Senior Kate Dwelley completed her career for the Stanford women’s swimming team, finishing as the national runnerup in the 100 free and Stanford finished fourth at the NCAA championships in Austin, Texas on Saturday.
Cal won the national title with 424 points, followed by Georgia (394.5), USC (351), Stanford (272) and Arizona (266).
Fellow seniors Liz Smith and Meg Hostage finished their careers with top 10 finishes. Smith was the consolation winner in the 200 breast in her fourth trip to the NCAAs in the event. Hostage was an All-American in all three of her events, finishing seventh in the platform.
Dwelley, the 23-time All-American swam the 100 free in 47.78 as Stanford finished fourth or better for the fifth straight year.
Wrestling
Stanford finished a program best 11th place at the NCAA championships at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Saturday.
Junior Nick Amuchastegui became just the second Cardinal wrestler ever to reach the NCAA finals. He fell Saturday in the championship bout at 174 pounds to top-seeded Jonathan Reader of Iowa State, 10-3.
Matt Gentry is Stanford’s only NCAA champion, winning the 157 pound title in 2004.
With his second-place finish, Amuchastegui, who also earned All-America honors in 2010, became just the fourth wrestler in Stanford history to earn multiple All-America honors joining Chris Horpel (’73, `75), Tanner Gardner (’06, ’07, ’08) and Josh Zupancic (’07, ’08). He ends the season with a 31-4 record.
Sophomore Ryan Mango ended his second NCAA Championships with a sixth-place finish at 125 pounds, and his first career All-America accolades. Mango finished the season with a 26-7 record and became the 15th All-American in program history.
Senior Zack Giesen ended his Cardinal career with his first All-America honors as he finished sixth at 197 pounds.
He completes his time on The Farm with a 109-40 career record. His 109 victories ties him for fourth all-time in school history with Steve Buddie (1988-91).
The three All-America honors marks the first time in Stanford’s 95-year history of wrestling that the Cardinal had as many in the same season.
Men’s volleyball
Spencer McLachlin recorded 24 kills but Stanford had its five-match wining streak stopped Saturday, dropping an 18-25, 28-26, 30-32, 25-21, 16-14 decision to visiting Cal Baptist in a nonconference match.
The Cardinal (14-5) looks to rebound Friday when it hosts Cal State Northridge in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation contest at 7 p.m.
McLachlin had a hitting percentage of .386 as Stanford played without leading hitter Brad Lawson.
Cal Baptist, the top ranked team in the NAIA, broke a 14-all tie in the fifth set to gain the win.
The fourth set was tied at 18-all when the Lancers reeled off four straight points to grab the upper hand.
Steven Irvin had 13 kills, Evan Berry recorded 48 assists and Erik Shoji, the school record-holder for career digs, had 10 digs.
Synchronized swimming
Stanford finished second at the U.S. Collegiate Synchronized Swimming Championships in Tonawanda, N.Y. Saturday.
The Cardinal recorded 90 points to Ohio State’s 93 points in finishing as the national runner-up for the second straight season.
Stanford’s duet team of Maria Koroleva and Olivia Morgan scored a 91.265 to win the national title while the Cardinal team of Madison Crocker and Morgan Fuller placed third with a 90.500.
Stanford also won the team event, scoring a 94.250 to Ohio State’s 92.875.
Women’s water polo
Annika Dries scored five goals and Alyssa Lo added three as Stanford beat host Arizona State, 14-3, in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match Saturday in Tempe.
The top-ranked Cardinal (2-0, 16-0) took a 5-0 lead after the first period and never looked back.
Stanford hosts UCLA in an important MPSF contest on Friday.
Women’s gymnastics
Ashley Morgan recorded another victory in the floor exercise and finished fifth in the all-around competition as second-ranked Stanford finished fourth at the Pac-10 championships Saturday in Pauley Pavilion.
Stanford (20-4) struggled on the uneven bars and balance beam to open the meet and never was able to climb back into contention. The Cardinal scored 195.975 to finish behind first-place Oregon State (197.200), runner-up UCLA (196.750) and third-place Washington (196.025).
The Cardinal entered the meet with a No. 3 national ranking.
“We just weren’t ourselves today,” Stanford coach Kristen Smyth said. “We weren’t handling our bar warmups very well and that seemed to create some questions marks. That was a little uncharacteristic for our team. There was definitely something missing: a spark, a fire.”
Stanford began with the bars, but the landings were not crisp and the Cardinal lost potential points, and the team’s total of 48.700 was its lowest of the season in the event.
Stanford did better on the balance beam, scoring 49.125, but its floor score of 49.000 – even with Morgan’s performance – was its’ second-lowest of the season and Stanford’s title chances were essentially over.
Morgan tied UCLA’s Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs for the floor title, extended Morgan’s streak of victories to nine consecutive meets. She was Stanford’s only individual champion and became the school’s third-ever Pac-10 floor champion – all in the past three years — following Carly Janiga (2010) and Nicole Ourada (2009).
Shelley Alexander accumulated a 39.075 all-around score and Danielle Ikoma scored a 38.925.
Stanford will find out Monday where it will compete at the NCAA regionals on April 2.
In all, 36 teams will compete in six-team groups around the country with the top two advancing on to the NCAA Championships April 15-17 in Cleveland.
Stanford will advance to a regional for the 28th consecutive season.
Softball
Weather wiped out the Louisville Slugger Invitational.
Stanford will play Northwestern in a doubleheader on Monday.
Northwestern features freshman pitcher Sammy Albanese, a Castilleja grad.
By Palo Alto Online Sports
By Palo Alto Online Sports
By Palo Alto Online Sports