Stanford v. UCLA

STANFORD, California, February 1. NO. 2 Stanford (5-1, 4-0 Pac-10) used a late surge to stay unbeaten in Pac-10 dual meet action in a 166-133 win at No. 14 UCLA (record) at the Men's Gym Pool. The Cardinal won the last five events of the meet and finally took the lead to stay after event 13 of 16 following the 1-2-4 performance by Elaine Breeden, Brooke Bishop and Laura Wadden in the 100 fly. Breeden won three individual races by adding 100 back and 200 IM victories, while Julia Smit captured the 200 and 500 free. Breeden also swam on the winning 400 medley relay squad, while Smit contributed to the victorious 200 free relay team.

Other individual event winners for the Cardinal were Whitney Spence (200 fly), Meg Hostage (3-meter diving) and Brooke Bishop, who shared a 50 free victory with UCLA's Anna Poteete.

Nicolette Teo (100 breast, 200 breast), Poteete (50 free, co-winner; 100 free), Sam Vanden Berge (1000 free), Madeleine Stanton (200 back) and Marisa Samaniego (1-meter diving) were all winners for the Bruins. The meet stayed close most of the way with four lead changes before the Cardinal finally assumed control.

The Cardinal opened the day by breaking a pool record in the 400 medley relay when a team of Fiona O'Donnell-McCarthy, Caroline Bruce, Breeden and Kate Dwelley checked in with an NCAA `B' time of 3:41.58.

UCLA came right back to take its first lead of the meet when Vanden Berge led four of the top swimmers in the 1000 free that donned Bruin caps, clocking in with a mark of 10:01.07.

Smit then won the 200 free in an NCAA `A' time of 1:46.69 but the Bruins finished second through fourth to maintain a slim one-point lead before Breeden's 100 back victory (55.58, NCAA `B') put the Cardinal back in front.

Teo answered with the first of her two NCAA `A' times by winning the 100 breast in 1:01.82 to keep the Bruins close but Spence came back with her 200 fly win (2:00.59, NCAA `B') to swing the momentum back in Stanford's favor.

The Cardinal held on to its slim lead for two more events despite Poteete and Bishop's finishing in a dead heat in the 50 free (23.20, NCAA `B') and Samaniego edging Hostage in the 1-meter diving competition with 273.30 points compared to the Stanford freshman sensation's 269.95.

UCLA came back from a short break in the swimming action with three straight victories by Poteete (100 free, 49.93, NCAA `B'), Stanton (200 back, 2:02.32) and Teo (200 breast, 2:14.03, NCAA `A') to take a 109.5-98.5 lead.

Smit then swam an inspiring 500 free to start the Stanford comeback, recording an NCAA `A' time of 4:45.03 in an event she rarely swims to offset a strong UCLA distance team that still managed to take second, third and fifth.

The 100 fly efforts from Breeden (53.96, NCAA `B'), Bishop (56.46) and Wadden (56.78) returned the Cardinal to the lead and a dominating diving performance by Hostage to win the 3-meter (308.15) increased the margin to 140-126.

Stanford put the meet out of reach when Breeden (2:00.51, NCAA `B') and Liz Smith (2:01.50, NCAA `B') finished first and second in the 200 IM as Breeden broke the pool record.

The Cardinal closed out the meet with a win in the 200 free as a team of O'Donnell-McCarthy, Bishop, Smit and Dwelley broke the pool record with an NCAA `B' time of 1:32.14.

Special thanks to Stanford for contributing this report.

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