Stanford vs. Washington

STANFORD, California, November 3. THE No. 3 Stanford men's swimming team defeated Washington by a score of 123 to 82 at the Avery Aquatic Center. The Cardinal took first place in seven of the 11 events contested in the meet, improving its record to 2-0, 1-0 Pac-10.

"It's obvious we have some improvements to make, but we still have time to work on things," said associate head coach Ted Knapp.

In the 400 medley relay, the Stanford "A" team of Eugene Godsoe, Paul Kornfeld, Austin Staab, and Jason Dunford captured first place in a time of 3:20.52. The Stanford "B" team of Nate Cass, John Criste, BJ Johnson and Jake Allen posted a second place finish with a time of 3:27.29. Washington "A" scored two points with a third place finish as they swam to a total time of 3:27.51.

Noa Sakamoto of Stanford grabbed the narrow victory in the 1000 free as he posted a time of 9:17.15 to edge Washington's Scott Spansail who finished second in 9:17.72. Scotty Korotkin of Stanford rounded out the top three with a final time of 9:36.08.

The 200 free saw Phillip Morrison of Stanford claim the top spot as he touched the wall in 1:40.90, followed by Washington's David Bai in 1:41.55. Cardinal Andrew Trepp posted a third place finish as he swam to a time of 1;41.69.

Washington posted its first individual victory in the 50 free as Ivan Perhat recorded a time of 20.80. Stanford's Jake Allen posted a second place finish with his time of 21.57, followed by Brenton Dowdy of Washington in third place with a time of 21.59.

In the 400 IM it was Nate Cass capturing another first place finish for Stanford in 4:00.89, while teammate Josh Charin-Aker followed right behind in second touching the wall in 4:01.67. Henry Hudson earned a third place finish for Washington with a time of 4:02.31.

Andre Blyth of Washington was able to claim the top spot in the 200 fly as he recorded a time of 1:50.68. Stanford's David Mosko followed in second place as he recorded a time of 1:51.47, while Erez Fern of Washington rounded out the top three in 1:54.11.

For the second straight event it was Washington touching the wall first in the 100 free as Ivan Perhat stopped the clock at 45.12. Austin Staab of Stanford earned a second place finish in the event as he posted a time of 46.11, followed by Washington's Evan Bernier in third with a 46.32.

Stanford captured the top two spots in the 200 back as Eugene Godsoe led the charge in a time of 1:47.65, followed by teammate Nate Cass who finished second in 1:50.85. Jonathan Banker of Washington swam to a third place finish with a time of 1:51.98.

The 500 free saw Washington's Scott Spansail touch the wall first as he posted a winning time of 4:31.03. Stanford's Phillip Morrison (4:37.89) and David Mosko (4:38.04) finished second and third, respectively.

The Cardinal dominated the 200 breast, sweeping the top four spots. Paul Kornfeld was the first of the Stanford contingent to finish with a time of 2:03.71, followed by Paul Zaich in second with a 2:04.73. John Criste posted a third place finish with a time of 2:05.22, followed by teammate Chris Ash who posted a time of 2:06.83.

Stanford earned a victory in the final event of the meet, the 200 free relay, as the Cardinal "A" team of Jason Dunford, Austin Staab, Dan Priestley, and Eugene Godsoe swam to a time of 1:22.32 to earn eleven team points. Washington "A" finished in second with a time of 1:22.54, while the Stanford "B" team rounded out the top three in a time of 1:24.73.

On the women's side, Stanford pulled away from a stubborn Washington squad for a 116-89 victory in the first conference dual meet of the season for the Cardinal at the Avery Aquatic Center. Stanford held only a slim six-point advantage after six of 11 events in the short-course yards meet before winning four of the last five races for the final margin. The victory was Stanford's 12th consecutive dual meet win, including its 10-0 mark last year and victories in its first two dual meets of the 2007-08 campaign.

"We swam a different lineup and relied on more people, and we got better as the meet went on," said Stanford head coach Lea Maurer. "We're obviously tired [from hard workouts], but we're finding a way to get the win box checked, and I feel that's a good place to be right now."

Stanford's Julia Smit out swam rival Ariana Kukors of Washington in the 400 IM to highlight the individual events. Smit checked in with a fast early-season NCAA `A' time of 4:09.97 with Kukors finishing in 4:11.30. Smit was third in the event as a freshman at the 2007 NCAA Championships, while Kukors is a highly-touted freshman that is ranked fourth in the world in the 400 meter IM.

"It was exciting, because I went faster than I did in any dual meet last year," commented Smit. "It was a good point to start. I was also pretty happy that I beat Ariana. She's a really tough competitor, and I'm going to be racing her at the end so I need to practice racing her now."

"Julia's a gift," offered a smiling and laughing Maurer. "That was a really good swim. She's been training phenomenally, and I'm happy for her that she was able to get a win against a strong candidate for the Olympic team. It was a good race, and I know she's doing it with some amazing workouts behind her so I was really proud of her." Smit also added an NCAA `B' mark in the 200 free with a 1:47.92 leadoff split to spark Stanford to a pool record time of 7:17.08 in a winning 800 free relay effort. Brooke Bishop (1:48.07), Whitney Spence (1:50.89) and Kate Dwelley (1:50.20) finished off the relay to erase Auburn's former pool record time of 7:20.68 set in 2002.

"The record was good," stated Maurer. "It's always good to put Stanford on as the team for your own pool records. We feel like the 800 free relay is going to be something that we're a more formidable opponent in this year. It's nice to have our swimmers look at an event and say `okay, we can get this [record].' That's what champions do. They walk in a pool, look at the board and say `what can we erase.'"

"We've been talking about it the whole week of practice, and we were pretty confident that we could get it," added Smit about breaking the record. "It's really cool to wipe Auburn off our pool records. Now, it's just going to say us."

The teams split the first six races of the meet with Stanford's depth allowing for its slim six-point lead to that point.

Stanford started the meet with a victory in the 400 medley relay as a foursome of Brooke Bishop (100 back, 55.22, NCAA `B'), Caroline Bruce (100 breast, 1:03.98), Elaine Breeden (100 fly, 56.25) and Madeline Rovira (100 free, 52.56) clocked in with a time of 3:48.01.

Washington's Ashley Daly claimed the next event with a solid victory in the 1000 free. Daly checked in with a mark of 10:13.97 to lead three Washington swimmers in the top four with only a second place finish by Stanford's Elizabeth Smith breaking up the Husky contingent.

Washington took a short-lived 28-27 lead in the meet after Kim Jasmer won the third event with a time of 1:50.55 in the 200 free as the Huskies had two of the top three finishers.

Stanford rebounded with back-to-back victories by Bishop in the 50 free with an NCAA `B' mark of 22.92 and Smit's key 400 IM triumph over Kukors. After a 10-minute break in the competition, Kukors was able to come back and win the 200 fly in the an NCAA `B' time of 2:00.99 to even the meet's first six events at three victories for each team and keep the Huskies within six points.

Back-to-back victories by Kate Dwelley (100 free, 51.63) and Andrea Axtell (200 back, 2:02.29) helped thwart the Husky upset effort and gave the Cardinal a bit of breathing room.

Jasmer was able to win her second event with a victory in the 500 free (4:53.52, NCAA `B') but Stanford placed second, third and fourth in the event to prevent the Huskies from gaining any real momentum.

Stanford closed out the meet with a 200 breast victory from Bruce (2:16.63, NCAA `B') and the 800 free relay pool record win.

Special thanks to Stanford for contributing this report.

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