March 27, 1999
INDIANAPOLIS - Stanford senior Tate Blahnik won his second consecutive NCAA title in the 200 back and the Cardinal finished as the NCAA runner-up to Auburn Saturday at the NCAA Men's Swimming & Diving Championships at the Indiana University Natatorium. Auburn won with 467.5 points, with Stanford second at 414.5 and Texas third at 356.5. It was Stanford's 19th straight top-four finish.
"We knew this was going to be a very tight meet," Blahnik said after winning his race. "It's been a very good meet with Auburn. Whichever team wins it will really deserve it because both teams have been really great."
Blahnik led a strong Stanford showing in the 200 back that moved the Cardinal to within 23.5 points of the Tigers, the closest the Cardinal could get on the final day. Blahnik won the race in 1:41.42, .79 seconds ahead of the runner-up. "This morning my race felt really rushed," Blahnik said. "So this evening I tried to go out a little easier, so the last 100 I felt a little smoother."
Senior Justin Ewers placed eighth in the 200 back at 1:44.27, sophomore Rob Canales continued a week full of personal bests to finish 11th in 1:44.81, and senior Dan Schultz was 12th in 1:44.99. But Stanford didn't have enough ammunition to beat the Tigers, who qualified 17 swimmers to Stanford's 13, and opened up a 58.5-point lead after the first day.
Also Saturday night, sophomore Steven Brown was fourth in the 200 fly in 1:44.63 and sophomore Adam Messner broke his personal best by 1.73 seconds to place sixth in 1:45.03. Senior Dod Wales finished eighth in the 100 free at 43.61 and junior Glenn Counts tied for 14th in 43.98.
The Cardinal 400 free relay team finished second in a season-best time of 2:53.41. The team of Ewers (43.40), Counts (43.33), sophomore Anthony Robinson (43.73) and Wales (42.95) finished second to Auburn, which broke the NCAA and U.S. Open records in winning the race. Auburn won four of five relays at the meet.
The runner-up NCAA finish is the sixth for Stanford University this year. The men's cross country, men's water polo, men's soccer, men's indoor track & field and women's swimming & diving teams all have finished second at the NCAA Championships during 1998-1999 as well. Complete results are available at www.iunat.iupui.edu.
NCAA Men's Swimming & Diving - Final Team Results
1.Auburn 467.5 2.Stanford414.5 3.Texas 356.5 4.California300.5 5.Arizona 296 6.USC 286.5 7.Tennessee171 8.Michigan169 9.Georgia 149.5 10.Texas A&M148