Publication Date: Friday, March 04, 2005
STANFORD ROUNDUP
Cardinal men swimmers
Cardinal men swimmers
(March 04, 2005)are off to fast start
Record-setting relays put them into early lead at Pac-10s
by Rick Eymer
The Stanford men's swimming team raced to the early lead at the Pac-10 Championships at the Belmont Olympic Pool in Long Beach on Wednesday, surprising the field with a pair of relay victories.
The second-ranked Cardinal earned 80 points, taking a 14-point lead over Arizona and California, each at 66. USC is next at 60, followed by Washington (56) and Arizona State (26).
The Wildcats were favored to win both relays, but Stanford used record-setting times to pull off the upsets and qualify for the NCAA meet in both events.
Stanford came into the Pac-10 meet with the third best time in the 200 medley relay and the fifth best time in the 800 free relay.
"Our guys really get up for this meet," Stanford coach Skip Kenney said. "They are serious about coming in here and swimming fast."
The medley relay team of Jayme Cramer, Rick Eddy, Matt McDonald and Ben Wildman-Tobriner set the pace with a Pac-10 record 1:24.82, bettering the previous mark set by California last year. The Bears had three of the same swimmers back this year.
Danny Beal, Andy Grant, Shaun Phillips and Cramer came back to win the 800 free relay in a Pac-10 meet record 6:18.71, the second-fastest time in the nation this season.
The Cardinal team of Olympian Markus Rogan, Grant, Phillips and Cramer swam the event in a meet-record 6:24.18 last year.
The early victories set the stage for a showdown between Stanford and Cal - with Arizona and USC also affecting the outcome - the rest of the way. The meet continues through Saturday. Preliminaries begin at 11:00 a.m. and finals begin at 6 p.m. each day.
The 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free and 200 free relay are Thursday's scheduled events. While no Stanford swimmer comes in with the top time, several are among the top 10 and depth will have an impact on the meet's outcome.
Mike McLean has Stanford's best time in the 500 free, ranking him fourth in the Pac-10. He's followed by Cramer (7th), Phillips (8th), Grant (9th) and Beal (10th).
Tobias Oriwol has the second-best time in the conference in the 200 IM, while Hongzhe Sun ranks fifth and Mark Stephens is sixth.
Wildman-Tobriner ranks fifth in the 50 free, and the Cardinal bring the fifth-best time in the 200 free relay.
California senior Duje Draganja is the defending 50 free champion and USC junior Ous Mellouli won the 500 free last year.
Draganja also won last year's 100 free, while Mellouli is also the defending champion in the 400 IM and 1,650 free.
Six Stanford swimmers have already reached the automatic qualifying marks in eight events for the NCAA meet, along with the 400 medley relay team of Sun, Gary Marshall, Cramer and Wildman-Tobriner.
Wildman-Tobriner and Sun are each qualified in two events: Wildman-Tobriner in the 50 free and 100 free; Sun in the 100 back and 200 back. Marshall (200 breast), Grant (200 free), Beal (200 free) and Oriwol (200 IM) have also swam qualifying marks.
Stanford has won 23 consecutive conference titles, the most by any school in any sport in the Pac-10.
The latest CSCAA-Top 25 poll includes four Pac-10 teams ranked among the Top 10 - Stanford at No. 2, California at No. 4, Arizona at No. 8 and USC at No. 9.
Wrestling
Stanford senior Matt Gentry gets the chance to defend his NCAA championship at 157 pounds even though he was unable to defend his Pac-10 title in the weight class on Monday night.
Arizona State's Brian Stith recorded a two-point takedown with six seconds left in the match to upset the top-seeded Gentry at the conference tournament at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
Arizona State won the team title with 106 points. Stanford finished ninth with 48.5 points.
Gentry (27-2 on the season) beat Stith (27-9) twice by narrow margins during the regular season, and it's likely the two will meet in another showdown at the NCAA championship tournament beginning March 17 in St. Louis.
Gentry beat Stith, 4-1, in Stanford's dual meet loss to the Sun Devils, and also beat him, 2-1 in a tiebreaker, to win the championship of the Reno Invitation.
Gentry's only other loss of the year was to Fresno State's Jim Mederios, which ended his consecutive winning streak at a school record 64.
The top three in each weight class advance to the NCAA meet, along with 10 wild cards.
Gentry, who also holds the school record for most career wins (he's 136-23), will be attending his fourth NCAA meet. He'll be joined by junior Imar Kharbush, who won his third-place match at 174 pounds, 12-5, over UC Davis' Ron Silva.
Senior Nathan Peterson earned fifth place at 125 pounds with a 10-3 victory over Oregon State's Eric Stevens, while junior Ryan Hagen lost his fifth-place match, 4-3, to Cal Poly's Ryan Halsey.
Gentry's only point against Stith was an escape in the second period. Stith escaped in the third period to tie it and set up the last second decision.
Men's volleyball
Stanford takes a three-match winning streak into today's Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match at Cal State Northridge with postseason hopes on the line.
The seventh-ranked Cardinal (6-7, 7-9) currently reside in sixth place, a half-game ahead of the Matadors (6-8, 9-9). Stanford has lost its last two meetings against CSUN.
A win would clinch a spot in the MPSF playoffs, where eight of the 12 teams qualify.
Stanford visits UC Santa Barbara (9-4, 9-7 with a game against Pacific on Thursday), the fourth-place team, in the regular season finale on Saturday. The Gauchos beat Stanford in a five-game match in January.
Men's tennis
Sixth-ranked singles player Sam Warburg set the pace as the Cardinal beat visiting William & Mary, 6-1, in a nonconference match on Wednesday.
Warburg and KC Corkery, who form the second-ranked doubles team in the nation, won their doubles match, 8-6, and Warburg came back to beat nationally-ranked Jeff Kader at No. 1 singles, 7-5, 6-3 as Stanford (8-4) won its second straight following a season-worst four-match losing streak.
Corkery also won his singles match at No. 2, beating Sean Kelleher, 6-1, 6-0.
James Wan improved to 8-0 at No. 4 singles with a 6-2, 6-4 win, while Eric McKean and Phil Kao also won their matches.
Several Cardinal players will compete at the Pacific Coast Doubles tournament in La Jolla this weekend, with open draw play beginning today.
Field hockey
Stanford announced the signing of Catherine Martin of Washington, DC to a national letter-of-intent to attend Stanford in the fall.
Martin becomes the fifth student-athlete to sign a national letter-of-intent for next season.
"We are thrilled to add another exceptional athlete to this year's class," Stanford coach Lesley Irvine said. "Catherine has tremendous ability as a young player. Her strengths are her composure and confidence on the ball. She really is an excellent addition."
Women's lacrosse
Stanford hosts Connecticut on Friday night at 7 p.m. in its home opener.
The Cardinal (3-0) host fifth-ranked Georgetown in the de Beer East/West Challenge on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Stanford and Connecticut are meeting for the first time, while the Hoyas are 2-0 lifetime against the Cardinal.
Stanford junior Sarah Bach was named MPSF Player of the Week after leading the Cardinal to three MPSF conference wins to open the season. She scored a career high five goals in Stanford's 14-5 win over St. Mary's.
Senior Kelsey Twist earned a pair of national honors last week, receiving honorable mention Player of the Week recognition from both Inside Lacrosse Magazine and womenslacrosse.com. She had a career-high five assists against St. Mary's, setting the Stanford single-game assist mark.
Women's gymnastics
Freshman Liz Tricase was named Pac-10 Gymnast of the Week after taking first place in three events to lead Stanford to a 195.300-191.575 win over then-No. 21 ranked Arizona State at Burnham Pavilion on Feb. 25.
After competing in Utah today, the Cardinal return to Maples Pavilion to compete in their home final meet on Sunday at 2 p.m. against Alabama.
The Stanford men host California in the Big Flip-Off, also Sunday at 2 p.m. in Maples.
Men's golf
Stanford shot a final round 296 on Tuesday to finish seventh at the Ashworth Invitational in Westlake Village.
The Cardinal shot a three-round total of 880. Tennessee won the title with an even-par 852.
Freshman Rob Grube led Stanford with a total of 218 after shooting a 69 on the final day.
Football
Stanford coach Walt Harris completed his coaching staff with the hiring of John McDonell as the offensive line coach for tackles and tight ends.
McDonell returns to Stanford, where he coached centers and guards in 2001 before joining Tyrone Willingham at Notre Dame the past three years.
Softball
Third-ranked Stanford (16-1) is in Fullerton this weekend for the Worth Invitational beginning today. The Cardinal play Nevada at 11:15 a.m.
Junior shortstop Lauren Lappin was named the Pac-10 Player of the Week after helping Stanford go 5-0 at the Stanford Invitational last weekend. She hit .462 (6-of-13) with seven runs scored, six RBI and two stolen bases in victories. She leads the team with a .458 batting average, 22 hits, 23 runs scored and five stolen bases.
Freshman Michelle Smith has hit a team-leading seven home runs, while junior Catalina Morris has six. Stanford has hit 24 homers, already seventh on the school's all-time single-season list.
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