While the Stanford men’s swimming and diving team may have been exercising restraint recently, the team will let loose when the Arizona schools come to Avery Aquatic Center this weekend.
The No. 4 Wildcats will be the tougher opponent of the two teams. Last year the Wildcats finished third in the Pacific-10 Conference behind Stanford and California and sixth at the NCAA Championships. Arizona swimmers have posted a number of top marks this season and feature prominently on the top times list. The Wildcats’ strength on paper is deceiving, however; they rested and went for fast times at the Texas Invitational on Dec. 3 and nearly all of their top 20 times on the national list come from that meet. The No. 2 Cardinal, on the other hand, have yet to rest prior to competition this year and in all likelihood will not do so for this weekend.
Unlike other sports, swimming’s regular season results are not of paramount importance because swimmers need to hit an NCAA qualifying mark only once to go to NCAA’s. But this is not to say that the Cardinal will not be out for blood this weekend.
“Arizona will have a strong team at NCAAs and so if you beat your rival in a dual meet, you’ll have a mental edge going into the championship meets,” explained senior All-American David Dunford.
That is exactly what happened last year when Stanford bested Arizona, 191-107 and then went on to top the Wildcats again at the conference and national meets. That win is part of a 14 dual meet winning streak extending back to Jan. 28, 2008. The opponent that day: Arizona.
Both meets this weekend will help prepare the Cardinal men for the large postseason meets in March. According to Dunford, “Swimming back to back meets is great preparation for Pac-10s and NCAAs where everyone has to swim three days in a row.”
Since Arizona State is considered the easier opponent, the second day of competition will likely feature top athletes competing in some of their weaker events. Stanford’s confidence should also provide some younger members of the team with the chance to thrive in the spotlight.
Some key match-ups this weekend will be 13-time Stanford All-American junior Austin Staab and Dunford in the freestyle sprints against All-Americans Jordan B. Smith and Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or. Staab is also the NCAA champion and current NCAA leader in the 100-yard butterfly and will be counted on to provide Stanford with a win and nine points, in that event.
In the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke, senior Eugene Godsoe will face off with Cory Chitwood in what should be a tight race. While Chitwood is top three in each event this year, Godsoe is a ten-time All-American and was Pac-10 champion in both events last year. Newly minted American record holder in the 800, sophomore Chad la Tourrette, will face off with Jean Basson of Arizona in the distance freestyle swims of 1000 and 500 yards. Basson is the defending NCAA champion in the 500.
Arizona is also very strong in the individual IM’s and its top swimmer, Jack Brown, will provide a strong challenge to Stanford freshman Mathew Thompson and junior Josh Charnin-Aker. Cardinal breastrokers sophomore Curtis Lovelace and junior John Criste will also face stiff competition from Arizona’s duo of Clark Burckle and Marcus Titus, each of who are top three nationally in the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke.
It should be a close and exciting meet with lots of great competition. Stanford hosts Arizona on Saturday at 2 p.m. and Arizona State the following day at 1 p.m.