Andrei Minakov, Lucy Bell Star in Stanford Senior Day Sweep of USC
Andrei Minakov won all four times he got in the water, and Lucy Bell posted a pair of career-best times as Stanford swept USC.
Minakov, one of 11 male swimmers feted on the Cardinal men’s Senior Day, keyed a 202-97 win. The Stanford women prevailed by a margin of 207-92 over its former Pac-12 rival.
The women’s meet may have been the faster overall. Bell went 58.53 to win the 100 breaststroke. It’s a best time for her, vaulting her from sixth in program history to third. It also claimed a duel with USC’s Kaitlyn Dobler, who went 58.84.
Bell won the 200 breast in 2:05.92, which improves her No. 2 all-time result in program history, buzzing within .04 seconds of Katie Olsen’s record set in 2014. Bell also won the 400 individual medley in 4:06.71.
Torri Huske set a best time of 1:41.90 in winning the 200 freestyle, part of a weekend in which she’s branched out in her events. She also won the 100 free in 48.47 and part of victorious 400 free and 200 medley relays.
Anchoring both relays was Amy Tang, who finished second to Huske in the 100 free. Levenia Sim led off the medley relay, then won the 100 back in 52.98 and was third in a podium sweep of the 200 back won by Natalie Mannion. Aurora Roghair swept the 1,000 free and 500 free. Lillie Nordmann swept butterfly; second in the 100 fly was 50 free winner Gigi Johnson. Johnson and Nordmann joined Tang and Huske on the winning 400 free relay.
USC notched a win through Kate Miller on 1-meter diving with her score of 303.60. She was within a point of the winning score of 308.05 from Stanford’s Anna Lemkin on 3-meter. Minna Abraham was second in the 50 free, as was Marlene Kahler in the 1,000.
Minakov was part of a 200 medley relay with Aaron Sequeira, Ron Polonsky and Rafael Gu that went 1:23.59. The quartet would account for six wins overall. Minakov’s time of 1:40.30 easily captured the 200 fly. Minakov left the 100 fly to Gu, who won it in 45.92 ahead of Sequeira. Minakov instead won the 100 free in 42.00, six tenths up on Gu. Sequeira won the 100 back. Polonsky swept breaststroke.
Stanford claimed both distance events, with Liam Custer in the 1,000 and Matt Fenlon in the 500, Gabe Machado second in both. Ethan Harrington won the 50 free in 19.57, .03 ahead of teammate Jonathan Tan, while Hayden Kwan won the 200 back.
Jack Ryan pulled out a titanic battle on 1-meter, the Stanford senior scoring 389.85 to edge USC’s Moritz Wesemann by 1.6 points. Wesemann got revenge in the 3-meter, his score of 403.10 winning 10 points over teammate Laurent Paradis.
Luke Maurer went 1:34.00 to win the 200 free for USC. Krzysztof Chmielewski won the 400 IM for the Trojans.
