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Stanford men swimmers host No. 3 USC for Senior Day  

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The nationally No. 9-ranked Stanford men's swimming and diving team will close out the home portion of its dual-meet season on Saturday at the Avery Aquatic Center against No. 3 USC at 1 p.m. The top-10 matchup will mark the final home meet for the Cardinal's eight-man senior class.

The Cardinal seniors have led the squad to a 4-0 dual-meet record this season and have earned a trio of Pac-12 Conference titles in as many campaigns on The Farm.

A Senior Day ceremony will take place approximately 10 minutes before the start of the meet.

Stanford seeks to build upon momentum built after dethroning No. 1 Arizona on Jan. 26. The Cardinal seeks its seventh straight dual- meet win over the Trojans.

The meet will feature two of the nation's fastest in the 200 back in Stanford's Matthew Swanston and USC's Alex Lendrum.

Stanford's Aaron Wayne, one of the fastest freestylers in the nation, will battle with Olympic bronze medalist Vladimir Morozov. Morozov holds the NCAA's fastest time in the 100 free while ranking favorably in the 100 back and 100 breast.

Stanford closes the regular season Feb. 23 at Cal. The Pac-12 Championships will be held March 3-6 in Federal Way, Wash.

Softball
Stanford split its two games Friday at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Ariz.

The Cardinal fell, 6-0, to second-ranked Oklahoma in the first game, but bounced back to defeat Portland State, 3-1.

Sooners' pitcher Keilani Ricketts threw a no-hitter with 14 strikeouts and three walks.

Oklahoma scored five times in the first inning to establish control.

Kelsey Stevens entered the game in the second and limited the Sooners to one run on two hits. She struck out seven.

Erin Ashby led the Cardinal with two hits and two RBI. Leah White added a bunt single, sacrifice fly and a run scored. Sophomore Hanna Winter finished with a triple and a run scored.

Senior pitcher Teagan Gerhart earned her first win of the season against Portland State. She allowed one run and struck out nine.

Stanford (2-1) meets Cal Poly and Indiana on Saturday.

Men's tennis
No. 19 Stanford suffered a 7-0 setback against No. 3 UCLA on Friday to open its two-game Southern California road swing.

The Bruins (6-0) claimed the doubles point and secured the match at the top spot of the lineup when Marcos Giron defeated John Morrissey 6-2, 7-6 (3) in a battle of top-40 players.

The Cardinal (3-3) trailed 3-0 in the match but had already split sets on courts three, four and six.

After dropping the first frame, Morrissey then forced a second-set tiebreaker. However, Giron managed to take the second set and ultimately end Stanford's bid at extending the match.

Stanford visits No. 2 USC Saturday.

Men's golf
Stanford shot eight under par in its best team performance of the tournament Friday at the Amer Ari Invitational at the Waikoloa Kings' Course on the Big Island.

The Cardinal finished seventh at twelve-under 852.

In his career-best finish, senior Steve Kearney tied for fourth after starting a solid start and finishing strong. He shot an opening round 69, a par Thursday, and completed today with a 67 for an overall eight-under-par 208.

"My short game was pretty good in this tournament," said Kearney who shot seven birdies today for a five-under, his best round of the tournament. "My driving accuracy was definitely one of my strong points. I only missed a few fairways these last three days and that really set me up to play well."

The Cardinal had four players with under-par performances in the final round. Along with Kearney, junior Cameron Wilson, sophomore Patrick Rodgers and freshman David Boote each went one-under.

Men's volleyball
Steven Irvin and Brian Cook combined for 39 of Stanford's 46 kills, but couldn't prevent the No. 4 Cardinal from falling to No. 1 UC Irvine, 25-18, 25-18, 20-25, 25-23, in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men's volleyball at Burnham Pavilion on Friday night.

Stanford (7-4 overall, 4-4 MPSF) had its 12-match home winning streak snapped, but not without a fight, rallying from two sets down to nearly force a fifth. The Cardinal trailed 13-7 in the fourth set before tying the score at 17-17. But UCI (9-3, 6-3), the defending national champion, managed to hold off the Cardinal down the stretch.

Irvin (match-high 21 kills, .375) and Cook (18, .421) combined to hit .397. It was the third consecutive 20-kill performance for Irvin, whose previous collegiate high had been 18.

Stanford next plays UC San Diego on Saturday (7 p.m.) at Maples Pavilion.

Track and field
Stanford's Kori Carter shattered her own school record in the 60-meter hurdles at the Don Kirby Invitational indoor track and field meet at the Albuquerque Convention Center on Friday night.

The junior clocked 8.17 to break her year-old mark of 8.22 and highlight a strong day of competition for Stanford athletes in two indoor meets. Cardinal field-event athletes, sprinters, and hurdlers competed in Albuquerque while team distance runners were at the Husky Invitational in Seattle.

Carter, the 2012 Pac-12 100 hurdles champ outdoors and Mountain Pacific Sports Federation 60 hurdles champ indoors, has threatened the mark already this season. She ran 8.24 at the UW Invitational on Jan. 26, and hit 8.27 in Friday's preliminary round.

In the final, Carter beat runner-up Christabel Nettey of Arizona State in 8.22, with Stanford teammate Katie Nelms in fourth (8.35), just off her own No. 2 mark in school history (8.33) of last year.

Carter wasn't the only one to make a dent in the Cardinal Top 10 indoor lists: Jules Sharpe achieved the No. 2 mark in the men's high jump, Jordan Merback hit No. 7 in the women's triple jump, and Geoffrey Tabor would have reached No. 3 in the men's shot put if he wasn't there already.

In all, Stanford achieved season bests in nine events in Albuquerque.

Sharpe had the third-best high jump in school history - indoors or outdoors - while placing second Friday.

Sharpe leaped 7-3¼ on his first try to come within a quarter-inch of Brian Marshall's Stanford indoor record set in 1986. Marshall has held the all-inclusive Stanford mark of 7-5¾ since 1988. Sharpe improved upon his collegiate best of 7-3, set in 2011, and had a pair of good tries at 7-4 ¼.

Sharpe was second only to 2012 Olympic silver medalist Erik Kynard of Kansas State, who cleared 7-5 3/4. Sharpe took only three jumps - clearing each on his first try - before going out.

"He did a really good job of staying composed," Stanford jumps and multis coach Michael Eskind said. "In every meet he competes in, he gets better and better. But he took a big step today."

Sharpe has competed three times this indoor season, winning twice before Friday.

Merback jumped 41-1 3/4 for second place, and All-America Karynn Dunn was third in the women's long jump with a season-best 20-5.

Tabor put the shot 58-5 3/4 for fourth place, just off his personal record of 58-7 1/2.

In Seattle, Jessica Tonn joined the Top-10 parade by shattering her personal record in the 5,000 at the Husky Invitational, a two-day meet that continues on Saturday at the Dempsey Indoor track at University of Washington.

Tonn ran 15:56.42 to finish fourth in the invitational heat in the fifth-fastest indoor time in Stanford history. Tonn's previous best was 16:16.37.

Erik Olson set a personal record in the men's 5,000, clocking 13:54.55 to finish 18th in the invitational heat. It bettered his previous best of 13:59.87.season.

Men's gymnastics
Five Stanford men's gymnasts qualified Thursday to the final round of the Winter Cup Challenge, led by senior Eddie Penev who finished fifth overall in the preliminary round. Joining Penev in Saturday's final round will be Cardinal teammates Sean Senters, Jonathan Deaton, Paul Hichwa and Cameron Foreman.

Stanford performed strong overall with each of the five qualifiers finishing in the top 10 in at least one event.

Penev led the Cardinal claiming the meet's highest score on vault with a 15.150 and finishing fifth overall with 50 points. Penev also had strong routines on rings (13.650, ninth), floor (14.500, 11th), parallel bars (13.900, 14th) and the all-around (83.800, fourth).

Senters earned 43 points to claim ninth overall after finishing second on vault with a 15.100 and sixth on high bar with a 14.050.

Foreman, Hichwa and Deaton did not compete in the all-around but accumulated enough points in their respective events to qualify for the finals.

Foreman scored 14.100 on high bar to finish fifth overall in the event. He added a 14.150 on parallel bars for an 11th-place finish.

Hichwa finished in the top 10 in two events, picking up a sixth-place finish on floor (14.75) and finishing 10th on high bar (13.950).

Deaton, the youngest of the Stanford qualifiers, earned a 10th-place finish on vault with 14.800.

The five gymnasts will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 9 at 7:15 p.m. in the Winter Cup final round as they pursue a spot on the U.S. Men's Senior National Team.

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