FEDERAL WAY, Washington, March 27. THE Pacific 10 Conference enjoyed a tremendous showing to close the evening in the 400 medley relay at the NCAA Division I Men's Championships.
First, the Arizona quartet of Subirats, Ivan Barnes, Darian Townsend and Joel Greenshields nearly dropped the NCAA record of Northwestern from last year of 3:04.40 when the other Wildcats notched a time of 3:04.43. The win is Arizona's second all time with the U of A reclaiming its 2006 title.
In the 100 back leadoff, Subirats clocked the fourth-fastest effort of all time with a sterling time of 44.96. Only Ryan Lochte (44.60), Subirats (44.83) and Neil Walker (44.92) have swum faster times.
"You always want to start off meets on a good note and you want to end on a good note," Townsend said. "If we can take the momentum we earned tonight from the relay into tomorrow morning, that is going to be a key to gaining points on the other teams. (This) is a relay we have spoken about all season."
California's squad of David Russell, Damir Dugonjic, Jernej Godec and Williams Copeland placed second in 3:05.38, while Stanford's squad of Eugene Godsoe, Paul Kornfeld, Austin Staab and Jason Dunford snagged third in 3:05.43.
At the end of the first night, Arizona held a 21-point lead over Texas, 137-116, while California stood third with 112 points. Auburn (97) and Stanford (93) rounded out the top five.