Feb. 26, 2004
Complete Results
Long Beach, Calif./Federal Way, Wash. - No. 5 Stanford leaped into sole possession of first-place after the second day of the 2004 Pac-10 Women's Swimming and Diving Championships on Thursday. Stanford's performance was highlighted by Lacey Boutwell's second career Pac-10 50 free title, while Cardinal swimmers and divers also scored on 17 other occasions to key the surge. Stanford has won the event 14 times in its 17-year history but only once in the last four years when the Cardinal was victorious in 2002.
Stanford, which was tied with California after the first two events of the short course yards meet on Wednesday, has a sizeable lead with 482 points. UCLA has moved into second with 410 points, followed by Arizona (398), California (354), Arizona State (322.5), USC (318), Washington (134), Oregon State (129.5) and Washington State (128).
"This was a great team effort today," said Stanford head coach Richard Quick. "When you score down to 24 places, everybody can make a contribution, and you need to do that. We just have to keep competing and swimming fast over the next two days and remember to take it one session at a time."
Boutwell's victory in the 50 free came in a career-best and NCAA "A" qualifying time of 22.60 that moves her up two spots to No. 5 on Stanford's all-time list. Sarah Jones also took eighth in the event in 23.38 after swimming a time of 23.29 in the prelims to earn an NCAA "B" qualifying mark. Other 50 free scorers for the Cardinal were Megan Baumgartner (15th, NCAA "B" 23.52) and Lisa Falzone (24th, 24.10), who qualified for the bonus final with a time of 23.81 in the prelims.
"The highlight of tonight's effort was Lacey Boutwell's swim in the 50 free," said Quick.
Four Stanford divers scored in the 3-meter competition, led by the second-place finish of Cassidy Krug with a collegiate career-high of 480.55 points. Ashlee Rosenthal was sixth with 457.80 points and Sara Bowling had 456.10 points to place seventh. Erin Lashnits was 14th with a collegiate career-high 381.70 points.
"Diving was our best event today," praised Quick.
Kristen Caverly moved up one spot from her finish last season by placing third in the 200 IM in a collegiate career-best and NCAA "A" time 1:59.17 to rank eighth on Stanford's all-time performance list. The 200 IM was a key event for the Cardinal as six swimmers scored points. Laura Davis took seventh in 2:02.03 after checking in with an NCAA "B" time of 2:01.38 to reach the finals. Dana Kirk came up with a big performance to win the consolation finals and finish ninth overall by clocking an NCAA "A" and career-best time of 2:00.44. Tami Ransom was 12th in an NCAA "B" time of 2:02.44, while Tara Kirk came through to win the bonus consolation final in a NCAA "B" time of 2:01.88 that was just five-hundreths of a second off her career-best. Ashley Daly rounded out Stanford's scoring in the event with an 18th-place finish in 2:02.18.
Morgan Hentzen's seventh-place showing in a time of 4:47.80 (NCAA "B" time of 4:47.72 in prelims) led Stanford's efforts in the 500 free. Lauren Costella had an excellent performance to win the consolation final and take ninth place overall with a career-best and NCAA "B" time of 4:47.44. Evins Cameron also scored for Stanford in the event, finishing 14th with an NCAA "B" mark of 4:50.81.
Stanford closed out its second day performance with a third-place finish in the 200 free relay when a team of Boutwell, Jones, Baumgartner and Ransom finished in an NCAA "B" mark of 1:31.70.
California's Natalie Coughlin provided the biggest individual highlight of the meet when she won the 200 IM in a Pac-10 and Pac-10 Meet record time of 1:54.95 (NCAA "A"), breaking a pair of records held by former Stanford swimmers Summer Sanders (Pac-10, 1:55.54, 1992) and Shelly Ripple (Pac-10 Meet, 1:56.64, 2002). USC's Kalyn Keller was a winner in the 500 free with a new Pac-10 Meet record and NCAA "A" time of 4:37.76, eclipsing the former mark of 4:38.79 set by Arizona's Emily Mason in 2002. UCLA won the 200 free relay when a team of Kim Vandenberg, Malin Svahnstrom, Amy Thurman and Sara Platzer completed the course in an NCAA "B" time of 1:31.32 to end the evening finals session and second day of competition.
The 2004 Pac-10 Women's Swimming and Diving Championships will continue Friday and Saturday at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool. Friday's swimming events include the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back and 400 medley relay (finals only). Prelims begin at 11 am with the finals session starting at 6 pm. The diving competition being held in Federal Way, Washington, will also continue on Friday with the 1-meter event.