Freshmen Andrei Minakov, Ron Polonsky Lead Stanford to Tri-Meet Sweep
Andrei Minakov and Ron Polonsky, Stanford’s freshmen Olympians, won two events each to lead the Cardinal to a sweep of a tri-meet on Friday. No. 10 Stanford eased past Harvard and Pacific. The 23rd-ranked Crimson picked up the other win.
- Stanford 162, Harvard 127
- Stanford 166, Pacific 33
- Harvard 186, Pacific 30
Minakov won the 50 freestyle in 19.56 seconds, holding off a 2-3-4 finish by Harvard led by Raphael Marcoux. The Russian Olympian then won the 100 butterfly, his signature event, in 46.33 seconds, ahead of teammate Ethan Hu. Minakov also swam fly on the 200 medley relay that finished second.
Polonsky claimed the 100 breaststroke in a tremendous race, getting to the wall first in 54.29. He edged teammate Daniel Roy by .01 seconds, with Jared Simpson of Harvard third in 54.40.
Polonsky, an Israeli Olympian, then dominated the 400 individual medley in 3:50.36, a margin of 3.5 seconds over second-place Rick Mihm. Stanford took the top four spots in that race to formally close the door on Harvard’s upset hopes.
Grant Shoults also picked up a pair of wins. He outdueled Harvard’s Cole Kuster in both the distance events, taking the 1,000 free in 9:03.21 and the 500 in 4:23.78.
Leon MacAlister won the 100 back and finished second in the 100 free. Aaron Sequeira claimed the 200 back, Roy returned to win the 200 breast and Conor Casey was tops in 1-meter diving.
Harvard won both relays thanks in large part to Dean Farris. He led off the 200 medley squad with Jared Simpson, Umit Gures and Marcoux in 1:26.28. Farris anchored the winning 200 free relay in 18.93; Marcoux, Gures and Mahlon Reihman clocked in at 1:18.73.
Farris won the 200 free in 1:35.57. He also went 43.32 to edge MacAlister by two tenths in the 100.
Jacob Johnson won the 200 butterfly by a tenth over Matt Fenlon. Gunner Grant was second in both backstroke events. Adam Wesson won 3-meter diving after finishing second on 1-meter.