Oct. 23, 2004
Honolulu, Hawaii - No. 4 Stanford (1-0) rolled to a 180-120 dual meet victory in its short-course yards season-opener at No. 22 Hawaii (0-1) on Saturday. Freshman Caroline Bruce, one of three current Stanford swimmers to have competed at the 2004 Olympics, won three individual events in her first collegiate meet with victories in the 100 and 200 breast, as well as the 200 IM. Dana Kirk, also a 2004 Olympian, swept the 100 and 200 fly, while Lacey Boutwell (200 free), Lauren Costella (1000 free) and Desiree Stahley (500 free) added one victory each.
Bruce and Kirk each picked up another win on Stanford's victorious 200 medley relay squad by swimming the breaststroke and butterfly legs, respectively. Amy Wagner returned to the pool for the Cardinal for the first time since the 2002-03 campaign after missing last year due to an injury to open the relay with the backstroke leg. Freshman Brooke Bishop, the 50 meter free winner at Senior Nationals in the summer of 2004, brought the Cardinal home with the freestyle leg.
Bruce also recorded the only NCAA "A" qualifying standard of the meet, hitting the mark exactly with a time of 1:02.00 in her 100 breast win. She reached the NCAA "B" mark in both her 200 breast (2:14.77) and 200 IM (2:02.47) wins.
"It was really great for Caroline Bruce to get off to a good start in her collegiate career," said 17th-year Stanford head coach Richard Quick. "She is trying to help us fill some very big shoes in Tara Kirk in the breaststroke, and she looks like she's up for the challenge. It will really help our team if she can perform well."
Kirk recorded NCAA "B" times in both of her victories, checking in at 54.81 in the 100 fly and 2:00.63 in the 200 fly.
"Dana Kirk came up with her usual outstanding performances in both fly events," said Quick. "It was a good first meet of the season for her."
Boutwell had NCAA "B" marks with her 200 free win (1:48.95), as well as her second-place showing in the 100 free (51.05).
Stahley's time of 4:53.15 in the 500 free gave her both the first victory of her collegiate career and an NCAA "B" qualifying standard.Costella completed the 1000 free in a time of 10:02.84.
"The wins by Desiree Stahley and Lauren Costella in the distance free events were big for us," said Quick.
Hawaii had a pair of double-winners in the pool in Nicole Mackey (100 back, 200 back) and Melanie Schlanger (50 free, 100 free) as both Wahine swimmers posted NCAA "B" marks in their victories. Mackey clocked in at 55.33 in the 100 back and 2:01.78 in the 200 back, while Schlanger finished the 50 free in 23.45 and edged Boutwell by five-hundredths of a second in the 100 free with a time of 51.00.
Hawaii's QiongJie Huang also had a pair of victories for the Wahine on the boards, sweeping the 1-meter (284.65) and 3-meter (288.75) competitions.
The teams split the relays with a Hawaii squad of Dena Quick, Schlanger, Cassie Hunt and Joy Symons clocking in at 3:26.42 to win the 400 free relay and help offset the Cardinal victory in the 200 medley relay.
"I was fairly pleased with our first meet of the season," summarized Quick. "It will help us get ready for the challenges we face in our next meet and beyond."
Stanford will continue the fall portion of its schedule with a two-day tri-meet versus No. 6 Texas and No. 13 USC in Austin next Friday-Saturday, October 29-30 (4:00 pm/11:00 am, CT).