Stanford Swims Past Washington State in Pac-12 Road Meet, Led by Lillie Nordmann, Claire Curzan

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

No. 2 Stanford women’s swimming improved to 2-0 on the season on Friday evening, defeating Washington State 147-108. The Cardinal are now 2-0 in Pac-12 dual meets after earning a season opening win against Utah earlier this month.

“It was great to get on the road today to compete against another Pac-12 school,” said Stanford Greg Meehan. “Our goal was to get up here and race really hard; we had a mixture of some of our main events and some secondary events, and they came up here and put forth a great effort.”

Stanford brought the energy to the meet right from the beginning, winning the first three events of the competition. In the opening medley relay, Stanford swept the event, finishing in first, second and third. Amy Tang, Janelle Rudolph, Emma Wheal, and Anna Shaw combined to earn the victory with a winning time of 1:42.48.

Aurora Roghair kept the momentum going in the first distance event, claiming first place in the 1000 free by a wide margin. Her time of 9:59.55 sealed the victory by nearly 14 seconds.

“We had really good team energy, having fun, spending time together, watching each other race,” said Meehan. “It just goes a long way to helping build our team culture and our camaraderie.”

The second sweep of the evening came in the 200 free as Lillie Nordmann took first place, also setting new Gibb Pool record in the process. Nordmann swam a 1:48.86, and was followed by Natalie Mannion and Kirsti McEnroe in second and third place. Later in the meet, Nordmann also earned an event title in the 500 free, swimming a 4:53.00.

Claire Curzan flexed her muscle in the 100 back, setting another Gibb Pool record with a 53.46. Her time also earned her an NCAA B Standard cut, as she won the race by more than three seconds. Curzan would go on to win the 100 free later in the meet as well, with a time of 50.08.

Washington State was able to earn event wins in the 100 breast and 200 fly, but Stanford answered right back with a clean sweep in the 50 free. Emma Wheal took first overall with a time of 23.51, followed by Amy Tang and Morgan Tankersley in second and third place.

Taylor Ruck notched an NCAA B Standard cut in the 200 back with a 1:56.82 while also earning the event title. Emma Wheal (55.29) and Gigi Johnson (2:04.54) went on to claim victories in the 100 fly and 200 IM, respectively, before the final relay of the meet.

Stanford took home first place in the 200 free relay, as Curzan, Tankersley, Roghair, and Mannion combined for the win. The quartet recorded a 1:33.75 on its way to the top spot in the event.

“I’m proud of the athletes for working through all of that at a time of year where they’re tired,” added Meehan. “The workload in the pool is significant, they’re carrying fatigue from the weight room, they’re in the middle of midterms and certainly carrying some academic stress, so to handle all that, get on the road, and compete really well is phenomenal. We’ll go back home and reset as we get to next week, and we’re excited to be competing against San Jose State on Friday.”

The Cougars won three events.

Emily Lundgren clinched the 100 and 200 breast and tallied 21 points within the meet. With her most recent victory, Lundgren remains undefeated at home this season in the 100 breast.

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The freshmen posted back-to-back wins midway through the meet as Dori Hathazi followed Lundgren with a win in the 200 fly.

The Cougars made a splash at the beginning of the meet as freshman Anna Raucholz finished second in the 100 back and sophomore Noelle Harvey went second in the 100 free.

After swimming parallel with Stanford swimmer for the entirety of the 200 fly, Hathazi finished just .09 behind the winner for a second-place finish. The 200 free relay team of Kirsten de Goede, Angela Di Palo, Hailey Grotte, and Harvey closed the meet with an impressive tie for second.

“I’m confident and excited with where we’re going. Obviously, we have some improvement to work on in certain aspects and training-wise, but I’m excited with our results today and looking forward to getting into it next week,” Washington coach Matt Leach said.

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