Nov. 18, 2010
LONG BEACH, Calif.--Alex Coville was a part of two record setting sprints as the Stanford men won five of six events on the first of three days at the Arena Invitational at Belmont Plaza Pool.
Coville led off the 200 free relay and then watched as Jake Allen touched the wall first with a meet record 1:18.80, breaking Stanford's previous best set in 2007 (1:19.71).
Coville continued his night by breaking an 18 year old meet record of 19.60, beating UCLA's Brian Kurza and his 1992 record of 19.71. Coville also beat teammate Aaron Wayne (19.90) as Stanford finished 1-2.
Stanford also set the meet record in the 400 medley relay, with Matt Thompson leading off in the backstoroke, followed by John Criste (breast), Bobby Bollier (fly) and Aaron Wayne (free) firing off a time of 3:12.57, bettering last year's mark of 3:12.69, which included previous Pac-10 champions Eugene Godsoe and Austin Staab, along with Criste and Coville.
The Cardinal had the first five 500 freestylers in the A Final on Thursday with Bollier leading the way over teammate David Mosko with a time of 4:19.42, four-hundreths in front of his fellow Cardinal.
Thompson was the first of three Cardinal in the finals of the 200 IM, finishing fourth with a time of 1:47.74, in a race separate by five tenths of a second between the top four.
The Arena Invite runs through Saturday. The Wildcat Diving INvite begins Friday.
Top-Three Stanford Finishers
200 Free Relay: 1-Stanford (1:18.80)*
500 Free: 1. Bollier-4:14.42; 2. Mosko-4:19.46; 3. La Tourette-4:22.44
200 IM: none
50 Free: 1. Coville-19.60*; 2. Wayne-19.90
400 Medley Relay:1-Stanford (3:12.57)*
* - Meet Record