Feb. 27, 2004
LONG BEACH, Calif. -- In the penultimate night of competition at the 2004 Pac-10 Women's Swimming Championship, Kaitlin Sandeno of USC stole the show with a world class performance in the 400 IM. Sandeno devastated the competition in the evening's opener, collecting the victory by a margin of greater than four seconds for a Pac-10 meet record.
In the team standings, Stanford is out in front with 952.5 points. Following the Cardinal are UCLA (844) in second, Arizona (821) in third, California (740) in fourth, Arizona State (642) in fifth, USC (501) in sixth, Washington (300) in seventh, Oregon State (264.5) in eighth and Washington St. (196) in ninth.
In a swim worthy of her billing as one of the top IM artists in the country, Sandeno recorded the win with a blistering 4:05.74 to break the meet record of 4:07.27 set by Stanford's Summer Sanders in 1992. The six-time US National Champion in the 400m IM won the conference title in this event for the second year running.
Spots two through six all earned NCAA automatic times with Arizona's Emily Mason in second (4:09.53), Stanford's Kristin Caverly in third (4:11.66), Oregon State's Mari Embertson in fourth (4:14.80), UCLA's Kim Scarborough in fifth (4:15.49) and California's Natalie Griffith in sixth (4:15.54). NCAA consideration times were recorded by Stanford's Laura Davis is seventh (4:17.28) and Arizona State's Cara DeVinny in eighth (4:17.79).
In the 100 butterfly, the third-place finisher last year, Dana Kirk of Stanford, took home top honors touching the wall in 52.30, better than a second faster than her nearest competitor. The top three spots earned NCAA "A" times with UCLA's Kim Vandenberg (53.50) and Kristen Lewis (53.52) earning second and third respectively.
In the 200 freestyle, Arizona State's Florencia Szigeti won her first Pac-10 title with an impressive victory by over a half a second (1:46.46) and bettered the ASU school record she set earlier in the day during the preliminary session. California's Ashley Chandler finished second (1:46.97) with Stanford's Lacey Boutwell in third (1:47.00). Malin Svahnstrom of UCLA earned the final NCAA automatic time in this event, finishing fourth in a time of 1:47.08.
Stanford's Tara Kirk and Arizona State's ?gnes Kov?cs once again battled it out for the top two spots in the 100 breaststroke with Kirk touching the wall first in a time of 59.14 to Kov?cs' 1:00.56. The top three was completed with Arizona's Jessica Wagner (1:01.80) while Oregon State's Birte Steven (1:01.88) rounded out the quartet of NCAA times.
The 100 backstroke went to three-time defending NCAA champion and American record holder Natalie Coughlin of California in a time of 51.91. The overwhelming favorite, Coughlin holds the World Records in both the short course and long course 100m backstroke events. Second place went to Katie Arnold of UCLA in an NCAA qualifying time of 53.75 with third place claimed by Arizona's Marshi Smith (54.55).
The closing event of the night was the 400 medley relay. The win went to Stanford's squad of Megan Baumgartner, Tara Kirk, Dana Kirk and Lacey Boutwell in a time of 3:35.93 and was the only NCAA automatic time notched in this event. Cal finished second (3:38.65) with Arizona earning third-place honors (3:39.36).
Team Scores After Day 3 1 Stanford 952.5 2 UCLA 844 3 Arizona 821 4 California 740 5 Arizona State 642 6 USC 501 7 Washington 300 8 Oregon State 264.5 9 Washington St.196