Pac 10 Championships: Stanford Holds Lead After Second Night

LONG BEACH, California, March 6. CAL's William Copeland won two first-place medals while Stanford took over first place Thursday night in the Pacific-10 Conference men's swimming championships at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool.

Copeland won the 50-yard freestyle in 19.3 seconds, then helped Jernej Godec, Joe Whittington and Graeme Moore take the 200 freestyle relay in 1:17.99.

The Cardinal moved into first place by 19 points over second-place Cal, 277 to 258. Arizona, the leader after Wednesday night's action, fell to third with 240 points.

"It's going to be a great team battle," Stanford coach Skip Kenney said. "Right now, it looks like there are three teams that are pretty equal. In the next two days, I'm sure one of them will start to pull away. The team that's going to get their depth, to get their third event, is going to be the one that wins the meet."

Freshman David Mosko earned the Cardinal's first victory of the meet by winning the 500 free in 4 minutes, 19.10 seconds to qualify for the NCAA championships.

Arizona's Jean Basson and Darian Townsend received their second winner's medals after competing on the victorious 800 freestyle relay team Wednesday night.

Basson, a four-time All American last season, took the 500 free in 4:15.29 and qualified for the NCAA meet. Townsend also qualified for the NCAAs by winning the 200 individual medley in 1:44.43.

Stanford's Nathan Cass finished second in the 200 medley for the third consecutive year with a time of 1:45.52 to qualify for the NCAA championships. Cal's Mark Eckert also qualified with a time of 1:45.71 in the consolation swim.

The Cardinal's Daniel Beal and Mosko will join Basson in the 500 free at the NCAAs after finishing second and third with times of
4:16.8 and 4:18.04.

Four swimmers besides Copeland qualified for the NCAA championships in the 50 free: Stanford's Jason Dunford and Austin Staab, and Cal's Whittington and Godec.

The Cardinal and Wildcats also will be represented in the 200 free relay at the NCAAs.

Team Standings
1. Stanford University, 277 points
2. University of California, Berkeley, 258
3. University of Arizona, 240
4. Arizona State University, 157
5. University of Southern California, 134
6. University of Washington, 77

Special thanks to the Pac 10 for contributing this report.

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