Nov. 18, 2004
Long Beach, Calif. - The freshman trio of Caroline Bruce, Brooke Bishop and Elizabeth Durot staked Stanford to a lead after the opening day of the short-course yards 2004 Speedo Cup being hosted by UC Irvine at the Belmont Plaza Pool. Stanford scored 499.5 points in the five events contested on the first of three days competition Thursday to post a comfortable lead over its closest competition in Oregon State, which tallied 336 points. Bruce (200 IM) and Bishop (50 free) winners in individual events, while Durot (500 free) and Laura Davis (200 IM) both had second-place individual showings. Bishop and Bruce also swam the first two legs (back, breast) of Stanford's winning 400 medley relay squad with Dana Kirk (fly) and Lacey Boutwell (free) bringing the victory home.
"It bodes well both for the future of our program and for this year to have our freshmen performing so well," said Stanford head coach Richard Quick. "We know the veterans are going to be there and do a good job when we get to the NCAA level, but to also have three freshman stepping up it means you're moving in the right direction. I'm really pleased with our freshman. They can make a real difference not only in the future but in this year's team."
Bruce recorded an NCAA "A" qualifying time in her third individual event this season by clocking in with a personal-best time of 2:00.44 to win the 200 IM.
Bishop took the 50 free with an NCAA "B" mark of 23.27, edging Oregon State's Kristin Huston (23.56) and Boutwell (23.57).
Durot also picked up an NCAA "B" time when she finished the 500 free in 4:46.00, coming in just .09 seconds behind the 4:45.91 posted by winner Courtney Eads of Oregon State. Desiree Stahley came in third in the event for the Cardinal and also recorded a NCAA "B" time of 4:52.35.
Davis earned an NCAA "B" mark with a time of 2:02.17 in her second-place finish behind Bruce in the 200 IM.
Boutwell (50 free, 23.54) and Erica Liu (2:03.69, 200 IM) added NCAA "B" times during prelims.
The 2004 Speedo Cup will continue on Friday and Saturday with prelims slated to begin each day at 8:30 am, PST, and the finals session starting at 6:00 pm. Stanford is scheduled only to compete through Saturday's prelim round.
TEAM SCORES AFTER DAY 1 (5 EVENTS)
1. Stanford 499.5, 2. Oregon State 336, 3. Nevada 225.5, 4. UC San Diego 189, 5. UC Irvine 159, 6. Brigham Young 157, UC Davis 135, 8. New Mexico 120, 9. Air Force 100, 10. Cal Baptist 87, 11. New Mexico State 72, 12. UC Santa Cruz 65, 13. San Diego 56, 14. Loyola Marymount 54, 15. Pepperdine 52, 16. Cal Lutheran 46
WINNER AND ALL STANFORD SWIMMERS ONLY (FINALS TIMES UNLESS NOTED)
EVENT 1 - 200 FREE RELAY
1. Oregon State 'A' 1:33.77, 2. STAN `A' (Bishop 23.50, Jones 23.94, Liu 23.92, Boutwell 23.38) 1:34.64, 19. STAN 'B' 1:37.37, 23. STAN `C' 1:39.91.
EVENT 2 - 500 FREE
1. Eads (Oregon State) 4:45.91, 2. Durot 4:46.00, 3. Stahley 4:52.35, 7. Costella 5:00.05 (4:58.31 prelims), 8. Hentzen 5:01.50 (4:59.65 prelims), 11. Glenn 4:59.84, 14. Strohl 5:02.31, 23. Hdez 5:07.62, 34. Bruce 5:04.05 (prelims), 36. Bishop 5:08.20 (prelims), 45. Cameron 5:12.13 (prelims).
EVENT 3 - 200 IM
1. Bruce (STAN) 2:00.44, 2. Davis 2:02.17, 6. Liu 2:04.53 (2:03.69 prelims), 8. Daly 2:07.61 (2:04.96 prelims), 10. Bell 2:06.02, 14. Geehr 2:07.79 (2:07.49 prelims), 15. Strohl 2:08.58, 25. Costella 2:10.65. 33. Kirk 2:06.55 prelims.
EVENT 4 - 50 FREE
1. Bishop (STAN) 23.27, 3. Boutwell 23.57 (23.54 prelims), 13. Rodriguez 24.30, 14. Liu 24.39 (24.28 prelims), 18. Falzone 25.18 (24.67 prelims), 19. Stahley 25.51 (24.54 prelims), 23. Jones 26.61 (24.65 prelims) ... 33. Durot 24.71 prelims, 41. Daly 24.95 prelims, 55. Bell 25.18 prelims.
EVENT 5 - 400 MEDLEY RELAY
1. STAN 'A' (Bishop 56.65, Bruce 1:02.82, Kirk 54.66, Boutwell 50.54) 3:45.07, 16. STAN 'B' 3:52.07, 17. STAN `C' 3:55.00, 23. STAN `D' 4:01.25.