03-04-2017, 09:45 PM
Great meet, and especially last day performance, for our guys. To hold off Cal tonight, a number of swimmers exceeded their seeds. In the penultimate event, the 200 Fly, Cal had four guys in the A final, and an optimal outcome for them would have put them in a position to win the meet with the final relay. But two Stanford seniors, Jimmy Yoder and Tom Kremer, placed 4th and 5th, pushing a couple of Cal swimmers below them, which was sufficient to clinch the victory.
Re NCAAs, it is necessary for the men to be roughly in the top 30 in at least one event to qualify, and Stanford had a few at or below that threshold. (Women have more competing schools, and at least one time in top 42ish is what it takes.) Those "on the bubble" ensured an invite at Pac-12's. As well, Stanford had at least one highly unexpected qualification (Zdroik) and now Macmillan is at the bubble. (He's 34th per collegeswimming.com, but the site may not be fully accurate, and some of those ahead of Macmillan may be multiple qualifiers who choose other events).
As well, several of Stanford's top swimmers put up qualifying times for NCAAs during a meet in December, so they were likely not fully rested for Pac-12s. As such, there's reason to expect yet better performances from them at NCAAs.
On all accounts, Coach Knapp has to be very pleased. In the post-meet interview, he pegged 4th or 5th at NCAAs as the team's goal. (He was refreshingly forthright on that matter, as there was not cliche-ridden coachspeak that dodges the question.)
Re NCAAs, it is necessary for the men to be roughly in the top 30 in at least one event to qualify, and Stanford had a few at or below that threshold. (Women have more competing schools, and at least one time in top 42ish is what it takes.) Those "on the bubble" ensured an invite at Pac-12's. As well, Stanford had at least one highly unexpected qualification (Zdroik) and now Macmillan is at the bubble. (He's 34th per collegeswimming.com, but the site may not be fully accurate, and some of those ahead of Macmillan may be multiple qualifiers who choose other events).
As well, several of Stanford's top swimmers put up qualifying times for NCAAs during a meet in December, so they were likely not fully rested for Pac-12s. As such, there's reason to expect yet better performances from them at NCAAs.
On all accounts, Coach Knapp has to be very pleased. In the post-meet interview, he pegged 4th or 5th at NCAAs as the team's goal. (He was refreshingly forthright on that matter, as there was not cliche-ridden coachspeak that dodges the question.)