NCAA Div. I Men: #1 Stanford to Meet USC

STANFORD, Clalif., Feb. 5. THE No. 1-ranked Stanford men's swimming and diving team (6-0, 2-0 Pac-10) travels south to Los Angeles to take on No. 8 USC on Saturday, February 9 at 1 p.m. in continued league action.

Last Time Out: The top-ranked Stanford men's swimming team defeated No. 9 Arizona, 192-106, on Friday. Peter Marshall (47.27) and Randall Bal (47.58) took first and second in the 100y backstroke with NCAA qualifying times. Marshall's time of 47.27 broke the pool record held by Tate Blahnik (1999).

Sophomore Matt Sorlien also won the 400 IM (3:53.53) and the Cardinal relay team of Jeff Guyman, Randall Bal, Bobby O'Bryan and Peter Marshall set a new pool record with their time in the 200 freestyle relay (1:20.27) breaking the old record, held by California (1998) of 1:20.86.

On Saturday, the Cardinal defeated No. 5 Arizona State, 136-99. Stanford kicked off the meet with a win in the 400 medley relay in a NCAA provisional qualifying time of 3:13.50 (Randall Bal, Michael Bruce, Dan Westcott, Jeff Guyman). Bal's time of 46.77 in the first leg of the relay, broke the pool record for the 100 backstroke. In the second event on the day, Cardinal Matt Sorlien turned in a superb performance, barely missing the pool record in the 1000 freestyle with a time of 8:56.25. His time is the fastest in this event this year.

Randall Bal (20.00) and Peter Marshall (20.02) took first and second in the 50 freestyle. Bal set a new pool record with his time of 20.00, which is a provisional NCAA qualifying times. Cardinal Michael Bruce barely missed his own pool record in the 200 breaststroke, turning in a time of 1:57.72 (pool record is 1:57.55).

Up Next: The Stanford Cardinal wraps up league action with a dual meet against No. 4 California on Saturday, February 23 at 1 p.m. in the Avery Aquatic Complex.

Head Coach Skip Kenney: Stanford head coach Skip Kenney enters his 23rd season at the helm of the Cardinal program. He has led Stanford to seven NCAA titles, including a runaway win in 1998. He has also been named NCAA Coach of the Year six times, most recently in 1998. In addition, Kenney has led the Cardinal to some of the finest team performances in the history of the NCAA Championship meet. The 1992 squad set meet records for both points scored (632) and victory margin (276 points over Texas), and the 1998 team became the first to have a championship final representative in every individual and relay swimming event. He has guided the Cardinal to 20 straight conference titles, which is far and away the record for consecutive Pac-10 championships in any sport. Kenney has been named Pac-10 Coach of the Year 13 times in the last 19 years.

About The Trojans: No. 8 USC travels to the Bay Area with a 4-3 dual meet record, (0-2 in the Pac-10). The Trojans will visit Cal on Friday before their meet with Stanford on Saturday. Last time out, USC defeated UC Irvine, 221-37, in a dual meet in Irvine. The Trojans are coached by Mark Schubert, who is in his 10th season at the helm of the program.

Golden Summer For Cardinal: Several Cardinals competed in international competitions with great success this summer. Junior backstroker Randall Bal picked up a gold medal at the World Championships. Sophomore backstroker Peter Marshall took home three gold medals and freshman Jayme Cramer made a statement at the World University Games.

Sophomore backstroker Markus Rogan nabbed a silver at the World Championships and junior Dan Westcott was a key member of the U.S. team at the Goodwill Games in Brisbane, Australia, along with freshman Dan Trupin.

Automatic Qualifiers: Three Cardinal swimmers have already qualified for NCAAs at the end of March. Junior Randall Bal posted an automatic time of 46.77 in the 100 back against ASU (1/26) while sophomore Markus Rogan's time of 1:43.42 in the 200 back vs. ASU (1/26) is also an automatic time. Sophomore Peter Marshall has qualified in two events – the 100 back (46.92) and the 200 back (1:43.72). Nine other athletes have provisional qualifying times.

Pac-10 Championships: The Stanford Cardinal will be aiming for its 21st consecutive conference championship next month when the Pac-10 Men's Swimming and Diving Championships are held in Long Beach, Calif., March 7-9. Stanford holds the league record (in any sport) for most consecutive conference titles with its current 20.

Tough Competition: The No. 1-ranked Stanford Cardinal is one of six Pac-10 schools ranked in the top 25. Five league schools are ranked in the top 10 while two are in the top five.

Did You Know: Stanford has a 14-0 dual meet record over the last two years … The Cardinal have posted a top five finish at NCAAs for 20 consecutive years … Stanford has won seven NCAA titles – the last coming in 1997-98.

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