Publication Date: Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Cardinal women splash to swim win over Cal
Cardinal women splash to swim win over Cal
(February 16, 2005) School records fall in track and field; softball wins own invitational
by Rick Eymer
The Stanford women's swimming team enter next week's Pac-10 championships as the prohibitive favorite to defend its title.
The fifth-ranked Cardinal, who have won 15 of 18 conference championships overall, earned that distinction after finishing regular season conference play undefeated with a 172-128 victory at California on Saturday.
"The Pac-10 is a fine conference and to go undefeated is something to feel good about," Stanford coach Richard Quick said. "It gives you confidence for the postseason when you go through the Pac-10 season undefeated."
It also helps that three of Stanford's top swimmers are freshmen and improving rapidly.
Olympian Caroline Bruce headlines the youth movement as she won three events in Berkeley, improving her season best in the 100 breast at 1:01.19 and establishing a career best in the 200 breast at 2:11.08. She has the nation's third-fastest time in the 200 breast this season, the fourth in the 100 breast and the fifth in the 200 IM, an event she also won at Cal.
"Caroline Bruce is just continuing to have an outstanding freshman season," Quick said. "She's getting ready for a great championship season."
Bruce is joined by freshman Brooke Bishop, who swam a season best 54.94 in winning the 100 back on Saturday. She also swam a season best 1:59.20 in the 200 back in finishing second.
Bruce and Bishop were joined by junior Dana Kirk and senior Lacey Boutwell for the 200 medley relay, which swam a season best 1:41.84, seventh best in the nation this season.
Not to be outdone, freshman Elizabeth Durot won the 500 free. She has the team's best time in the event at 4:46.00, which she swam in November.
Two other freshmen - Erica Liu and Katie Lampe - are also making waves. Liu matched her season best in the 100 free at 51.05 in finishing third, while Lampe set season highs in both the one-meter diving event (third in 242.18) and three-meter event (second in 276.83).
Liu and Durot were joined by Kirk and sophomore Desiree Stahley in setting a season best in the 400 free relay at 3:27.38.
"Our team is growing and maturing," Quick said. "The regular season was a pretty good statement of that and as the year went along, we continued to improve. I'm really pleased with our dual meet season and the experiences that we gained should help us as we enter the postseason."
Kirk, who swam with Bruce and junior Kristen Caverly on the American Olympic team in Athens, won the 200 fly and 100 fly.
Caverly, who has been unable to swim much this year due to a back problem, made her presence felt against Cal, finishing second in the 200 breast in a season best 2:14.05 and finishing second in her first 200 IM of the season in 2:01.54.
Stahley swam a season best 9:47.39 in winning the 1,000 free. Morgan Hentzen finished third in a season best 9:55.75.
Gunn grad Ashlee Rosenthal won both diving events, recording a season best 301.13 in the three-meter event. Castilleja grad Sara Bowling finished third in a season best 261.83.
Boutwell also swam a season best 1:47.39 to finish second in the 200 free.
The Pac-10 championships will be held in Federal Way, Wash. beginning Thursday, Feb. 24 and continuing through Saturday the 26th.
"In the Pac-10 meet, it comes down to a combination of quality and depth," Quick said. "Hopefully, our swimmers will rise to the occasion and be good in both areas. We're looking forward to a great meet."
Stanford improved to 29-3 against California.
Track and field
The distance between Fayetteville, Ark. and Seattle, Wash. is approximately 2,164 miles but Stanford athletes were able to bridge the gap in record time.
That's because of the Stanford women's 1,600 meter relay team, which set the school record with a 3:34.92 on Friday at the Arkansas Tyson Invitational to finish second to Miami's 3:32.59.
Nick Sebes ran a 46.97 in the 400 meters at the Husky Classic in Seattle to set his school mark.
Back in Fayetteville, Janice Davis and Wopamo Osaisai added to school history by setting records. Davis went 23.70 in the women's 200 meters and Osaisai went 6.87 in the men's 60 meters.
The Stanford men's distance relay team finished third in a time of 9:33.49, the fifth-best time in school history. Arkansas won the event in the fourth fastest time (9:29.25) in the history of collegiate track and field.
In Seattle, Alicia Craig, the two-time NCAA champion in the outdoor 10,000 meters, ran her first race of the indoor season with an NCAA qualifying time of 15:54.72 in winning the 5,000 meters. Anita Siraki finished sixth with an NCAA qualifying time of 16:07.18.
Ryan Hall made his indoor debut with an NCAA provisional time of 8:02.63 in the 3,000 meters.
Softball
Senior catcher Leah Nelson had two hits and drove in two runs to help sixth-ranked Stanford beat visiting Long Beach State, 3-1, on Sunday and clinch the title of the Stanford Invitational.
The Cardinal (6-1) won twice on Saturday, beating DePaul, 18-0, and Kentucky, 14-3.
Stanford is scheduled for five games at the South Florida Tournament in Tampa this weekend. The Cardinal open with Hofstra, the team Stanford beat in last year's regional final to advance to the College World Series, on Saturday. They are also scheduled to play Jacksonville, Seton Hall, South Florida and Florida Atlantic.
Junior pitcher Laura Severson (4-1) earned the victory against the 49ers, throwing a two-hitter over six innings. Freshman Lauren Nydam got the final three outs for her first collegiate save.
Sophomore outfielder Jackie Rinehart hit her first collegiate grand slam in the win over Kentucky. Junior outfielder Catalina Morris collected three hits, including her fifth home run of the year. Freshman Michelle Smith drove in two runs.
Freshman Becky McCullough (2-0) was the winning pitcher.
Morris had two hits, including a home run, and drove in four runs in the win over DePaul. Smith and freshman Anna Beardman, who drove in three runs, also homered. Lauren Lappin had three hits.
Men's tennis
Stanford ran its season-opening streak to six wins with victories over Arizona State and Arizona over the weekend.
Sam Warburg, KC Corkery and Phil Sheng remained unbeaten in singles play ias the seventh-ranked Cardinal beat Arizona State, 5-2, on Saturday and Arizona, 7-0, on Sunday.
Stanford opens play at the National Indoor Championships in Chicago on Thursday.
Women's tennis
Top-ranked Stanford (6-0) rolled to a 5-2 win over visiting Sacramento State on Thursday, extending its streak to 35 straight.
Theresa Logar clinched the match with a three-set win at No. 3 singles.
Stanford hosts Washington State on Friday at 1:30 p.m. and Washington on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
Women's water polo
Third-ranked Stanford finished third in its own Stanford Invitational over the weekend, beating Indiana, 11-4, on Sunday.
The Cardinal (1-0, 4-1) won three of their matches, losing only to top-ranked UCLA, 6-5, on Saturday. They opened the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation season with a 9-5 victory over visiting Hawaii on Friday.
UCLA won the Invitational with an 8-6 win over USC in the championship.
Stanford hosts Cal State Northridge on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Against Indiana, Nancy El-Sakkary and Hannah Luber each scored three goals as Stanford scored five unanswered goals in the third period to pull away. The Hoosiers were held scoreless in the second half.
Indiana senior goalkeeper Jessica Goldner, a Gunn grad, Had 11 saves, including a block of a 4-meter penalty shot. It was her 31st career double-digit save performance. She finished the Invite with 45 saves, including three games of 10 or more.
Luber added three goals in an 11-1 win over UC Davis while El-Sakkary, Alison Gregorka and Christina Hewko each added two. Meridith McColl had seven saves.
Stanford lost to the Bruins for the first time since the 2003 national title game.
Katie Hansen scored three times and Scotti Shafer added two in Stanford's win over Hawaii.
"We felt like it was a good start to the regular season," Hansen said.
Football
Tom Hayes was named Stanford's defensive coordinator and secondary coach on Monday.
Hayes served in the same capacity at UCLA, Oklahoma, and most recently Kansas. He's also coached at Texas A&M, Cal State Fullerton and Iowa as well as with the NFL Washington Redskins.
Hayes replaces A.J. Christoff, who left for the San Francisco 49ers after a few days on the job at Stanford.
Men's volleyball
Craig Buell had 13 kills and hit at a .611 pace as Stanford swept three games from visiting Pacific, 30-26, 30-21, 30-27, in a MPSF match on Friday.
Stanford (3-6, 4-8) travels to UCLA for a match on Thursday.
Women's lacrosse
Sophomore Elizabeth Piselli recorded a career-high five goals and Stanford opened its season with a 19-6 victory over host Oregon in a MPSF match on Saturday.
Senior midfielder Nina Pantano and junior attacker Sarah Bach each added four goals while junior attacker Megan Burker had three.
Freshman goalkeeper Laura Shane won her collegiate debut, saving nine shots before leaving with nine minutes left to play.
The Cardinal play host St. Mary's on Friday.
Wrestling
Stanford dropped a 21-14 decision to visiting UC Davis on Saturday.
Larry Ozowara recorded a sudden death victory at 197 pounds, while Chris Hayworth came from behind to win his match at 141 pounds.
Nathan Peterson and Matt Gentry also recorded victories for Stanford (2-4-1, 6-8-1).
The Cardinal will wrestle at the Pac-10 championships at Cal Poly beginning Feb. 27.
Women's gymnastics
Stanford lost, 195.225-193.725, to host Arizona on Friday.
Freshman Tabitha Yim placed first on both the uneven bars and the balance beam, while junior Glyn Sweets tied for first on vault for the Cardinal.
Stanford (1-2, 1-3) set a team season-high in winning the uneven bars with a 48.925.
The Cardinal host defending national champion UCLA in a dual meet in Maples Pavilion on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Men's golf
Stanford shot a 274 on the final day of competition at the Waikoloa Intercollegiate in Hawaii and finished in a tie for eighth with a three round total of 33-under par 279-278-274-831.
Oklahoma State won the tournament with a 63-under par 801.
Cardinal Rob Grube recorded a 14-under par 67-67-68-202 to tie for seventh.
Men's gymnastics
Stanford (3-3) placed third at the Nakamori Invitational behind top-ranked Ohio State and host California on Saturday.
The Cardinal finished with a 213.950, while Ohio State had 215.350 and the Bears had 214.450.
Stanford freshman Jason Shen recorded a 9.5 on vault to tie for first place.
Stanford travels to Colorado Springs to face Air Force on Saturday at noon.
E-mail a friend a link to this story. | 
