Feb. 24, 2006
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Long Beach, Calif./Federal Way, Wash. - Two-time defending conference champion Stanford remains in second place heading into the final day of the 2006 Pac-10 Women's Swimming and Diving Championships on Saturday. The Cardinal has scored 842 points in the first three days of competition to stay within reach of leader Arizona (889 points). Dana Kirk had the biggest performance for Stanford on Friday night, winning the 100 fly at the Pac-10 for the second time in the last three years (she also won in 2004) by recording a personal-best and NCAA "A" time of 52.29.
Cassidy Krug took second in the 3-meter diving competition with 354.90 points, giving her back-to-back second-place finishes after she was also second in the 1-meter on Thursday's first day of diving action.Arizona and Stanford are followed in the team standings by UCLA (837), USC (761.5), California (748.5), Arizona State (448.5), Oregon State (333.5), Washington (312) and Washington State (263).
"We fought hard today and did a good job staying in the hunt," explained Stanford head coach Lea Maurer. "We will need to come out tomorrow morning and get in some finals in order to hope to do well in the final team standings."
Arizona's Whitney Myers started the evening finals session with a win in the 400 individual medley, recording the event's only NCAA "A" qualifying time (4:14.18) and winning the race by 2.016 seconds over her closest competitor (Rachel Ridgeway, California, 4:16.34). Laura Davis's third-place finish in an NCAA "B" time of 4:18.98 led Stanford's effort. Lauren Costella (12th, 4:23.90) and Anna Strohl (13th, 4:24.01) were A Consolation finalists for the Cardinal, while Cydney Siggins (18th, 4:27.08) was in the B Consolation finals.
Laura Wadden supported Kirk in the finals of the 100 fly, taking seventh in an NCAA "B" time of 54.77. Andrea Axtell was 14th (56.34, 55.94 prelims) as an A Consolation finalist.
California went 1-2 in the 200 free with the duo of Erin Reily (1:45.70) and Ashley Chandler (1:46.14) as both recorded NCAA "A" marks. Stanford did not have a racer in the finals as A Consolation finalist Desiree Stahley's 10th-place showing (1:48.33, NCAA "B") was the best by a Cardinal swimmer. Elizabeth Durot also scored in the B Consolation finals with an 18th-place finish (1:49.06, NCAA "B").
USC's Rebecca Soni (1:00.10) just out-touched California's Jessica Hardy (1:00.15) to win the 100 breast as the two swimmers were among five that recorded NCAA "A" marks. Kristen Caverly (12th, 1:03.17) was Stanford's top finisher as an A Consolation finalist, while Erica Liu made the B Consolation finals and finished 24th (1:05.24, 1:04.87 prelims).
Arizona's Jenna Gresdal captured the 100 back in 53.05 with Brooke Bishop's sixth-place showing in 54.26 the best for the Cardinal. A total of eight swimmers, including Gresdal and Bishop, recorded NCAA "A" marks in the race. Axtell had an NCAA "B" mark of 54.91 in her 10th-place showing as an A Consolation finalist, while Caroline Rodriguez (12th, 55.41, NCAA "B") swam alongside her. Lisa Falzone (18th, 57.24) and Fiona Gispen (22nd, 57.75) added scoring efforts in the B Consolation B race.
Katie Lampe (5th, 303.75), Sara Bowling (7th, 293.20) and Sarah Ohr (10th, 264.65) joined Krug to give Stanford four divers in the Top 10 of the 3-meter competition.
"The divers have done a great job so far," said Maurer. "We definitely wouldn't be in the hunt without them."
USC closed out the day's action by edging California in the 400 medley relay. The Trojans touched in an NCAA "A" time of 3:36.29 with a team of Hayley McGregory, Soni, Emily Goetsch and Rhiannon Jeffrey. The Golden Bears were just seven-hundredths of a second behind, also reaching the NCAA "A" standard in 3:36.36 with a foursome of Helen Silver, Erin Reilly and Emily Silver. Stanford finished fourth with an NCAA "B" mark of 3:39.37 by a group of Bishop, Caverly, Kirk and Madeline Rovira.
The final day of action of the four-day short-course yards meet is scheduled for Saturday with the prelims starting at 11 am, PT, and the evening finals session getting underway at 6 pm, PT. All six remaining swimming races (1650 free, 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly, 400 free relay) will take place at the Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach, while the platform diving competition is slated for the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatics Center in Federal Way, Washington.