With a strong team effort that featured both individual standouts and unparalleled depth, the Stanford men’s swimming and diving team won its 29th consecutive Pac-10 championship under head coach Skip Kenney. The No. 3 Cardinal trailed No. 4 California by 10 points following the evening session on Friday, but on Saturday, the final day of competition, the men demonstrated the kind of poise and resolve that leads to 29 straight titles.
“It was one of the best team efforts, top to bottom, that I have ever witnessed,” Kenney said.
After the first full day of competition on Thursday, the Cardinal held an 82-point lead over Cal. No. 1 Arizona was third, just three points behind Cal. Stanford dominated the 500-yard freestyle, scoring 83 points as junior David Mosko won the event with an NCAA “A” cut. The Cardinal had four other swimmers in the championship final and three more in the consolation final.
Swimming scores 16 places and there are eight swimmers to a race. Based on their times in the preliminaries swum in the morning session, the top 16 athletes are divided between the championship or “A” final and the consolation or “B” final. The winner of the “A” final scores 20 points while eighth place scores 11. The winner of the “B” final scores nine points and eighth place scores one.
Stanford continued to swim well throughout the evening session, with freshman Matthew Thompson and sophomore Curtis Lovelace each finishing in the top four of the 200-yard IM, while senior David Dunford and junior Alex Coville took second and third in the 50-yard freestyle, respectively. The Cardinal capped the session by winning the 200-yard freestyle relay.
The next day started well for the Cardinal with sophomore Bobby Bollier winning the 400-yard IM, but Cal came storming back. Led by winner Tom Shields, the Bears scored 101 points in the 100-yard butterfly. Stanford swam well, with Lovelace making the podium in the 100-yard breaststroke and senior Eugene Godsoe successfully defending his title in the 100-yard backstroke. The Bears were too strong, however, and used their depth to take the lead following the 100-yard backstroke.
Going into Saturday it was imperative that the Cardinal swim well in the morning session in order to place as many athletes as possible in the “A” finals of the evening session.
“We got some e-mails from many former players last night who talked about the tradition and the pride of being a Stanford swimmer” Godsoe said. “Everybody was real fired up for today’s meet because we did not want to be the team that gave up the streak.”
The Cardinal did not disappoint in the morning session. Bollier set the Pac-10 record in the 200 fly in the prelims and Stanford placed five swimmers in the “A” final of the 100-yard free, setting up the Cardinal for victory.
The tone was set in the first event of the evening session when Stanford took five of the top six places in the 1650 free. Sophomore Chad la Tourette, who had disappointingly failed to make the “A” final of the 500, won in convincing fashion by 10 seconds. Mosko was second, sophomores Michael Zoldos and Trevor Scheid grabbed the fourth and fifth spots and junior Scotty Korotkin finishing sixth.
Stanford then grabbed two podium spots in the 200-yard backstroke, with Godsoe winning the event for the second straight year and Thompson taking second. Cal’s top sprinters, Nathan Adrian and Graeme Moore, took the first two spots in the 100-yard freestyle but the presence of five Stanford athletes in the “A” final ensured that the Cardinal would extend their lead.
Lovelace then tied for second with junior John Criste to give Stanford two more medalists. Bollier followed up his preliminary performance with a second Pac-10 record, winning the 200-yard fly, while Mosko grabbed his third individual podium of the championships to ensure the victory for the Cardinal.
The team will now head to the NCAA Championships in Columbus, Ohio on Mar. 25. Cardinal hopes of an NCAA title were dampened somewhat earlier in the year when NCAA champion Austin Staab took a leave of absence from the University, but the Pac-10 meet has the Cardinal thinking of the title once again.
Top-ranked Arizona should be a much greater threat at the NCAA meet than it was at the conference meet. Most top swim teams fully rest for only one event a year in order to obtain NCAA qualifying times and Arizona chose to do so in November rather than at Pac-10s as Stanford did. As a result the Wildcats did not rest for the conference meet and are expected to swim much better at NCAAs.
Although the athletes will have to wait until all of the entries are declared, it appears as though Stanford will bring close to a full squad of 18 to the championship. A number of Stanford swimmers will be in contention for a national title, including Godsoe in the backstroke events, la Tourette in the 1650, Mosko in the 500 and Bollier in the 200 fly.
Joining the top Pac-10 squads will be a very strong Texas team ranked second in the country. Defending champion Auburn has dominated the sport this decade but is only ranked sixth this year.