With all the attention that the Olympic trials for the U.S. swimming team has garnered in recent days, the Cardinal swimming program has, perhaps, seen its own profile rise yet again, as Stanford athletes and alums have made their mark in the pool.

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Masaru Oka

Julia Smit ‘09 will take part in the Olympics this August looking to become the seventh Stanford woman to medal as a student-athlete since ‘88.

On the women’s side, the Cardinal was led by tremendous performances from rising juniors Julia Smit and Elaine Breeden, who both qualified for the Olympics this August in Beijing. It made Stanford the only program in the nation with two current undergraduates representing the U.S. on the women’s swim team. This is in keeping with a strong recent tradition of sending current student-athletes to the Olympics, as the women’s team has seen six Cardinal student-athletes earn medals since 1988, as compared to just three for current undergrads in all other programs combined.

For their Stanford coach, Lea Maurer — herself an Olympic medalist in two events at the Barcelona Games in 1992 — the duo is merely living up to the potential she and the Cardinal program saw when they were recruited three years ago. And Maurer knows the pressure they face, as she too faced the challenges of an Olympic field when she was a rising junior on the Farm.

“We recruited Elaine and Julia with the belief that they had the potential of making this team and they were clear about their goals and their willingness to work hard to reach them,” Maurer told GoStanford.com. “All of the hard work and experience they have gained over the past two years at Stanford helped them reach their goals. We are so proud of what they have accomplished and how positively it reflects on Stanford swimming.

“Stanford’s tradition of swimming excellence is something that we talk about with the team all of the time,” she continued. “Each of these ladies takes the responsibility of carrying on that tradition very seriously.”

Breeden, a native of Lexington, Kent., qualified in the 100- and 200-meter butterfly events, finishing first overall in the 200-meter race with a time of 2:06.75 and second in the 100-meter race with a time of 58.21, missing first by just a tenth of a second.

Smit, meanwhile, was chosen for the 4x200-meter freestyle relay team, thanks to a third-place time of 1:56.73 in the 200-meter qualifier.

Aside from Breeden and Smit, 14 other women who either currently are or formerly were members of the Cardinal swim team competed in Omaha, Neb. Among the other performances of note for Stanford were 2008 graduate Brooke Bishop’s fourth-place finish in the 100-meter fly and sixth-place finish in the 50-meter freestyle, 2004 graduate Tara Kirk’s third-place finish in the 100-meter breaststroke, and rising sophomore Kate Dwelley’s ninth-place finish in the 200-meter freestyle.

“I was so proud of our team at the trials,” Maurer said to GoStanford.com. “They were the best `team’ on the deck in my opinion — really supporting one another and working hard to make every swim count for every person on the roster. There is no doubt in my mind that our team ethos and positive attitude helped Julia and Elaine onto the Olympic team. The ladies were their very best selves all week.”

On the men’s side, Ben Wildman-Tobriner ‘07 led the way for the Cardinal, finishing second in the 50-meter freestyle finals with a time of 21.67, behind Garrett Gale-Weber’s new American record of 21.47. Wildman-Tobriner had already punched his ticket to Beijing as a member of the relay pool with a sixth-place finish in the 100-meter freestyle. He will be the only Cardinal swimmer on the men’s side to compete in the 2008 Olympics, as narrow defeats highlighted what was otherwise a strong showing from Stanford athletes.

Rising senior Chris Ash missed qualifying for Beijing in the 100-meter breaststroke by just three-tenths of a second with a time of 1:01.12 on the second day in Omaha, and just .11 seconds shy of qualifying for the finals of the 200-meter breaststroke on the fourth day of competition in Omaha. Daniel Beal ‘08 was another swimmer with Cardinal ties who narrowly missed the cut in Omaha, finishing seventh with a time of 1:47.56 in the 200-meter freestyle.

Those who have qualified from the Farm will get to train on familiar territory for the Beijing Olympics, as the U.S. Olympic swimming team began practices at Stanford’s own Avery Aquatic Center on Monday. The swimming events in Beijing are scheduled to run from August 9 to 21.