Stanford Maintains Lead after Second Day at Pac-10 Championships

FEDERAL WAY, Washington, February 22. TODAY marked the second day of the 2007 Men's Pac-10 Championships in Federal Way, Wash. Coming into the day's events, Sanford had a two-point edge over Arizona, however the Cardinal widened the gap over second-place Cal to maintain the lead with 352 points, while contributing to four of the eight NCAA automatic qualifying times tallied this evening.

"What we are trying to do at this meet is make our qualifying times and get prepared for the NCAA Championships," Stanford head swimming coach Skip Kenney said. "Like every program here, we are trying to get great swims and times out of our guys, and I look at this meet as sort of a dress rehearsal for NCAAs. I am looking to see what we can fix before the big meet in a few weeks."

Starting off tonight's action was USC's senior Larsen Jensen, who won the 500 free with a new Pac-10 meet record time of 4:13.52. Stanford captured the second and third place positions, as senior Shaun Phillips finished with an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 4:18.00 and senior Andy Grant posted a consideration time of 4:21.04.

In the 200 individual medley, Arizona's senior Adam Ritter captured the first individual conference title of his career, finishing with an automatic qualifying time of 1:45.51.

"I feel that it is harder to win an individual title here than it is at NCAAs," Ritter said. "Most of the teams here are rested and trying to make their cuts, what we did at the Texas Invite last December, so I think it's pretty special to win here. I feel a little more rested since our last dual meet, but I'm just trying to race as best I can and I felt really good coming into the finish (of the IM)."

Stanford again took the next two positions in the event, as sophomore Nate Cass finished second (1:45.92) and senior Hongzhe Sun finished third (1:46.12).

Senior Ben Wildman-Tobriner of Stanford posted the third NCAA automatic qualifying time for the Cardinal, winning the 50 free with a time of 19.23. Cal's junior Jernej Godec finished second in the event with a time of 19.75 and freshman Alex Coville of Stanford finished third (19.84).

The Cardinal conquered the 200 free relay to end tonight's events, as Wildman-Tobriner, sophomore Jason Dunford, senior Kyle Ransom and senior Matt Crowe posted another NCAA automatic qualifying time and a season best time of 1:17.50. Cal's junior William Copeland, Godec, freshman Nathan Adrian and junior Mark Whittington finished second with an automatic qualifying time of 1:18.05, while Subirats, Nilo, Townsend and Ritter of Arizona finished third (1:18.36).

Men – Team Rankings After Day 2 (includes 1-meter diving)
1. Stanford 352
2. California 229
3. Arizona 217
4. Southern California 159
5. Arizona State 144
6. Washington 83

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