GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Sarah Haase won the 100-yard breaststroke for her first individual national title to help keep the Stanford women’s swimming and diving team in third place at the NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships. The Cardinal also received a 2-3 finish in the 200-yard freestyle and Kassidy Cook’s second straight top three on the diving boards for valuable points.
California holds the lead with 383.5 points, 84 ahead of Georgia’s 299.5. The Cardinal is comfortably in third with 264 points. Virginia is fourth with 168 and Texas A&M’s 153.5 points stands in fifth.
The 100 breaststroke field was tight from start to finish with Haase leading eventual fourth-place finisher Laura Simon of Virginia by 0.04 seconds headed to the last 50 yards. Alabama’s Kaylin Burchell and Notre Dame’s Emma Reaney were also within 0.09 midway through, but Haase held them off.
Haase said she had, “no idea,” if she had won when she touched the wall. “I saw we were all pretty close in that last 25 and actually, I looked over at my teammates and saw they went crazy before I even looked at the time so I was like, maybe that’s a good thing?”
Haase, a junior human biology major from Rockville, Maryland, entered this weekend as a four-time All-American including a 10th-place finish in last year’s NCAA 100 breaststroke. She will leave as Stanford’s record holder in the 100 breast, a 58.19 in prelims before her final 58.32, and the first Cardinal national champion in the event since Tara Kirk (2002-04) and Caroline Bruce (2005) combined for four straight 2002-05.
Stanford’s best scoring event came in the 200 free when Simone Manuel and Lia Neal finished behind California’s Missy Franklin. The Bears sophomore star set an NCAA record in 1:39.10, while Manuel clocked in a t 1:41.45 and Neal had a career best 1:42.65. Neal’s time stands as the No. 2 mark in Stanford history behind only Manuel’s 1:41.15 from earlier this season.
Cook gave the Cardinal another third-place showing by scoring 393.25 in the 3-meter competition. Only Minnesota’s Yu Zhou and Miami Ohio’s Pei Lin were ahead of the Stanford sophomore. Yesterday, Cook was second in the 1-meter.
“I’m really excited about Kassidy’s performance this year,” said head coach Patrick Jeffrey. “She has come back from a lot of adversity and we all knew that she could perform the way that she did here. There’s still more in the tank, we’re still on the way up, but the big difference in Kassidy right now is that her confidence is back.”
Cook, who has battled shoulder issues over the last two seasons, ends her first NCAA championship experience with two All-American honors. Lilly Hinrichs will represent Stanford on the platform tomorrow.
Patrick Jeffrey Talks About Kassidy Cook's Meet
Stanford started the Friday night finals session by winning the ‘B’ final of the 200 medley relay. The Cardinal’s 1:35.10, completed by Ally Howe, Haase, Janet Hu and Neal, set a pool record and was faster than all the ‘A’ final competitors.
Hu went on to finish 11th in the 100-yard butterfly (52.01), just ahead of freshman classmate Lindsey Engel in 12th (52.06), while Howe was seventh in her individual event, the 100-yard backstroke (51.69).
Katie Olsen gave Stanford another ‘B’ final win when she easily took the consolation race of the 100-yard breaststroke.
The 800-yard freestyle relay rounded out the night by finishing in second place in a Cardinal program record time of 6:54.68. Neal, Grace Carlson, Manuel and Nicole Stafford - three sophomores and a freshman - traded off turns for the record.
Stanford is back for the final day of the season tomorrow. Prelims start at 11 a.m. ET/8 a.m. PT with finals starting at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on ESPN3.
Team Standings
1. California 383.5
2. Georgia 299.5
3. Stanford 264
4. Virginia 168
5. Texas A&M 153.5
6. Louisville 151
7. Southern California 128
8. Texas 115
9. Tennessee 110
10. Missouri 90
