Jan. 27, 2006
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Los Angeles, Calif. - No. 3 Stanford (12-1, 3-1 Pac-10) suffered its first loss of the season with a 180-120 defeat at the hands of No. 7 UCLA (7-1, 3-1 Pac-10) in a short-course yards Pac-10 meet on Friday. UCLA won 10 of the meet's 16 events with three of Stanford's six wins coming from Brooke Bishop (50 free, 100 free, 100 back), Dana Kirk (100 fly, 200 IM) added a pair of wins, while Cassidy Krug captured the 1-meter diving event.
Katie Nelson (500 free, 1000 free), Nicolette Teo (100 breast, 200 breast) and Kim Vandenberg (200 free, 200 fly) won two events each for the Bruins, while Katie Arnold (200 back) and Paige Thompson (3-meter diving) added one victory each. The Bruins also swept the 400 free and 400 medley relays.The diving events started prior to the swimming competition with the Bruins holding a 20-18 advantage on the boards.
The swimmers did their part by expanding on the slim lead built by the divers, dominating the first three swimming events to give UCLA an early advantage it would never relinquish.
The Bruins' top 400 medley relay team (Arnold, Eileen Seissen, Vandenberg, Anna Poteete) started the swimming action with a dominating performance, finishing 2.40 seconds ahead of the second-place Cardinal with an NCAA "B" time of 3:43.41.
Nelson (9:46.29) and Jane Imagane (9:56.36) finished 1-2 for UCLA in the 1000 free to defeat a group of Cardinal distance freestylers that have been very successful so far this season. Lauren Costella's third-place finish in a time of 9:59.14 was Stanford's top effort.
UCLA continued its early run by taking the first three spots in the 200 free with Vandenberg winning with a NCAA "B" time of 1:48.68.
Bishop stopped the Bruins' hot streak with her 100 back victory in an NCAA "A" time of 54.33.
The Bruins didn't allow Stanford to build any momentum by taking three of the top four spots in the 100 breast as Teo was victorious in an NCAA "B" time of 1:03.43. Stanford's Kristen Caverly took second in 1:03.93.
Vandenberg then came up with perhaps the most impressive swim of the meet, clocking an NCAA "A" time of 1:56.66 to defeat Kirk (1:59.42, NCAA "B") by 2.76 seconds. Kirk finished ninth in the 200 meter fly at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
Bishop tried to get Stanford back in the meet with back-to-back victories in the 50 (23.31, NCAA "B") and 100 (50.38, NCAA "B") free but Arnold (200 back, 1:59.66, NCAA "B"), Teo (200 breast, 2:17.68, NCAA "B") and Nelson (500 free, 4:49.08, NCAA "B") thwarted any Cardinal comeback attempt with three consecutive victories.
Kirk (100 fly) recovered from her loss to Vandenberg in the 200 fly by taking the 100 in a NCAA "A" time of 53.68 and then added a victory in the 200 IM (2:03.92, NCAA "B").
"The high point in today's meet for us was Dana's performance," said Stanford head coach Lea Maurer. "She showed a lot of grit with big wins in the 100 fly and 200 IM. Everyone was swimming tired and this was a tough meet where she really showed her poise and determination. She was a strong presence throughout the day, stayed the course and found a way to get the job done."
UCLA closed out the meet with a victory in the 400 free relay when a team of Arnold, Poteete, Vandenberg and Katherine Wong checked in with a time of 3:25.65.
"I anticipated that UCLA would be sharp today, and they were really ready for us," summarized Maurer. "We didn't swim as well as we should have, but we're capable of stepping up tomorrow against USC. We should be better tomorrow than we were today, and I'm hoping we come away with a better result."
Stanford will be back in action Saturday at No. 11 USC (1:00 pm, PT).