DiRado chooses Stanford

Maria Carrillo senior Maya DiRado, one of the most decorated swimmers in Empire history, has verbally committed to Stanford University.

DiRado, a three-time high school All-American and the state record holder in the 200-yard individual medley, had narrowed her college choice to Cal or Stanford. Cal is the defending national champion and Stanford, which has won a record eight NCAA titles, finished fourth in the nation last season.

DiRado?s parents, Ruben and Marit, graduated from Stanford in 1985. Her older sister, Sarah, is a freshman at the school.

DiRado, who has a 4.6 GPA, visited seven-time NCAA champion Texas in early September. She visited Cal from Oct. 2-4 and took her trip to Stanford from Oct. 23-24. She will sign this week during the NCAA?s early signing period.

?Everyone told me ?You?re just going to go to Stanford. Why are you even doing all of this??? DiRado said. ?But I honestly didn?t know until I got there. Just walking around Stanford?s campus I felt like ?All right. This will work.??

A two-year member of the USA National Junior Team, Dirado figures to make an immediate impact in Palo Alto. Her personal-best time in the 200 IM would rank fifth on Stanford?s all-time list, ahead of 12-time Olympic medalist Jenny Thompson. Her 400 IM time would rank seventh all-time.

DiRado, 16, is ranked 52nd in the world in the 200 IM and 61st in the 400 IM. As a junior, she ranked second nationally among high school girls in the 200 IM and was eighth in the 100 butterfly.

Santa Rosa Neptunes coach Dan Greaves, who has coached DiRado for the past seven years, said his star pupil will excel in college. Besides her considerable physical talent, she has the ability to translate her brains to the pool.

?She?s really smart and pretty analytical about everything,? Greaves said. ?She understands why she?s doing things. Some kids just do things because you tell them to do it. Maya gets the reason behind it.?

From Nov. 7-16, DiRado will participate in the FINA World Cup events in Stockholm and Berlin as a member of the USA National Youth Team. Olympic legend Michael Phelps will travel with her team in the role of USA National team mentor.

Similar to Phelps, DiRado has a gift for performing best under the most extreme pressure.

As a member of the USA National Junior Team, she has turned in brilliant performances at major international meets the past two years. At the 2008 Victorian State Championships in Australia, she won the gold medal in the 200 IM and also outpaced Australian Olympians Liesel Jones and Shayne Reese to win silver in the 400 IM. At the Mel Zajac Invitational in Vancouver, B.C., in May, she won the silver medal in the 200 IM with a performance that, at the time, made her the 20th fastest American woman in the event.

She won her second North Coast Section title in the 200 IM last spring and broke the section record held by 11-time Olympic medalist Natalie Coughlin. DiRado?s time of 1:57.08 ranks fourth in U.S. history among high school girls.

DiRado is eager to take aim at Stanford?s record book, which includes names such as Janet Evans, Summer Sanders and Misty Hyman.

?I definitely didn?t want to go to a school where I was the fastest they?ve ever had,? DiRado said. ?I wanted to have peopole ahead of me and have something to shoot for. But it?s nice to be right in the mix. That?s definitely encouraging.?

Ruben DiRado said he and his wife took pains to make sure their daughter looked at other schools besides Stanford. Instead of exerting pressure on her to continue the family tradition, DiRado said they mildly discouraged the thought of going to Stanford.

The point was to have Maya make her own decision.

?I?m very glad she made the decision to go there instead of just finding herself there like that?s where she was destined to be,? Ruben DiRado said. ?I?d hate it if she went there but never really made a decision to do it.?

DiRado said her choice was difficult because of her visit to Cal, where she stayed with former Empire star and NCAA champion Amanda Sims. DiRado was particularly struck by Cal?s tradition, coaches and unique training methods.

So how did she ultimately make her decision?

?Well,? DiRado said with a laugh, ?it?s Stanford.?

For more Empire high school sports coverage, please visit Eric Branch?s prep sports blog at prepsports.blogs

.pressdemocrat.com. You can reach Staff Writer Eric Branch at 521-5268 or eric.branch@pressdemocrat.com.