Jan. 13, 2007
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Tempe, Ariz. - No. 1 Stanford (7-0, 3-0 Pac-10) stayed unbeaten in dual meets this season with a convincing 170-122 Pac-10 road win over No. 23 Arizona State (4-5, 1-4 Pac-10) at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center on Saturday. The Cardinal won 12 of the meet's 16 events with Julia Smit taking three individual races (50 free, 200 free, 200 breast) to lead the way. Brooke Bishop (100 back, 200 back) and Cassidy Krug (1-meter diving, 3-meter diving) won two individual events each, while Caroline Bruce swam the only NCAA `A' time of the meet for either team when she captured the 100 breast in 1:01.55.
"After a tough meet against Arizona yesterday, I was really proud of the way we dug deep to find a way to race again today," said Stanford head coach Lea Maurer. "We've been training really hard and beating ourselves up in the pool during practice, so it was nice to race someone else and be able to help each other. We're doing well against good Pac-10 teams and looking to build on this momentum in order to keep heading in the right direction as we approach the NCAA Championships in March."
Stanford jumped out of the gates with a victory in the 200 medley relay as Fiona O'Donnell-McCarthy, Bruce, Elaine Breeden and Bishop clocked in with a NCAA `B' time of 1:41.26.
Morgan Hentzen followed with a 100 free victory (9:55.75) before Smit and Bishop each won their first individual races of the day by capturing the 200 free (1:48.55) and 100 back (55.35) in NCAA `B' times, respectively.Bruce then followed with her dominating win in the 100 breast, finishing 4.34 seconds ahead of her closest competitor.
"It was a great race for Caroline," commented Maurer. "It was a tough assignment considering where we are in our training, but she showed tremendous speed and going that fast when she is tired is a really positive sign."
Nilasha Ghosh then won the 200 fly (2:03.54) and Smit followed with her second victory in the 50 free (23.31, NCAA `B') before Arizona State's Caitlin Andrew finally put the Sun Devils on the winners' board with a victory in the 100 free (51.29).
Bishop (200 back, 2:02.20), Smit (200 breast, 2:16.35, NCAA `B') and Durot (500 free, 4:53.60, NCAA `B') reeled off three more wins before the Cardinal swam exhibition for the final three swimming events.
Andrew closed out her sweep of the fly events with a NCAA `B' time of 54.46 to win the 100 before Ashley Evans was credited with a 200 IM victory (2:07.71) despite a pair of faster NCAA `B' exhibition swims from Breeden (2:01.80) and Ghosh (2:03.09).
The Sun Devils narrowly out touched the Cardinal in the 200 free relay to close the meet with both teams recording NCAA `B' times. Andrew, Jen Beckberger, Abra Armour and Jess Perazzo checked in at 1:32.57 for Arizona State, while Bishop, O'Donnell-McCarthy, Madeline Rovira and Smit were just behind at 1:32.75.
Krug scored 321.83 in her 1-meter win and 349.83 in her 3-meter triumph to win both events handily.
"She's definitely the premier diving in the Pac-10 right now but our goals are far beyond that," said Stanford head diving coach Dr. Rick Schavone. "Our goal is to make her the top diver in the country and winning now will help her confidence in the postseason. We haven't had a diver going this well at Stanford since [six-time NCAA champion] Eileen Richetelli. Cassidy's very impressive right now."
"I feel like I'm diving better than I ever have right now," confirmed Krug. "My good days are better than ever, and I just really need to work on being consistent and brining up the bad days. That's my focus. I've just been working really hard and practicing a lot. There is no big secret."
Krug will be attending the second of two 2007 World Championship selection camps January 21-25 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Stanford will host No. 14 UCLA and No. 11 USC at the Avery Aquatic Center in its only two remaining home dual meets of the season next Friday and Saturday, January 19 and 20. Both meets are scheduled to begin at 1 pm, PT. Saturday's meet versus the Trojans will mark the final home event for Stanford's senior class.