Feb. 25, 2004
Complete Results
Long Beach, Calif. - No. 5 Stanford is tied for first-place after the opening day of the 2004 Pac-10 Women's Swimming and Diving Championships. Stanford and California, which share the nation's No. 5 ranking, both have 116 points after the first two events of the short course yards meet. Arizona trails closely in third-place with 110 points, followed by USC (102), Arizona State (100), Washington State (88), UCLA (54), Oregon State (48) and Washington (44).
The swimming portion of the four-day event began with the 200 medley relay and 800 free relay on Wednesday evening at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool.
Stanford defended its title in the 200 medley relay when a team of Megan Baumgartner, Tara Kirk, Dana Kirk and Sarah Jones completed the course in a team season-best and NCAA "A" qualifying mark of 1:39.87. Tara Kirk had a 27.09 split in her 50-yard breaststroke swim.
California won the second and final event of the opening night by breaking the Pac-10 Meet record in the 800 free relay with a time of 7:08.13. The Golden Bears used a team of Erin Reilly, Ashley Chandler, Micha Burden and Lauren Medina. The Cardinal finished fourth in the 800 free relay when a team of Dana Kirk, Desiree Stahley, Tami Ransom and Lacey Boutwell registered a NCAA "B" mark of 7:17.73 in the first time the Cardinal had swam the event in 2003-04. Kirk swam her leadoff 200 free leg in a season-best and NCAA "B" qualifying time of 1:49.79.
Stanford also had two other groups participate in exhibition 200 medley relays. Tami Ransom, Kirsten Gilbert, Ashley Daly and Stahley clocked in at 1:43.09 to just miss an NCAA `B' mark. Lisa Falzone, Emily Carter, Laura Davis and Marisa Wong finished in 1:45.82.
The 2004 Pac-10 Women's Swimming and Diving Championships will continue Thursday-Saturday at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool. Thursday's events include the 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free and 200 free relay (finals only). Prelims begin at 11 am with the finals session kicking off at 6 pm. The three-day diving competition being held in Federal Way, Washington, will also begin on Thursday with the 1-meter event.