Nov. 5, 2005
Irvine, Calif. - No. 4 Stanford (10-0) captured the Big West Shootout on Saturday by defeating each of the other four teams in the championship pool on the second day of action at the Anteater Aquatics Complex. Stanford's closest competitor for the second straight day was Hawaii as the Cardinal prevailed with a 66-46 victory over the Rainbow Wahine on Saturday. Stanford's other victories Saturday were over UC Davis (94-18), UC Irvine (94-22) and Washington (83-20).
Kristen Caverly's double in the 200 back (1:59.03) and 200 IM (2:01.37) highlighted the Cardinal performance on Saturday. Other Stanford individual event winners included Lauren Costella (1000 free, 9:55.97), Elizabeth Durot (500 free, 4:51.05), Dana Kirk (100 fly, 1:59.44) and Erica Liu (200 breast, 2:17.86). Each of Stanford's individual winners recorded NCAA "B" times in their victories. The Cardinal was also victorious in the 400 free relay with a time of 3:25.35.
"I am really happy with how the girls are racing when tired from training," said Stanford head coach Lea Maurer about the team's performance at the two-day event. "I think we are making great progress towards where we want to be later in the season."
Hawaii picked up wins in five events with a tremendous double by Melanie Schlanger leading the way. Schlanger recorded NCAA "A" times on her way to victory in both the 50 (22.36) and 100 (48.45) free. The Rainbow Wahine also swept the diving events for the second straight day with Qiongie Huang taking the 1-meter (303.05) and Megan Farrow capturing the 3-meter (353.85), both with NCAA qualifying point totals. Hawaii also won the 400 medley relay in a time of 3:45.45.
Washington's Sharon Olson won the remaining event, taking the 200 free in an NCAA "B" time of 1:50.15.
Hawaii's Nicole Mackey added a pair of NCAA "B" times with her second and third-place performances in the 200 back (2:00.10) and 200 IM (2:03.99). Three Rainbow Wahine divers also added NCAA qualifying point totals in non-winning performances. Huang was second in the 3-meter (341.95), while Rui Wang took third in both the 1-meter (286.05) and 3-meter (286.05), and Farrow was fourth in the 1-meter (277.30).
On the first day of action Friday, Stanford cruised to a spot in Saturday's championship pool by defeating all four of the teams in its pool. The closest score for the Cardinal came with an 80-59 decision over Hawaii with other wins versus Idaho (116-13), Pepperdine (118-21) and UC Davis (107-32).
"We absolutely accomplished what we wanted to do today," Maurer said after the meet, noting that the goal was to challenge a Cardinal team that continued an intense training program before the meet. "It's stressful for our swimmers, but as a coach it is just what I envisioned. We performed well when we were tired and beat a pretty tough Hawaii team that was rested for the meet."
Erica Liu swept the 100 and 200 breast on Frdiay's first day of the Big West Shootout |
Stanford won eight of Friday's 16 events and made a strong finish by taking four of the final six. Liu won a pair of individual races for the Cardinal by sweeping the 100 (1:04.63) and 200 (2:18.85) breast. Other individual Stanford winners included Brooke Bishop (100 fly, 55.53), Laura Davis (200 fly, 2:03.94), Durot (500 free, 4:54.22) and Morgan Hentzen (1650 free, 16:37.98, NCAA "B"). The Cardinal also swept the 200 medley (1:45.03) and 200 free (1:37.24) relays to open and close the day's action.
Hawaii won the other eight events in Stanford's pool Friday with triples by Schlanger and Markey keying the Rainbow Wahine performance. Both recorded NCAA "B" times in each of their victories. Schlanger won the 50 (23.27), 100 (50.19) and 200 (1:49.46) free, while Markey captured the 100 (54.99) and 200 (1:59.23) back, as well as the 400 IM (4:19.71). Huang added the final two victories for Hawaii by sweeping the 1-meter (349.55) and 3-meter (298.55) diving events, both with NCAA qualifying point totals.
Additional NCAA "B" times were recorded Friday by Caverly with her second-place finish to Markey in the 200 back (2:01.06) and Costella with her second-place showing in the 1650 free (16:39.63).
Stanford's divers will return to the boards at the Trojan Invite next Friday-Saturday, November 11-12 (10:00 am, PT/11:00 am, PT). The Cardinal swimmers get back in the pool at the three-day Speedo Cup hosted by UC Irvine in Long Beach from Thursday-Saturday, November 17-19. Prelims begin each day at 8:30 am, PT, while finals commence at 6:00 pm, PT. The divers will also be in action with a non-conference meet against California on Saturday, November 19 (10:00 am, PT) before both teams begin a period of just over two months out of competition.