Nov. 15, 2012
LONG BEACH, Calif. - Stanford cruised to post five wins in as many events to open the Arena Invitational Thursday at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool. Three individual victories and a pair of first-place relay finishes gave Stanford 630.5 points to lead the field while sitting comfortably ahead of second-place Hawaii (391).
"The swims tonight were indicative of what we are capable of doing," Goldman Family Director of Men's Swimming Ted Knapp said. "We need to be more ready tomorrow morning than we were this morning."
The Cardinal resumes the Arena Invitational Friday morning while the Stanford divers christen the Arizona Diving Invite Friday afternoon in Tucson, Ariz.
David Nolan, Aaron Wayne, Andrew Saeta and Jake Hartely teamed to go 1:18.94 in the 200 free relay to open the meet for the Cardinal.
Danny Thompson's 4:19.54 in the 500 free paced the field as the freshman was the fastest of five Stanford swimmers to claim the top five spots. Drew Cosgarea (4:19.62), Bryan Offutt (4:20.81), Robert Hommel (4:23.27) and Mitch Stoehr (4:27.32) rounded out the top five.
Nolan, who set the meet record in the 200 individual medley (1:44.69) in 2011, tied for second with Tom Kremer (1:46.62) in this year's edition of the showdown. Not to be outdone by the fine racing behind him, Matt Thompson (1:45.89) touched first. Gray Umbach (1:47.10) was fourth and Will Gunderson (1:47.62) was fifth.
Saeta and Wayne each finished the 50 free in a meet-best 19.91.
Wayne had plenty left in the tank to help anchor the 400 medley relay to a win in 3:14.66. Thompson, Nolan and Kremer also contributed to the first-place showing.