Oct. 30, 2004
AUSTIN, Texas - No. 6 Texas (4-0) completed a 197-156 victory over No. 4 Stanford (1-1) on the second day of a two-day short-course yards meet at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swim Center in Austin on Saturday. The Longhorns were also victorious by a count of 230-123 over No. 13 USC (0-1), who was also participating in the event but in a non-scoring format versus the Cardinal.
Freshman Caroline Bruce once again highlighted Stanford's performances by equaling the two individual victories she had recorded on the opening day of the event on Friday. Bruce's wins on Saturday came in impressive fashion in the 100 breast (1:01.70) and 200 IM (2:02.28). Her time of 1:01.70 in the 100 breast was an NCAA "A" mark and moves her up two spots to No. 5 on Stanford's all-time list of performers in the event. Her 2:02.28 time in the 200 IM was an NCAA "B" qualifier.
"Caroline Bruce had an outstanding meet," proclaimed Stanford head coach Richard Quick.
Other winners for the Cardinal included swimmers Brooke Bishop (50 free) and Lauren Costella (1650 free), as well as diver Ashlee Rosenthal (1-meter). Bishop and Costella both recorded NCAA "B" times in their winning efforts, while Costella also led a 1-2-3 Cardinal finish in her event with Desiree Stahley (16:41.97, NCAA "B") and Morgan Hentzen (16:54.41) adding second and third-place showings. Stanford had the top four finishers in the 1-meter diving competition with Rosenthal's score of 276.55 points being followed by Cassidy Krug (260.95), Erin Lashnits (226.90) and Katie Lampe (226.40).
"I'm thrilled as could be with our divers, and we also had some big performances from Brooke Bishop, as well as our distance freestyle group," commented Quick.
USC had a pair of individual winners in Rhi Jeffrey (200 free, 1:49.18, NCAA "B") and Emily Goesch (200 fly, 2:00.96, NCAA "B"). The Women of Troy also captured the final event of the meet with a win in the 400 free relay as a team of Joanna Fargus, Cait Connealy, Goesch and Rhi picked up an NCAA "B" time of 3:24.60.
Texas, which relied upon its depth to defeat both Stanford and USC in the meet, had just one individual winner on Saturday with a victory from Hayley McGregory in the 100 back (55.41, NCAA "B"). The Longhorns also captured the 200 medley relay with a team of McGregory, Elizabeth Tinnon, Connie Brown and Sarah Wanezek that recorded a NCAA "B" mark of 1:42.57.
Stanford's top finishers in individual events in which the Cardinal did not win were Bruce (100 back, 56.57), Elizabeth Durot (200 free, fourth, 1:51.09) and Laura Davis (200 fly, fifth, 2:04.83). Stanford was third in both relays contested on Saturday. In the 200 medley relay, a quartet of Bishop, Bruce, Ashley Daly and Lacey Boutwell finished in 1:44.68. Boutwell, Bishop, Durot and Erica Liu clocked in at 3:27.55 in the 400 free relay.
Stanford competed on Saturday without three of its top swimmers in Kristen Caverly (back flair-up), Dana Kirk (aggravated back) and Amy Wagner (illness). Caverly did participate in a pair of events (200 back, 400 IM) on the opening day of the meet on Friday, while Kirk and Wagner did not accompany the team to Austin. Caverly and Kirk were both members of the United States Olympic Swimming team at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
Stanford had won 28 of its previous 32 dual meets heading into the event.
"The score of the meet was obviously disappointing but there are no excuses," summarized Quick. "Even though we lost the meet, there is a lot to build on. I plan on using this meet as a stepping stone for our improvement as a team, and we'll just keep getting better."
Despite not winning the meet, Stanford actually won eight of the 18 events contested in the two-day event.
The diving squad will compete at the Trojan Invite next Friday-Saturday, November 5-6, while the swimmers next return to action by finishing the fall portion of their schedule at the three-day Speedo Cup in Long Beach (Friday-Sunday, November 18-20).