The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Stanford
Women's Swimming and Diving rallies past Stanford, 156-144
10.30.2014 | Women's Swimming and Diving
Longhorns rally from 24-point deficit, utilize their depth to push past the Cardinal and win their second straight meet at Stanford.
STANFORD, Calif. – Texas' depth and its eight wins on the day proved to be the difference in a 156-144 come-from-behind victory over Stanford Thursday evening at the Cardinal's Avery Aquatic Center. The Longhorns improve to 4-0 in dual meets with an impressive collection of road and neutral-site wins over Michigan, Stanford, Indiana and Louisville. Third-year UT head coach Carol Capitani scores her second consecutive win at Stanford after winning by three points in 2012.
Stanford opened the meet with a win in the 200-yard medley relay before Texas senior Kaitlin Pawlowicz notched the Horns' first win of the day with a mark of 9 minutes, 54.27 seconds in the 1,000-yard freestyle. Freshman Sammie Hashbarger added three points for Texas with her third-place time of 10:19.23.
Stanford ran off wins in the 200 freestyle and the 100 backstroke before UT senior Gretchen Jaques collected her first of two wins on the night. The southern Californian claimed the 100 breaststroke and nine points for Texas in 1:00.15 while freshman Bethany Leap added two points with her fourth-place mark of 1:02.83.
Senior Kelsey LeNeave notched her first of two wins on the day in the 200 butterfly and posted a top time of 1:58.68. Pawlowicz, coming off of a short lay-off from the 1000 freestyle, added three key points with her third-place time of 1:59.59.
Stanford won the one-meter diving event, but Texas nearly canceled out the Stanford win by placing second, third and fourth. Junior Meghan Houston led the Horns with her second-place total of 307.58 points while sophomore Murphy Bromberg placed third at 292.58.
Stanford increased its lead to 106-82 behind wins in the 100 freestyle and 200 backstroke, but the Horns chipped away at the deficit and ultimately claimed the lead from the Cardinal. Texas outscored Stanford by a 15-4 count in the 200 breaststroke behind Jaques' second win of the meet in 2:12.10. Leap contributed three points by taking third at 2:13.90 while sophomore Jordan Surhoff added a fourth-place time of 2:18.70.
Stanford won the 500 freestyle but Texas staved off the Cardinal's response with a strong one of its own, as UT placed second, third and fourth. Sophomore Madisyn Cox took a close second behind Stanford's Simone Manuel in 4:48.55 while Pawlowicz completed a workmanlike meet with her third-place mark of 4:49.25.
Stanford held a 120-106 lead heading into the 100 butterfly, but Texas cut that lead in half with its 13-6 advantage in the event. LeNeave captured the event in 53.49, and Wong held off Stanford's Janet Hu to take second in 54.05. Freshman Mimi Schneider contributed a key fifth-place point in 56.28.
A 14-5 Texas advantage in the three-meter diving event gave the Longhorns a 133-131 lead they would not relinquish. All-America senior Emma Ivory-Ganja spearheaded the Longhorns' showing on three-meter with a winning total of 354.60 points while Bromberg took second with 292.65 points.
Texas stretched its lead to 145-138 behind Cox's win in the 400 IM at 4:13.84. With only the 200 freestyle relay remaining, the Longhorns needed to either win the relay to win the meet or place second and third in the relay to hold off the Cardinal. Texas narrowly trailed Stanford at 100 yards before UT senior Emily Rose Williams out-split her Stanford counterpart by 15 one-hundredths of a second to give the Horns the lead by less than a tenth of a second.
Freshman Rebecca Millard went head-to-head against U.S. Olympian Lia Neal on the anchor leg and held off the bronze medalist at the wall to give Texas the relay win by six one-hundredths of a second. The Horns finished off the win at 1:31.26, just ahead of Stanford's 1:31.32. A Stanford relay win would have given the Cardinal the team win, given that both its "A" and "B" relays finished ahead of Texas' "B" relay.
Texas completes its west coast road swing on Friday when it takes on California at 1 p.m. local time.
Players Mentioned
