Cardinal swimmers Cardinal swimmers (January 28, 2004)splash to big sweeps

Women avenge their last Pac-10 loss by beating Arizona, while men dominate Arizona schools to also stay unbeaten

by Keith Peters

The Stanford men's and women's swim teams treated their Arizona State and Arizona rivals like anyone else at this time of year during Pac-10 dual meets last weekend at Avery Aquatic Center.

The Sun Devils and Wildcats were treated like steppingstones, of course.

With the NCAA championships set for March and the U.S. Olympic swim trials scheduled for July, everything leading up to those meets is simply a steppingstone. The important thing for the Cardinal teams is continue to make progress.

Both did just that.

The nationally No. 3-ranked Cardinal men (2-0, 5-0) toppled No. 13 ASU on Friday, 127-107, before handling No. 8 Arizona on Saturday, 154-133.

The No. 4-ranked Cardinal women (2-0, 4-0) opened with 169.5 to 125.5 win over No. 20 ASU then pasted a convincing 166-134 defeat on No. 6 Arizona, avenging the team's last dual-meet defeat exactly one year ago to the Wildcats.

Stanford women's coach Richard Quick could have been speaking for men's coach Skip Kenney, as well, when he summed up the weekend:

"Our team competed the way we had to," said Quick. "We did win the events we should have, but we really won the meet with the performance of our depth."

But, Quick reminded, "Our results today are only good if we continue to improve next weekend."

The Stanford women, who have won eight straight dual meets, will be on the road this weekend at No. 10 UCLA on Friday and at No. 6 USC on Saturday. Both meets will help determine how the Cardinal will fare at the Pac-10 Championships in late February.

The men will visit USC on Feb. 7 before hosting Cal on Feb. 21 to close the dual-meet season.

The highlight of the weekend was turned in by Stanford senior Tara Kirk, who swept the 100 and 200 breaststrokes both days. Her win in the 100-yard breast (1:00.57) Saturday kept Kirk unbeaten during her collegiate career in the event while running her streak of consecutive collegiate wins to 31. Kirk has been unbeaten in both events during her junior and senior years, last falling in a collegiate 200 breast during the Pac-10 Championships during her sophomore season in 2002.

Sophomore Dana Kirk, Tara's sister, sweep of the 100-yard fly (54.38) and 200 fly (an NCAA qualifying time 1:56.54) to keep her unbeaten in both events this season.

Stanford held a slim 118-109 advantage after 12 of 16 events before the Cardinal swept the final four events to break open a tight meet.

Lacey Boutwell (50 free, 200 free), Dana Kirk (100 fly, 200 fly), Tara Kirk (100 breast, 200 breast) and Gunn High grad Ashlee Rosenthal (1-meter diving, 3-meter diving) won two individual events each for the Cardinal. Kristen Caverly was also a winner in the 200 IM (2:00.66), while the Cardinal swept the 200 medley and 200 free relays.

Rosenthal's sweep of the 1-meter (275.40) and 3-meter (288.68) diving competition helped the Cardinal stake a 25-13 advantage on the boards.

In the men's competitions:

The Cardinal finished 1-2-3 in the 200-meter backstroke as senior Markus Rogan (1:54.98), Peter Marshall (1:55.94) and freshman Hongzhe Sun (1:58.19) led the field. Both Rogan (the national leader in the 200-yard back) and Marshall (the U.S. leader in the 100-yard back) turned in automatic NCAA qualifying times in this event, held over short-course meters.

Freshman Ben Wildman-Tobriner clocked season bests of 22.59 and 49.91 while taking second in the 50-meter free and 100 free.

On Saturday, Stanford went 1-2 in six events while splashing past Arizona in a meet held in yards.

Freshman Andy Grant (200 free, 500 free), senior Michael Bruce (100 and 200 breast) and Marshall (100 fly, 100 back) all turned in double wins. Marshall's 47.66 victory in the 100 fly was a season best and ranks him No. 5 in the nation.
Wrestling

Stanford won the final five matches to record a come-from-behind, 20-12, victory over host Cal Poly on Friday.

The Cardinal (2-2 in the Pac-10, 5-4 overall) were down 12-3 before victories from Brad Metzler, Luis Vendrell, Matt Gentry, Brian Perry and Imar Kharbush each won their matches.

Stanford hosts Cal State Fullerton on Friday at 6 p.m. in Burnham Pavilion.
Men's volleyball

Stanford dropped a pair of road matches over the weekend, losing to No. 2 Long Beach State, 30-22, 27-30, 30-27, 30-28, on Friday night, and then dropping a 30-27, 23-30, 33-31, 30-22 decision to host UC San Diego on Saturday in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation action.

Against the 49ers, David Vogel recorded a career-high 20 kills while sophomore middle blocker Chris Ahlfeldt had 11 kills and hit at a .524 clip. Kevin Hansen had a team-high 58 assists and five digs for Stanford (2-2, 4-4).

Against UC San Diego, Ben Reddy had a career-high 23 kills.

The Cardinal host UC Santa Barbara on Friday.
Women's gymnastics

After being upset last week, Stanford did the upsetting this weekend, knocking off visiting No. 6 Arizona, 197.300-194.625, on Friday night.

Senior Lise Léveillé and sophomore Natalie Foley tied for first in the all-around with a score of 39.650 for Stanford (1-1 in the Pac-10, 4-1 overall).

"Lise and Natalie are two of the best gymnasts in the country," said Stanford coach Kristen Smyth. "They have such an amazing work ethic. They are just incredible."

Lindsay Wing, the three-time defending Pac-10 champion on the beam, recorded a 9.950, matching the fifth best score in program history.

Senior Shelly Goldberg scored 9.775 in the floor exercise to help secure the victory.

Stanford hosts Washington on Friday.
Men's tennis

Stanford opened its spring season with a 6-1 victory over host Tulsa on Saturday.

Menlo School grad John Pade teamed with KC Corkery to win in doubles, and was leading his singles match before his opponent retired due to injury.

The Cardinal was scheduled to host Hawaii on Tuesday.
Track and field

Chauntae Bayne and Ashley Freeman each sprinted to victory to lead the Stanford contingent in Saturday's Western Indoor Classic in Nampa, Idaho.

Bayne won the 200 meters in 24.65 and Freeman went 55.80 to win the 400.

Other Stanford winners included Jill Camarena in the shot put (56-3 1/4), Solomon Welch in the triple jump (48-10 3/4) and Nick Welihozkiy in the weight throw (65-1 1/4).

Both the women's 1,600 meter relay team (3:44.64) and men's 1,600 meter relay team (3:16.68) also raced to victory.
Men's gymnastics

Stanford recorded a score of 203.875 in the Pacific Coast Classic on Saturday at the Oakland Convention Center.

Cal won the meet with a 216.200.

Sean Doolan scored a 9.5 on the floor exercise, while Nate Downs recorded a 9.025 on the horizontal bar.

Stanford returns to the East Bay on Friday for a meet at California, which also includes Air Force.

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