Publication Date: Friday, January 20, 2006
They're
They're
(January 20, 2006)back to
contend
Stanford men
primed for
next step
by Keith Peters
The 2004-05 season was truly one for the record books for the Stanford men's swimming team. The Cardinal won a record 24th straight Pac-10 meet title, set nine school records and finished second at the NCAA championships.
Quite obviously, there is little room for improvement. The only thing missing from last season was a national title, something the Cardinal hasn't achieved since 1998.
The quest to get back on top continues. Head coach Skip Kenney and longtime assistant Ted Knapp have assembled another strong team that will battle for national honors once again.
As good as the Cardinal can be, however, defending national champ Auburn has added another top group of foreigners. Arizona, last year's No. 3 finisher behind Stanford at the NCAA meet, lost only two points from that 2005 squad. And rival Cal is loaded once more and hopes to improve upon its fourth place at NCAAs.
So where does that leave Stanford? Right in the middle of another dogfight for the national title.
In the past 22 years, the Cardinal has finished third or better at the NCAA meet 20 times. That is the yardstick by which the program is measured, and Stanford should measure up quite well again in 2006.
"I think we have a very good team," said Knapp, in his 22nd season working alongside Kenney. "We don't have any holes. It's just a matter of covering some of the points we lost."
Stanford scored 414 points while taking second to Auburn's 491 in the national finals a year ago. The Cardinal lost three seniors --- Gary Marshall, Matt McDonald and Jayme Cramer --- off the first-place 400 medley relay that set a school record of 3:06.45.
Marshall went on to win the 100 breast to cap a sensational career that included school records in both breaststrokes (52.55 and 1:52.71).
Heading into this weekend's Pac-10 openers against No. 5 Arizona on Friday (1 p.m.) and No. 23 Arizona State on Saturday (noon) at Avery Aquatic Complex, the Cardinal continues its search to replace those key seniors while moving forward to be even better at the Pac-10 and NCAA meets.
The junior class will lead the way with Ben Wildman-Tobriner, Andy Grant, Shaun Phillips, Hongzhe Sun, Matt Crowe, Kyle Ransom and Keenan Newman.
Wildman-Tobriner set a school record last season in the 100-yard free (42.57) and tied the 50 free mark of 19.15. He also anchored the 200 medley (1:24.82) and 400 medley (3:06.45) relays that established records. During the summer, he helped the U.S. win a gold medal in the 400-meter free relay at the World Championships.
He ranked fourth in the nation in the 50 free and seventh in the 100 free.
Grant lowered the school mark in the 200 free to 1:33.97 and ranked fourth nationally while Phillips broke the 500 free mark with a 4:14.77 to rank No. 5. Both swam legs on the 800 free relay that set another school mark of 6:18.71.
Sun ranked fourth nationally in the 200 back (1:41.25) and fifth in the 100 back (46.44).
A key area for the Cardinal is the 100 and 200 fly. Cramer and McDonald led the team last season. Wildman-Tobriner was No. 9 nationally in the 100 fly, but can't swim that event on the relays if he's anchoring. One possible replacement is freshman Jason Dunford of Nairobi, Kenya.
"He's definitely a key guy," Knapp said.
Dunford is the Kenyan national recordholder in several events in a country known better for its long-distance running.
Sophomore Danny Beal will have to step up in the 200 fly along with sophomore Pete Carothers.
The breaststroke events should be covered with Keenan returning after missing last season with an injury. Freshmen Chris Ash, Paul Kornfeld and Paul Zaich also will contribute after competing on the national level in high school.
Other key members this season will be seniors Tobias Oriwol, Michael McLean, Mark Stephens, plus freshmen Dan Priestley, John McCallen and Scott Lathrope.
Yet another addition to the fine freshman class is diver Dwight Dumais, who may be the most highly touted diver ever to attend Stanford. He was featured in Sports Illustrated's Faces in the Crowd last year after being named National Public High Schools Diver of the Year by the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association for the second time. He is the brother of U.S. Olympians Justin and Troy Dumais, who starred at Texas.
E-mail a friend a link to this story. | 
