meets and I think cheering is my favorite. Senior day was awesome. I think that is all thanks to my teammates and coaches. They made it a really special day. All of the underclassmen decorates our lockers the night before and that is always fun. It was very special and very personal.”

And the seniors finished the regular season in a special way, winning every dual meet in four years.

Ella Eastin, Leah Stevens and Kim Williams. Photo Courtesy: Tony Svensson

The special feeling started as soon as the team arrived.

Photo Courtesy: Carl Solder

“We got the ball rolling from there, spent the whole morning together. The seniors continued to get text messages from past teammates. That was super sweet,” Stevens said. “We are kind of known as the emotional class, and we definitely had the tears rolling. We had super great energy at the meet. We had all of our families there. Once we got the ball rolling, there was no stopping us. Everyone put together really great swims and the atmosphere was so positive. We were on fire. It was fun to see everyone swim for each other. It was emotional afterward. It felt super surreal to swim our last dual meet in that pool after so many great memories.”

Of course not all of the memories are great, or at least weren’t great in the moment — especially in one of the most competitive distance groups in the country.

“It is actually pretty interesting. Katie (Ledecky) was not here my freshman year, so the distance group was me and a senior (Allison Brown). It was hard training, but very similar to what my club team did. I had a really hard time adjusting to everything new in college. So my performance kind of reflected that at the end of the year. I think I added 10 or 15 seconds in my mile and placed 34th at NCAAs,” Stevens said.

If she thought that was tough, she hadn’t seen anything yet.

“Then the next year, Katie and Megan Byrnes joined the team. The distance training took a 180,” Stevens said. “That fall was probably the most challenging training I have ever had. With Katie coming in, the training really ramped up. It was different. I had a hard time adjusting at first. The intervals were harder and everything got harder — but I was putting in the work. I kept trying to get a little bit better each day. That fall, I qualified for NCAAs in the mile, first time I qualified that early. From then on my focus was NCAAs.

“I had an incredible training partner in Megan. It gave me a lot of confidence knowing I was doing the same workouts as the best female distance swimmer in the world.”

One set stood out — and still stands out to Stevens.

“We were doing the exact same workout, and that was awesome. Greg (Meehan) didn’t want to create a gap and separate us, he wanted to challenge us. That was awesome and it paid off a lot. My sophomore year, we did eight 300s best average. I was struggling pretty hard through it. At the end of eight, Greg wanted me to do three more. He said he knew I could do better. I told him I couldn’t. I was exhausted. I did another three and did go faster. I was crying in my goggles throughout. He told me he wanted to remember this moment and remember you can push past your limits. I have never forgotten that moment. He proved the amount of confidence he had in me. That carried me through.

“That was a big turning point for my confidence. I didn’t have a lot of confidence in myself my freshman year. I had a lot of doubt. I had always kind of struggled with confidence and didn’t really ever learn how to build it up. It was also about learning to believe in myself. My confidence slowly built over time.”

Stevens transformed into an All-American and has been one of the key swimmers for the Cardinal since, helping lead the team to back-to-back NCAA championships.

She leads them into the Pac-12 Championships this week. She currently has the eighth fastest time in the country in the mile in 16:02.66. Her training partner, Byrnes is third (15:55.57).

They were both All-Americans with Ledecky last year in one of the most incredible team performances in history. Nearly everyone swam a best time on the entire team.

“Greg was more happy about the best times versus winning. That was the mindset we had from the very beginning of the season.

Winning a back-to-back championship was the goal, but it wasn’t our main focus. It was to be the best version of ourselves, which wasn’t just in terms of swimming. It was the kind of teammates we were and students we were,” said Stevens, who is planning on medical school after graduation. “We wanted to put together the best possible performance we could. We wanted to win that way. I can’t even describe the feeling of every single person swimming lights out. I was one inspiring swim after another.”

It didn’t start that way for Stevens.

“I wasn’t happy with my 500. I had made the B final the year before. I didn’t make it back to finals, so I wasn’t very happy. But after my race, I turned my attention for my teammates. I wanted to be the best cheerleader I could be. That helped me turn myself around and not dwell on a poor race,” she said. “All of my teammates really helped me keep that positive mindset. I just had so much fun cheering. Sometimes it almost didn’t feel real, like watching Ella’s 400 IM. I think I cheered so loud that I almost blacked out. And winning every single relay was unreal. The last relay was the cherry on top to honor our seniors.”

Now Stevens will have to see if a three-peat can be the cherry on top for this senior class of Cardinal.

Stanford, CA; Saturday November 12, 2016; Woman's Swimming vs Texas

Photo Courtesy: Bill Dally

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Anonymous

5 years ago

Bruce!!

Dana Hubbuch Horsman

5 years ago

Happy senior year Leah! Enjoy!

Mamaw

5 years ago

What a girl! what a swimmer! I am so proud of you!!