Venice High Alum Swims Into American Record Books

Venice High School graduate Andrea "Andi" Murez swam into the U.S. record books over the weekend as she and three of her Stanford teammates set the American record for the 400-yard freestyle relay at the 2012 NCAA Championships in Alabama.

Murez, a junior at Stanford, and Cardinal teammates Samantha Woodward, a senior, Madeline Schaefer, a freshman, and senior Elizabeth Webb set the new American mark Saturday when they finished in the finals of the 400-yard freestyle relay in 3:10.77, ahead of the previous 3:11.03 record set in March 2011.

The meet finals will be broadcast Wednesday, March 21, at 4 p.m. on ESPNU.

Murez, who graduated from Venice High in 2009, set all of the high school's swim records, was named the team's Most Valuable Player for four years, was a team captain her senior year, was an eight-time CIF sectional champion and set four CIF sectional records as a Gondolier.

She also swam for Team Santa Monica from 1999 to 2009 and was the club's swimmer of the year from 2006 to 2009. Her older brother, Zachary, swims for Yale.

Murez, who is on scholarship at Stanford, is a human biology major on a pre-medical school track, said her father, Jim Murez. She has finals this week and will be back in Venice for a week of rest and relaxation before beginning training for her next competition, the U.S. Olympics Trials this summer in Omaha, NB. Murez has qualifying times in the 50-meter, 100-meter, 200-meter freestyle, 200-meter individual medley and the 100-meter butterfly.