Feb. 16, 2007
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Long Beach, Calif. - Stanford will hold a slim lead heading into Saturday's fourth and final day of the 2007 Pac-10 Women's Swimming Championships at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool. The Cardinal saw a 103.5-point margin at the start of the day on Friday shrink to just 24 points over second place Arizona (946.5) mostly due to a disqualification by Stanford's 400 medley relay `A' squad in the final event of the evening session. California is also within striking distance with 906 points.
"This was another great day of what has been a fabulous meet," said Stanford head coach Lea Maurer. "This Pac-10 meet has been so phenomenal and so fast. We're in a really tough race now with Arizona and California and are looking forward to competing tomorrow."
"It was a tight race, and we went for the win," added Maurer about the critical Cardinal 400 medley relay disqualification.
Julia Smit highlighted Stanford's performances with a Pac-10 meet record time of 4:04.02 to win the 400 IM in the first event of the finals session. Smit's time was also her personal-best and the top mark in the nation in the event this season. She received a standing ovation from the crowd following the swim.
"This was really inspiring for me today, especially having all my teammates cheering for me," stated Smit.
Elaine Breeden added an outstanding effort in the 100 fly during a second place finish by recording a personal-best time of 51.44.
The times by Smit and Breeden make both Stanford freshmen the school's second-fastest all-time performer in the respective events.
"Julia Smit had a beautiful swim," explained Maurer. "She just took control. Elaine's swim was awesome, too. They both want to win and put points on the board and are kicking in the door on some pretty phenomenal swimmers in our record book as well."
Caroline Bruce (100 breast, 1:00.00) and Brooke Bishop (100 back, 53.54) also had second place showings in NCAA `A' times.
Stanford's other championship finalists on Saturday were Whitney Spence (200 free, 6th, 1:49.44, NCAA `B'; 1:48.86 prelims, NCAA `A'), Kelley Hug (100 fly, 7th, 54.29, NCAA `B'), Nilahsa Ghosh (100 fly, 8th, 54.35, NCAA `B') and Fiona O'Donnell-McCarthy (100 back, 54.63, NCAA `B').
The point totals from the 3-meter diving event held on February 9 were also added to the team totals on Friday. Cassidy Krug made Stanford a winner in the event with a total of 367.30 points, while Katie Lampe (5th, 292.60 points) was the other Cardinal finalist in the event.
California had a big day by winning four events. Dana Vollmer (100 fly, 50.80), Emily Silver (200 free, 1:44.37) and Jessica Hardy (100 breast, 59.56) were individual race winners. The trio also swam the final three legs (Hardy, Vollmer, Silver) behind Lauren Rogers on the Golden Bears' winning 400 medley relay squad that set a new Pac-10 meet record with a time of 3:32.95. Vollmer's time in the 100 fly was also a meet record.
Stanford (970.5), Arizona (946.5) and California (906) are followed in the team standings after three full days of competition by UCLA (671), USC (548), Arizona State (371), Oregon State (333), Washington (291) and Washington State (266).
The four-day meet concludes Saturday with prelims (11 am, PT) and finals (6 pm, PT) sessions. Saturday's events include the 1650 free, 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly and 400 free relay. The 1650 free will be swum as a timed final with the finals session, while the 400 free relay is scheduled for a finals session only. The swimmers will also have one final chance to qualify for the 2007 NCAA Championships at the Pac-10 Invite also at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool on Sunday, February 18 (11 am, PT).