Stanford men’s swimming and diving marked its Senior Day with a 181-119 victory over No. 5 California at the Avery Aquatics Center on Friday. The meet was the final home event of the season for the Cardinal, who won all but three events against their rivals.
Stanford’s Ethan Ekk swept both long-distance freestyle races, winning the 1,000-yard free in 8:45.37 and the 500-yard free in 4:14.59. Ekk’s performance in the 1,000 was his second-fastest ever and is only behind his own school record set earlier this season. His time in the 500 ranks among Stanford’s top-15 all-time performances.
Daniel Li set a new school record in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 1:50.79, surpassing Ron Polonsky’s previous mark from 2025. This result is currently third fastest in the ACC and sixth nationally for this season.
Henry McFadden won both the 200-yard and 100-yard freestyle events. In the 200 free, he edged out California’s Keaton Jones with a season-best time of 1:32.43, which places him among Stanford’s five fastest times ever for that event. McFadden also claimed victory in the shorter freestyle by coming from behind to win with a time of 42.30.
Ray Liu added another come-from-behind win for Stanford in the 200 backstroke, finishing in 1:41.37 after trailing at midpoint. Finn Harland set a personal best and achieved a top-10 program time with his win in the 100 backstroke (45.98).
Senior Josh Zuchowski won the 200 butterfly in an NCAA qualifying time of 1:42.21, beating teammate Gibson Holmes by just over half a second after taking control mid-race.
Another senior, Rafael Gu, led Stanford into intermission by winning the 50 freestyle (19.23), marking his second-fastest career swim at that distance and later took first place again in the 100 butterfly (45.61).
Omer Wiener completed Stanford’s list of individual swimming winners by leading a sweep of the top four spots in the 200 individual medley.
On diving, Gunnar Grubbs took first on one-meter with a score of 349.35—his second win at Avery this year—and posted an NCAA qualifying score while setting a personal best as runner-up on three-meter (389.93).
The team now looks ahead to competing at the ACC Swimming and Diving Championships, scheduled for February 15-21, hosted by Georgia Tech in Atlanta.
