Synchro ties for national title

The Stanford synchronized swimming team proved once again that it was the best collegiate team in the nation this past weekend, and maybe the best squad in the country.

The Cardinal women tied for first place at this weekend’s U.S. National Synchronized Swimming Championship in Tucson, Ariz., sharing the title with the Santa Clara Aquamaids, a local club team. Stanford and Santa Clara tied with total scores of 40, easily topping the nearest competition which was third place Ohio State at 27.

“I am so proud of our team and how they did here,” coach Heather Olson told GoStanford.com. “It is very difficult to pick back up after NCAAs with no recovery time and perform they way they did here this week. We had the best swims of the season and that was our team goal for the meet. This team performed better than I could have anticipated.”

Senior Sara Lowe was the star for Stanford, winning the solo title after scoring a 95.677. Lowe’s success did not stop there, however, as she won a duet title alongside fellow senior Courtenay Stewart after the duo scored a 96.000.

The Cardinal capped off its success in the team competition after its squad of Lowe, Stewart, seniors Poppy Carlig and Melissa Knight, junior Erin Bell, sophomores Debbie Chen and Taylor Durand, and freshmen Corinne Smith and Michelle Moore finished in first with a 96.083.

Stanford’s performance this weekend concluded a perfect season for the team after the women won their fourth national title over a month ago at the Collegiate Championships. Finishing the season with a championship in Tucson was simply “icing on the cake,” as Durand put it, to a dominant season by a dominant Cardinal squad.

Crew takes down Cal

The men’s crew team captured the Schwabacher Cup on Saturday, defeating the California Golden Bears to grab the prestigious trophy for the first time since 1991.

The Cardinal’s victory in the 2,000-meter event was a close one, as it finished in 5:42.52, just 0.87 seconds ahead of Cal.

“We rowed a good race today against a traditional national powerhouse,” said senior Silas Stafford.

Stanford also raced an all-freshman boat that was able to hold its own: the squad finished 4.30 seconds behind the Golden Bears’ freshman team.

At the same matchup at Redwood Shores, Cal downed the Cardinal women’s rowing team, winning by 4.10 seconds. Stanford was competitive for the majority of the race, but Cal was able to pull away once the teams approached the finish line.

“[Stanford] learned today about the kind of effort it is going to take to make the medals at the Pac-10’s in two weeks,” said Yasmin Farooq, the women’s head coach. “That said, the team is improving steadily.”