by Keith Peters
When Jenny Thompson arrived at Stanford four years ago, the Cardinal women's swim team began a run of three straight NCAA team titles. With Thompson on board, Stanford ended two consecutive years of finishing second at the national meet and, not too surprisingly, helped continue a dual-meet winning streak that reached 52-0 this year.
Thompson, who has won five individual NCAA titles and been on eight championship-winning relays, will have a chance to add to her prize-winning resume at the national level when she caps her career this week at the NCAA meet in Austin, Texas.
The three-day event begins Thursday. By the time it concludes Saturday, Thompson should have a fourth-straight championship ring, despite the concern of Stanford head coach Richard Quick.
"To tell you the truth," Quick confided, "this meet may be closer than it looks. Michigan is real strong."
However, so is Stanford, especially with diver Eileen Richetelli returning to form. After missing last season with back problems, Richetelli proved she is ready to vie for her third NCAA Diver of the Year award after capturing the NCAA Zone E Diving Championships last weekend at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center in Pasadena.
Voted the Pacific-10 Conference's Most Valuable Women's Diver this season, Richetelli qualified for the NCAA in Texas by winning the overall competition with 60 points. She won the one- and three-meter springboard titles.
Also bolstering Stanford's hopes was the third-place finish of sophomore Megan Gardner, who totaled 41 points--taking second on platform and third on the three-meter board for coach Rick Schavone, who earlier was named Pac-10 Diving Coach of the Year.
At the same venue, the Stanford men's swim team got a big boost toward its NCAA hopes next week in Indianapolis thanks to the first-place finish of James Edwards and the third-place finish of David Johns at the zone competition.
Baseball
Stanford failed to make much headway in the Pac-10 Southern Division race after rain washed out one game and the Cardinal wound up splitting a doubleheader with host Southern Cal on Sunday in Los Angeles.
The Cardinal (4-3 and 13-11) got going in the right direction by capturing the opener, 5-4, as junior left-hander Dan Reed (3-2) pitched a complete-game eight-hitter. USC held a 4-1 lead until Brodie VanWagenen and Eric Sees lined singles and Joe Kilburg was hit by a pitch to load the bases in the fifth. Cale Carter then doubled in two runs and Kilburg scored to tie the game on a groundout by A.J. Hinch.
Stanford scored the game-winner when Hinch's bases-loaded grounder in the sixth was booted.
In the nightcap, sophomore Jason Middlebrook (0-5) continued to struggle as he gave up four runs and six hits in 7 1/3 innings during a 5-1 setback.
Stanford is off until Saturday, when the Cardinal opens a three-game Six-Pac series against Arizona State in Sunken Diamond. Game time is 1 p.m. The teams will play Sunday and Monday, also at 1 p.m.
Gymnastics
The Stanford women's team scored a school-record 193.725 points to defeat Brigham Young, Washington and Illinois to capture the annual Chili's "Red Hot" Invitational at Maples Pavilion last Friday.
Cardinal freshman Keri Monahan was second in the all-around (38.850) and won the vault (9.875) while senior teammate Jene Elzie tied with Stanford's Misty Moore on the beam (9.825) and took second on the vault (9.825).
The Cardinal men improved to 8-1-1 a night later by closing out its home season with a victory over Illinois. The No. 9-ranked Cardinal scored 227.20 to Illinois' 225.475. Stanford trailed after the fifth rotation, but rallied for the victory as Jamie Ellis took first on the high bar (9.85) and teammates Keith Wiley and Ian Bachrach tied for second.
Track and field
Dave Popejoy (66-2 1/2) was seventh and Pete Swanson (64-11 1/4) was eighth at the NCAA Indoor Championships last weekend in Indianapolis. The Stanford women's distance medley relay finished sixth.
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