Stanford Women Set For One Final Run to Conclude Torri Huske Era
With her college career in its final days, Torri Huske has long since secured her place among the best in Stanford history. Huske arrived at Stanford in the fall of 2021 having already reached an individual Olympic final and helped the American women to silver in the 400 medley relay, and she has thrived in the years since. She has garnered individual Olympic gold medals and world titles while helping the U.S. women maintain a winning streak in the 400 medley relay.
Collegiately, however, she has won only one NCAA title, a victory in the 200 IM last season, while finishing second or third on seven occasions. That could change in 2026, however, after the graduation of Gretchen Walsh and her dominating underwater kickouts following last season. Now comes Huske’s chance to show how good she truly is in the 25-yard course.
At this week’s NCAA Championships in Atlanta, Huske will be the top seed and favorite in the 100 butterfly, having recorded a best time of 48.26 at the ACC Championships. That time made Huske the second-fastest woman in history. She is still a long way from Walsh’s 46.97 from last season, but Huske is in range of breaking through to 47-second territory when she races the event Thursday.
As for the 100 free, Huske finished eight hundredths behind breakout Virginia sophomore Anna Moesch at ACCs, her mark of 45.79 putting her No. 4 all-time behind only Walsh, former Cardinal great Simone Manuel and Moesch. Given a choice with the new NCAA event schedule, Huske chose to swim the 100 free instead of the 200 IM, a pair of events both taking place on the last day of the meet. Finally, Huske will add the 50 free to her program this year. Her career-best of 20.92 ranks No. 6 all-time, with Tennessee’s Camille Spink the only swimmer in the field who has been quicker.
Huske will not be the only swimmer wearing the red “S” contending for individual titles this week; indeed, the presence of Caroline Bricker and Lucy Bell gives Stanford numerous chances at big moments and perhaps matching last season’s second-place finish at the NCAA Championships. This duo provided Stanford’s signature moment at the 2025 NCAA meet when Bricker topped in the 400 IM and Bell took second. A day later, Bell added a title of her own in the 200 breast while Bricker finished third in the 200 fly.
Entering this year’s NCAAs, Bricker owns the third seed in the 400 IM and the seventh-best time in the 200 fly, although she has room for improvement as the top returning finisher. Bricker has dropped the 200 IM from her schedule this season to avoid a tough double with the 200 fly, and instead, she is returning to the 200 breast. Bell, meanwhile, could have a huge scoring run in Atlanta: she has the top time thus far this season in the 200 breast at 2:02.67 plus the second seed in the 400 IM and third in the 200 IM.
This NCAA meet marks a final run for this Stanford core as Huske prepares to focus full-time on professional swimming while Bell also graduates. It would be almost impossible to not take a step back after that, particularly with Huske placing a central role on her team’s sprint relays. So Stanford has one last shot to make a statement with this group. If Huske, Bricker and Bell all perform to their capabilities while Stanford’s supporting cast comes through, the Cardinal could match last year’s impressive second-place finish.
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