By Sarah Lloyd, Swimming World College Intern
In an inter-conference matchup on Friday January 29, the No. 2 Stanford Women knocked off the No. 19 UCLA women with a handy victory of 182-118. Along with a a majority of the wins in the individual events, the Stanford women also picked up a number of NCAA B cuts. Stanford sophomore Janet Hu also picked up a couple of meet records in the process. The UCLA women also had a fair number of B cuts logged.
The meet opened up with a close race for the 200 medley relay. A UCLA team of Linnea Mack, Emma Schanz, Katie Kinnear, and Katie Grover came up just short of the victory (1:42.40) as they were touched out by the Stanford team of Ally Howe, Heidi Poppe, Jaynie Pulte, and Julia Ama (1:42.18). The Stanford junior Tara Halsted then took the 1000 free (10:03.31)–she was followed by senior teammate Allison Brown (10:07.59). The UCLA freshman Sandra Soe was third with a 10:13.22. The 200 free went to Stanford freshman Ella Eastin (1:48.42), while second was claimed by UCLA’s junior Madison White (1:49.06).
Janet Hu broke her first meet record of the afternoon when she took the 100 back (52.69). UCLA’s Mack was second with a time of 53.88, a B cut. Stanford senior Sarah Haase solidified a B cut afterwards with a win in the 100 breast (1:00.94), while sophomore teammate Howe grabbed one for herself with a win in the 200 fly (1:59.02). The UCLA sophomore Katie Grover was just off of the B cut with her second place time of 1:59.71. The Olympian and Stanford junior Lia Neal easily took the 50 free (22.88), a B cut, with UCLA’s Mack touching second (23.42), and the Stanford sophomore Lindsey Engel touched third (23.53).
Neal doubled up her victories with a win and B cut in the 100 free (49.26), followed by senior teammate Ama (50.94). Hu’s second meet record of the night came in the 200 back–her time of 1:55.06 was also good enough for a B cut, while UCLA’s White collected a B cut of her own as she touched second (1:56.79). UCLA’s freshman Schanz claimed the win in the 200 breast, along with a B cut, with her time of 2:13.03. Eastin grabbed second with a B cut time of 2:14.72.
Stanford teammates Leah Stevens, a freshman, and Nicole Stafford, a junior, then grabbed the top two spots in the 500 free, with a 4:55.55 and a 4:57.29, respectively. Howe claimed the 100 fly (54.54), followed closely by Grover (54.85). Eastin added another B cut to her resume with a win in the 200 IM (1:59.18), while the Stanford women closed the meet with a victory in the 200 free relay. A team of Hu, Neal, Howe, and Engel touched with a time of 1:30.97, a new meet record and over two seconds ahead of UCLA’s team of Mack, Grover, White, and Kinnear (1:33.35).
Full results: 2016 Stanford Women vs. UCLA – Results
Realize Janet Hu…is one member of an incredibly well-coached-team..however, specially excited for her. I used to watch her train in such a focused dedicated way after club-training with her brother. A truly classy family. I’m 100% certain that this totally-true for all of this fantastic Stanford-Squad. Great stuff ! – jmr