{"id":152847,"date":"2010-01-08T04:22:22","date_gmt":"2010-01-08T09:22:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stanforddaily.com\/cgi-bin\/?p=1036874"},"modified":"2010-01-08T04:22:22","modified_gmt":"2010-01-08T09:22:22","slug":"w-swimming-and-diving-diving-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/152847","title":{"rendered":"W. Swimming and Diving: Diving in"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Stanford\u2019s<\/p>\n

Stanford\u2019s swimming and diving team hopes its individual successes lead to team success as it gets into the meat of its schedule. Senior swimmer Julia Smit set two world records in England earlier this school year. The team has done well too, winning its first three meets of the season. (AGUSTIN RAMIREZ\/The Stanford Daily)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The team\u2019s main headline of the season did not come in a Stanford meet, however. Senior Julia Smit set two new world records at the Duel in the Pool in Manchester, England over winter break. While competing for Team USA, Smit posted world-record times of 2:04.60 in the 200-meter individual medley and 4:21.04 in the 400-meter individual medley. She is also the defending NCAA champion in both events.<\/p>\n

In Stanford\u2019s first meet on Oct. 2 against San Jose State, Smit dominated the competition and headlined a 183-103 win for the Cardinal. She took three events \u2014 the 100-yard breaststroke, the 100-yard freestyle and the 1,000-yard freestyle \u2014 to propel Stanford to victory. Junior co-captain Kate Dwelley and senior co-captain Elaine Breeden also contributed significantly.<\/p>\n

On Nov. 7, the Card made an even more emphatic statement at a tri-meet in Gainesville, Fla. Stanford soundly defeated two of the nation\u2019s strongest programs, Michigan and Florida, by scores of 307-122 and 231-198 respectively. Smit and sophomore Betsy Webb led the Cardinal victories. Smit won four individual races and led two Cardinal relay teams to victory, while Webb added victories in three freestyle races.<\/p>\n

Looking forward, the Cardinal\u2019s ultimate goal for this season is to improve on last year\u2019s finish in the NCAA Finals, where the team narrowly beat out Texas to bring the fourth-place trophy back to The Farm.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were able to maximize our potential,\u201d said head coach Lea Maurer. \u201cI thought we had a strong team effort and we were happy with fourth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Breeden was also optimistic about this year\u2019s prospects.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a really good shot at improving our standings from last year. With hard work, I think we can do really well,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Maurer also emphasized that the team\u2019s main strength is not in the individual swimmers, but in their ability to work together dynamically.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have many different leaders and draw strengths from a variety of different groups,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve really come together as a team, and we continue to strive toward our goals,\u201d Dwelley added. \u201cIn every race, we race for the team and each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maurer also emphasized that the team needs to work on its depth. Last season, 10 Stanford swimmers and two divers were able to qualify for the NCAA Finals, well short of the 18 athletes a school is permitted to send to the meet. \u201cWe need to send more people to the NCAAs and score at the NCAAs,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

While the team is returning many top performers from last year, it also has a very strong recruiting class of new freshmen. The new swimmers have made numerous contributions this year, especially on relay squads.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve integrated really well into the team,\u201d Dwelley said. \u201cThey provide us with a lot of extra competition, and bring great personality and a great dynamic to the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the team\u2019s hot start, Maurer is focused on keeping the team fit and disciplined.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019ve done at this point is relentless confidence and relentless fitness. We want to be really fit and mentally tough,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Another challenge put to the Cardinal is the new restrictions on high-tech swimming gear. Many critics claimed that the suits gave an unfair advantage to schools, like Stanford, that had deals with the right manufacturer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to [achieve my] best times, but that\u2019s going to be tough,\u201d Breeden said. \u201cI hope to set new personal records despite the restrictions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s next meet is at the Avery Aquatics Center on Saturday against Pacific at 1 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The swimmers are] tired, we just came back from holiday training,\u201d Maurer said. \u201cThis will be a mental toughness and details test, to see if we can make good choices when we\u2019re tired and not letting mistakes appear.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Dwelley, the team is pretty broken down physically, but will still look to win this weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not expecting super fast times. We\u2019re going to work on race strategies and teamwork,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stanford\u2019s swimming and diving team hopes its individual successes lead to team success as it gets into the meat of its schedule. Senior swimmer Julia Smit set two world records in England earlier this school year. The team has done well too, winning its first three meets of the season. (AGUSTIN RAMIREZ\/The Stanford Daily) The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2073,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-152847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2073"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152847\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}