Stanford University’s men’s swimming team started 2026 with a decisive victory over UC San Diego in La Jolla on Friday. The No. 9-ranked Cardinal won every event during the dual meet, finishing with a score of 177-81.
The competition featured 14 events—12 individual races and two relays. Stanford opened the afternoon by winning the 200 medley relay in 1:25.71, with Ethan Harrington, Zhier Fan, Jonathan Tan, and Rafael Gu leading from start to finish.
Omer Wiener earned two individual wins for Stanford: first in the 200 freestyle (1:34.95) and then in the 200 backstroke (1:43.55), marking his debut in that event at the collegiate level. Wiener also anchored Stanford’s victorious 200 freestyle relay at the end of the day.
Henry McFadden contributed two wins as well, taking first place in both the 200 butterfly (1:43.82) and the 100 butterfly (47.27). This was McFadden’s first time competing in the 100 fly since setting a personal best at an earlier meet against California.
Henry Morrissey claimed victory in the 1000 freestyle with a season-best time of 9:03.91, becoming Stanford’s first individual winner of the day. Finn Harland followed by winning the 100 backstroke (47.47), narrowly defeating teammate Josh Zuchowski.
Other notable performances included Daniel Li’s win in the 100 breaststroke by nearly three seconds (52.74), Andres Dupont Cabrera’s four-second margin of victory in the 500 freestyle (4:26.34), and Ray Liu’s triumph in the 400 IM with a time of 3:48.08—over five seconds ahead of freshman Connor Jones.
Go Nagaoka dominated his heat in the 200 breaststroke, finishing more than nine seconds ahead of his competitors with a time of 1:54.25.
Additional victories came from Rafael Gu in the 50 freestyle (19.46), Jonathan Tan in the 100 freestyle (43.50), and another relay win for Harrington, Gu, Dupont Cabrera, and Wiener in the concluding event—the 200 free relay—which they completed in a time of 1:18.98.
Stanford is scheduled to compete next against No.18 USC on Saturday at 11 a.m., alongside its women’s program counterparts.
