Feb. 14, 2004
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Stanford, Calif. - No. 5 California (9-0, 6-0 Pac-10) finished off a perfect regular season by edging No. 3 Stanford (5-2, 3-2 Pac-10) in a thrilling short course meters dual meet and the regular season finale for both teams on Saturday in front of a school record crowd of 1784 at the Avery Aquatic Center. The Golden Bears finished first and third in the 400 meter relay that concluded the meet to rally from a seven-point deficit heading into the final event, winning the race in an NCAA `A' time of 3:41.20 with a team of Natalie Coughlin, Danielle Becks, Micha Burden and Lauren Medina.
"It was an exciting meet with two wonderful teams going at each other," said Stanford head coach Richard Quick. "We were hoping we could score a few more points in the individual medleys because we knew it was going to be a chore with the freestyle relay at the end. California did a great job, especially in the last two events."
"I think the fans enjoyed it," added Quick in reference to the exciting meet before a large crowd.
Stanford's Tara Kirk and Coughlin both nearly missed American records. Kirk recorded a career-best time of 1:05.77 to win the 100 breast as she remained unbeaten collegiately in the event with her 33rd consecutive victory, just missing the American record (1:05.74, 3/17/00) held by Kristy Kowal of Georgia. Coughlin was .08 seconds off the American record (52.92, 3/16/00) held by former Stanford swimmer Jenny Thompson in the 50 free to win in a time of 24.60. In the 100 fly, Coughlin's winning time of 56.64 was three-tenths of a second short of her own American record of 56.34 set on November 22, 2002. All three winning times met NCAA `A' qualifying standards.
"Tara Kirk's performance in the 100 meter breast was phenomenal," said Stanford head coach Richard Quick. "It was a spectacular swim, and she had a spectacular meet all around in her final regular season dual meet at Stanford."
Kirk was a two-time individual winner, also capturing the 200 breast in an NCAA `A' time of 2:28.50 to remain unbeaten in collegiate breast events since last falling in the 200 breast during the 2002 Pac-10 Championships in her sophomore season.
Coughlin picked up three individual victories for the Golden Bears as she also won the 100 free in an NCAA `A' time of 54.84.
Other individual swimming winners for the Cardinal included Lacey Boutwell with a mark of 1:58.36 in the 200 free, as well as Dana Kirk with a time of 2:06.80 in the 200 fly. Both times were career-bests and met NCAA `A' qualifying standards. The Cardinal also captured the meet-opening 200 medley relay in a season-best and NCAA `B' qualifying time of 1:52.38 with a squad of Megan Baumgartner, Tara Kirk, Ashley Daly and Sarah Jones.
Ashlee Chandler (400 free, 800 free) and Helen Silver (100 back, 200 back) supported Coughlin's effort for California with a pair of individual swimming wins each, while Natalie Griffith was a winner in the 400 IM. Chandler captured the 400 free with an NCAA `A' mark of 4:08.91, while taking the 800 free in 8:29.44. Silver picked up an NCAA `A time in the 200 back (2:11.34), while checking in with an NCAA `B' time of 1:00.96 in the 100 back. Griffith's winning time of 4:45.45 in the 400 IM was also an NCAA `A' qualifier.
California won nine of the 14 swimming events contests but Stanford nearly made up the difference on the diving boards, going 1-2-3 in both the 1-meter and 3-meter competition to outscore the Golden Bears, 32-6. Ashlee Rosenthal captured the 1-meter event with a score of 300.21, while Cassidy Krug was the 3-meter winner with 283.80 points. Both totals were career-bests.
"Our divers, in particular Ashlee Rosenthal and Cassidy Krug, were fantastic today," said Quick.
The fast meet featured a total of 13 NCAA `A' times as 11 of the 14 swimming events were won with NCAA `A' qualifying marks. Dana Kirk (100 fly, 57.18) and Medina (200 free, 1:58.70) picked up NCAA `A' times with second-place finishes as Kirk's mark was also her career-best.
"Dana Kirk had a big meet with some great performances today," confirmed Quick.
California won for just the third time in school history against the Cardinal and its first time since the 1975-76 season. Stanford still holds a 28-3 all-time advantage in the dual meet series.
Stanford had won nine of its last 10 dual meets overall before today's defeat.
Stanford will next be in action at the Pac-10 Women's Swimming and Diving Championships running Thursday-Saturday, February 26-28. The swimming competition will be held in Long Beach, while the divers will compete in Federal Way, Washington.