Photo Courtesy: Jeff Commings<\/p>\n
STANFORD – Simone Manuel, Katie Olsen and Ally Howe each won two individual events on Saturday to lead the Stanford women’s swimming and diving team to a convincing win over Pac-12 rival Southern California, 182-110.<\/p>\n
It was a perfect setting Saturday at Avery Aquatic Center for the Stanford women\u2019s swimming and diving team to send off its seniors with a 182-110 victory over USC in the final home meet of the season. With sunny skies and temperatures approaching 72 degrees, the Cardinal won 13 of the 16 events.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had some really good performances from our seniors,\u201d said head coach Greg Meehan. \u201cKatie Olsen doing what she did in the breaststroke events, Haley Sims and Mackenzie Stein were awesome in the 200 fly and Sloane Brazina had one of her best performances in the diving events. It\u2019s very rewarding to see them here enjoying the moment for the last time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senior management science and engineering major Katie Olsen led the Class of 2015 with two event victories, as she swept the breaststrokes ahead of junior human biology major Sarah Haase and freshman Heidi Poppe, who went 2-3 in each event. Freshman Ally Howe claimed both backstrokes and classmate Simone Manuel won the 50- and 200-yard freestyles before finishing second in the 500-yard freestyle.<\/p>\n
Sophomore Lia Neal (100-yard freestyle, 49.26), freshman Janet Hu (100-yard butterfly, 53.36) and freshman Lindsey Engel (200-yard butterfly, 1:59.56) also took top spots for the Cardinal. Engel out-raced Cardinal Tara Halsted, Stein and Sims, who finished third, fourth and fifth, in the 200 fly.<\/p>\n
No. 2-ranked Stanford (7-1, 5-0 Pac-12) finished 1-2-3 in four events and 1-2 in four others.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was amazing,\u201d said Sims, a civil engineering major. \u201cA dream. Everything I could\u2019ve asked for my final time with the team. The sun was out, everyone had a great time, everyone swam super fast; it was just the perfect day to end my career.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been a dream come true,\u201d added senior human biology major Sloane Brazina. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have wanted to go out any other way. It was a very positive atmosphere out here on the pool deck. We had so much fun all day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brazina was fourth in the 1-meter diving competition, while sophomore Kassidy Cook finished second. USC\u2019s Haley Ishimatsu, the reigning NCAA platform champion, won both diving events, but Stanford\u2019s Alex Clay went for second in the 3-meter and Cook was third.<\/p>\n
No. 17 USC’s (4-3, 3-3 Pac-12) only other event victory came in the 500-yard freestyle, when Chelsea Chenault edged Manuel.<\/p>\n
Stanford takes two weeks off from dual meets, before traveling across the Bay for a date with No. 3 California on Valentine\u2019s Day. The Pac-12 Championships are Feb. 25-28 in Federal Way, Washington, and the NCAA Championships are scheduled for March 19-21 in Greensboro, North Carolina.<\/p>\n
\u201cI certainly feel like we are getting momentum towards the championships season,\u201d expressed Meehan. \u201cNow is the time to get going fast. The work that we did in the fall is showing itself, the work that we did in Colorado Springs is starting to show, so we are really excited about where we are trending.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senior Haley Ishimatsu won the 1m and 3m while sophomore Chelsea Chenault claimed the 500y freestyle to lead No. 12 USC women’s swimming and diving team, which fell at No. 3 Stanford, 182-110, on Saturday (Jan. 31) in Palo Alto, Calif.<\/p>\n
USC falls to 4-3, 3-3 in the Pac-12 while Stanford improves to 7-1, 6-0.<\/p>\n
Chenault won the 500y freestyle, clocking in at a NCAA `B’ cut time of 4:47.53. Chenault, a U.S. gold medalist in the 800m free relay at the 2013 FINA World Championships finished second in the 200y fly with a time of 1:59.63. Lindsey Engel of Stanford won the race, beating Chenault by .07 seconds at 1:59.56.<\/p>\n
In the 100y free Junior Jasmine Tosky finished third at 51.64, behind Stanford’s Julia Ama and Lia Neal who is a U.S. gold medalist in the 400m freestyle relay at the 2012 summer Olympics.<\/p>\n
Haley Ishimatsu claimed first in both diving events for the Women of Troy. In the 1-meter, Ishimatsu posted a score of 312.75 to claim first right above Kassidy Cook of Stanford who scored 310.05. The two-time defending NCAA platform champion continued her dominance on the 3-meter by scoring a 324.15 for first place.<\/p>\n
In the 100y fly Kendyl Stewart took second at 53:43, .07 seconds shy of winner Janet Hu with 53.36 for Stanford.<\/p>\n
In the 200y freestyle relay Stanford\u2019s team of Simone Manuel, Lia Neal, Janet Hu, and Katie Olsen had the best time at 1:31.08. For USC, Kasia Wilk, Kendyl Stewart, Chelsea Chenault and Evan Swenson teamed up to finish at 1:34.79.<\/p>\n
The Women of Troy are next scheduled to face off against UCLA in their final dual meet of the season on Feb. 13, at 1:00 p.m. PT at Uytengsu Aquatic Center.<\/p>\n