Stanford swimming made its presence felt worldwide at this past week’s Pan-American Games in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Rising sophomore Julia Smit led the Cardinal charge, striking gold four times with five medals total.

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Julia Smit made a splash on the international scene with four gold medals at this past week’s Pan-American Games in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. The rising sophomore also added one silver to her collection.

Last Thursday, Smit kicked off an excellent weekend with first place in the 100-meter backstroke and a leadoff swim in the Americans’ gold-winning 4x100 freestyle relay. On Friday, she went on to break the Pan-Am record in the 200-meter individual medley with a personal-best 2:13.07.

Smit’s final gold came in the 4x100 medley relay, when she led off with a personal-best 1:01.94 for the backstroke and the U.S. went on to a Pan-Am record 4:04.60. The rising international star followed up with a silver medal in the 200 backstroke, garnering another personal best (2:11.18) and breaking the previous Pan-Am record.

While she was the only Cardinal woman at the Pan-Am Games, Smit was joined by Andy Grant, who claimed a total of three medals. The rising senior gathered silver medals in the 4x100 and 4x200 freestyle relays, but came up with top honors in Monday’s 4x100 medley relay.

While Grant wrapped up the record-breaking American swim with a 48.75 time (3:34.37 total), he was joined in the race by Randall Bal ‘03 (53.83). Bal also earned individual gold in the 100 backstroke for a Pan Am Games record (53.66) and the fourth-fastest time this year. Another alum, Peter Marshall ‘04, took silver in the same event.