March 26, 1998

AUBURN, Ala. --- Stanford University's 200 yard freestyle relay team set American, U.S. Open and NCAA records en route to a first-place finish at the NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships on Thursday in Auburn, Alabama. The team of Anthony Robinson, Sabir Muhammad, Justin Ewers and Scott Claypool touched the wall in 1:16.76 to shatter the previous American, U.S. Open and NCAA mark of 1:16.93 set by Stanford in 1994.

Stanford won three of the six events in the first day of the three-day competition to take a 29-point lead into Friday. The Cardinal has 183 points, followed by defending national champion Auburn (154), Texas (129), Tennessee (82) and Arizona (64).

"We exceeded expectations today," Stanford head coach Skip Kenney said. "I sort of feel like a basketball coach who is up by 10 points at the half. I feel good, but we have a long way to go.

"It was a total team effort from the coaches to the swimmers. Our guys just need to realize we have two days left and maintain their intensity without getting burned out."

The 200 freestyle relay team established its record in the opening event of the competition. The Cardinal foursome edged Auburn (1:17.19) to jump out to the early lead.

Senior Tom Wilkens brought Stanford its second title of the night when he captured the 200 yard Individual Medley. Wilkens finished in a school record time of 1:45.16 (old record Trip Zedlitz, 1:45.36, 1993) to edge Auburn's Lionel Moreau (1:45.76) and win his second career NCAA title. He also won the 400 IM last year in Minneapolis.

The Cardinal capped the impressive opening night performance with a convincing win in the 400 yard medley relay. The Cardinal team of Tate Blahnik, Wilkens, Muhammad and Dod Wales won in 3:07.73, nearly two seconds better than second-place Auburn (3:09.38).

Stanford swimmers also won all three individual consolation finals contested, with Adam Messner placing inth in the 500 free (4:20.14), Glenn Counts in the 200 IM (1:47.11) and Claypool in the 50 free (19.44).

Competition continues on Friday with the prelims at 9 a.m. (PT) and the finals at 5 p.m. (PT).

Day #1 Finals

Team Scores - 1. Stanford 183, 2. Auburn 154, 3. Texas 129, 4. Tennessee 82, 5. Arizona 64, 6. Georgia 61, 7. California 58, 8. USC 56, 9. Arizona State 49, 10. Florida State 44, 11. Texas A&M 42, 12. SMU 40, 13T. Miami of Florida 38, 13T. Michigan 38, 15. Nebraska 32, 16. Minnesota 24, 17. Harvard 21, 18. LSU 20, 19T. Indiana 16, 19T. Ohio State 16, 21. Cincinnati 15, 22T. Kentucky 12, 22T. Virginia 12, 24, Alabama 9, 25. Florida 7, 26T. Purdue 6, 26T. Eastern Michigan 6, 28. UC Santa Barbara 3, 29. BYU 1.

200 freestyle relay - Finals: 1. Stanford (Anthony Robinson 19.66, Sabir Muhammad 18.79, Justin Ewers 19.39, Scott Claypool 18.32) 1:16.76 (new American, U.S. Open, NCAA and NCAA Meet record; old record of 1:16.93 set by Stanford in 1994; also new pool record), 2. Auburn 1:17.19, 3. Texas 1:18.31, 4. Texas A&M 1:18.42, 5. Arizona State 1:18.63, 6. California 1:18.74, 7. Florida State 1:18.75, 8. Tennessee 1:18.79. Consolation Finals: 9T. SMU 1:19.62, 9T. Georgia 1:19.62, 11. Nebraska 1:19.88, 12. Minnesota 1:19.99, 13. USC 1:20.41, 14. Purdue 1:20.95, 15. Arizona 1:20.99, 16. Harvard 1:26.04.

500 freestyle - Finals: 1. Ryk Neethling (Arizona) 4:13.42 (new pool record), 2. Tom Malchow (Michigan) 4:17.80, 3. Chris Thompson (Michigan) 4:18.75, 4. Jon Younghouse (Texas) 4:19.26, 5. Michael Keidel (Harvard) 4:20.25, 6. Steven Brown (Stanford) 4:20.49, 7. Austin Ramirez (Virginia) 4:21.67, 8. Jamie Rauch (Texas) 4:24.25. Consolation Finals: 9. Adam Messner (Stanford) 4:20.14, 10. Nat Lewis (Kentucky) 4:22.03, 11. Mark Leonard (Eastern Michigan) 4:22.04, 12. Tim Martin (Harvard) 4:22.71, 13. Jeremy Kane (Stanford) 4:23.49, 14. Mark Kwok (USC) 4:24.08, 15. Andy Potts (Michigan) 4:25.41, 16. Robert Justice (Florida) 4:25.91.

200 Individual Medley - 1, Tom Wilkens (Stanford) 1:45.16, 2. Lionel Moreau (Auburn) 1:45.76, 3. Nate Dusing (Texas) 1:46.80, 4. Honza Vitazka (Cincinnati) 1:47.35, 5. Michael Bartz (Auburn) 1:47.52, 6. Tom Klement (Auburn) 1:48.07, 7. Kris Babylon (Georgia) 1:48.20, 8. Chris Bundy (Arizona) 1:48.53. Consolation Finals: 9. Glenn Counts (Stanford) 1:47.11, 10. Chris Counts (Arizona) 1:47.18, 11. Zane Dewitz (Tennessee) 1:47.45, 12. Rob Canales (Stanford) 1:48.05, 13. Shawn McNew (Tennessee) 1:48.47, 14. Owen von Richter (Michigan) 1:49.07, 15. Philippe Demers (USC) 1:49.44, 16. William Shefchik (BYU) 1:49.65.

50 freestyle - Finals: 1. Brendon Dedekind (Florida State) 19.22, 2. Aaron Ciarla (Auburn) 19.45, 3. Sabir Muhammad (Stanford) 19.47, 4. Neil Walker (Texas) 19.55, 5. Anthony Robinson (Stanford) 19.56, 6. Matt Busbee (Auburn) 19.59, 7. Brett Hawke (Auburn) 19.77, 8. Francisco Sanchez (Arizona State) 19.83. Consolation Finals: 9. Scott Claypool (Stanford) 19.44, 10. Jerrod Kappler (Texas A&M) 19.74, 11. Bart Kizierowski (California) 19.80, 12. Michael Colligan (Texas A&M) 19.87, 13. Justin Ewers (Stanford) 19.91, 14. Jason Lezak (UC Santa Barbara) 19.94, 15. Steve Martyak (Texas) 20.06, 16. Craig Gilliam (Tennessee) 20.14.

One-Meter Diving - Finals: 1. Rio Ramirez (Miami of Florida) 630.70, 2. Bryan Gillooly (Miami of Florida) 571.95, 3. Daren Guertin (LSU) 557.10, 4. Judson Campbell (Georgia) 555.15, 5. Michael Collier (Indiana) 554.90, 6. Justin Dumais (USC) 542.25, 7. Daniel Bergman (Nebraska) 541.55, 8. Shannon Roy (Tennessee) 502.05.

400 medley relay - Finals: 1. Stanford (Tate Blahnik 47.09, Tom Wilkens 53.42, Sabir Muhammad 45.09, Dod Wales 42.13) 3:07.73 (new pool record), 2. Auburn 3:09.38, 3. Tennessee 3:10.80, 4. USC 3:10.85, 5. Texas 3:11.44, 6. California 3:11.73, 7. SMU 3:12.15, 8. Arizona 3:13.42. Consolation Finals: 9. Georgia 3:13.41, 10. Minnesota 3:13.58, 11. Ohio State 3:14.32, 12. Arizona State 3:15.54, 13. Nebraska 3:15.66, 14. Florida 3:15.80, 15. LSU 3:17.02, Iowa State DQ.

Day #1 Preliminaries

200 freestyle relay - Finalists: 1. Auburn 1:18.00 (new pool record) 2. Stanford (Sabir Muhammad 19.73, Scott Claypool 19.23, Jed Crowe 19.76, Justin Ewers 19.65) 1:18.35, 3. Texas 1:18.49, 4. Texas A&M 1:18.96, 5. Tennessee 1:19.00, T6. California 1:19.05, T6. Florida State 1:19.05 (Brendon Dedekind 19.40 leadoff relay split; pool record), 8. Arizona State 1:19.11. Consolation Finalists: 9. Georgia 1:19.37, 10. Southern Methodist 1:19.54, 11. Nebraska 1:19.62, 12. USC 1:19.90, 13. Harvard 1:20.19, 14. Minnesota 1:20.23, 15. Purdue 1:20.51, 16. Arizona 1:20.79. Others: 17. Penn State 1:20.82, 18. Florida 1:21.28, 19. Ohio State 1:21.30, 20. Iowa State 1:21.75, 21. LSU 1:22.87.

500 freestyle - Finalists: 1. Tom Malchow (Michigan) 4:18.25 (new pool record), 2. Ryk Neethling (Arizona) 4:18.29, 3. Chris Thompson (Michigan) 4:18.45, 4. Steven Brown (Stanford) 4:18.79, 5. Michael Kiedel (Harvard) 4:19.30, 6. Jon Younghouse (Texas) 4:19.97, 7. Austin Ramirez (Virginia) 4:20.25, 8. Jamie Rauch (Texas) 4:20.28. Consolation Finalists: 9. Nat Lewis (Kentucky) 4:20.76, 10. Adam Messner (Stanford) 4:21.09, 11. Jeremy Kane (Stanford) 4:21.91, 12. Robert Justice (Florida) 4:21.96, 13. Tim Martin (Harvard) 4:22.30, 14. Mark Leonard (Eastern Michigan) 4:23.00, 15. Andy Potts (Michigan) 4:23.35, 16. Mark Kwok (USC) 4:23.39. Others: 17. Bela Szabados (USC) 4:23.96, 18. Reeve Irvin (Georgia) 4:24.20, 19. Romain Barnier (Auburn) 4:24.61, 20T. Tyler Painter (Kansas) 4:25.17, 20T. Arunas Savickas (BYU) 4:25.17, 22. Scott Goldblatt (Texas) 4:25.53, 23. Eric Godsman (Wisconsin) 4:25.59, 24. Miro Vucetic (Syracuse) 4:25.92, 25. Andy Eckerman (Texas) 4:26.08, 26. Bill Bishop (Minnesota) 4:26.10, 27. Matt O'Mara (Stanford) 4:26.94, 28. Michael Windisch (Nebraska) 4:27.02, 29. Denis Sirringhaus (Harvard) 4:27.08, 30. Josh Ilika (USC) 4:27.37, 31. Joe Palmer (Michigan) 4:27.74, 32. Bret Awbrey (USC) 4:28.18, 33. Steve Williams (Michigan) 4:28.51, 34. Mike McWha (Michigan) 4:28.61, 35. Trent Hartl (Kansas) 4:28.87, 36. Beau Weibel (Georgia) 4:29.00, 37. Steven McLeod (Cincinnati) 4:29.87, 38. Chris Mylan (USC) 4:31.84.

200 Individual Medley - Finalists: 1. Tom Wilkens (Stanford) 1:45.88, 2. Michael Bartz (Auburn) 1:46.09, 3. Lionel Moreau (Auburn) 1:46.45, 4. Nate Dusing (Texas) 1:46.88, 5. Honza Vitazka (Cincinnati) 1:47.48, 6. Kris Babylon (Georgia) 1:47.62, 7. Tom Klement (Auburn) 1:47.88, 8. Chris Bundy (Arizona) 1:47.91. Consolation Finalists: 9. Zane Dewitz (Tennessee) 1:47.95, 10. Rob Canales (Stanford) 1:47.97, 11. Chris Counts (Arizona) 1:47.98, 12. Owen von Richter (Michigan) 1:48.16, 13. Shawn McNew (Tennessee) 1:48.28, 14T. Glenn Counts (Stanford) 1:48.45, 14T. Philippe Demers (USC) 1:48.45, 16. William Shefchik (BYU) 1:48.52. Others: 17. Thomas Finsh (Virginia) 1:48.57, 18. Ryan Zahorik (Wisconsin) 1:48.63, 19. Gordan Kozulj (California) 1:48.65, 20. Casey Barrett (SMU) 1:48.73, 21. Erik Scalise (UNLV) 1:48.76, 22. Jason Webb (Virginia) 1:49.04, 23T. Greg Wriede (Harvard) 1:49.06, 23T. Jonathen McLeod (Minnesota) 1:49.06, 25. Dod Wales (Stanford) 1:49.15, 26. Yoav Meril (Minnesota) 1:49.29, 27. Robert Iglinski (Indiana) 1:49.31, 28. Christopher Read (Georgia) 1:49.38, 29. Jason Fox (Ohio State) 1:49.48, 30. Arsenio Lopez (Florida) 1:49.52, 31. Bart Sikora (California) 1:49.58, 32. Bart Wickard (SMU) 1:49.59, 33. Blake Holden (Stanford) 1:49.79, 34. Ben Anderson (Arizona) 1:49.80, 35. Jeff Somensatto (Auburn) 1:49.99, 36. Vilmos Kovacs (Purdue) 1:50.11, 37. Nuk Sirisanont (California) 1:50.24, 38. Dave Denniston (Auburn) 1:50.33, 39. Jarrod Marrs (LSU) 1:50.62, 40. Kevin Northup (Miami of Ohio) 1:50.77, 41. Keith Ebbert (Nebraska) 1:50.81, 42. Marco Minonne (Iowa) 1:50.92, 43. Scott Werner (Michigan) 1:50.98, 44. Bryan Kim (Florida) 1:51.36, 45. Valery Kalmikovs (Nebraska) 1:51.51, 46. Glendon Flint (Arizona) 1:51.64, 47. Devin Howard (Texas A&M) 1:52.53, Keven Kehlenbach (Texas A&M) DQ.

50 freestyle - Finalists: 1. Brendon Dedekind (Florida State) 19.17 (new pool record), 2. Anthony Robinson (Stanford) 19.48, 3. Matt Busbee (Auburn) 19.51, 4. Neil Walker (Texas) 19.54, 5. Aaron Ciarla (Auburn) 19.59, 6T. Brett Hawke (Auburn) 19.63, 6T. Sabir Muhammd (Stanford) 19.63, 8. Francisco Sanchez (Arizona State) 19.67. Consolation Finalists: 9. Scott Claypool (Stanford) 19.70, 10. Bart Kizierowski (California) 19.75, 11. Justin Ewers (Stanford) 19.77, 12. Jerrod Kappler (Texas A&M) 19.80, 13. Jason Lezak (UC Santa Barbara) 19.85, 14. Craig Gilliam (Tennessee) 19.86, 15T. Steve Martyak (Tennessee) 19.92, 15T. Michael Colligan (Texas A&M) 19.92. Others: 17T. Brock Newman (Auburn) 19.93, 17T. Jed Crowe (Stanford) 19.93, 19. Pablo Abal (Arizona State) 19.94, 20. Greg Busse (Auburn) 19.98, 21. Layda Blake (Cincinnati) 20.00, 22T. Robert Brewer (Georgia) 20.01, 22T. Brendan Crowley (Tennessee) 20.01, 24. Mike Williams (USC) 20.02, 25T. Julio Santos (Florida State) 20.03, 25T. Bryan Jones (Texas) 20.03, 27. John Stratman (Georgia) 20.05, 28. Dan Lindstrom (California) 20.06, 29. Adam Engle (Tennessee) 20.15, 30T. Oswaldo Quevedo (Auburn) 20.20, 30T. Brian Esway (Texas) 20.20, 30T. Mike Bittinger (Texas) 20.20, 33. Chip Crush (Auburn) 20.21, 34. Will Moore (California) 20.23, 35T. Dan Draeger (Toledo) 20.27, 35T. David Morrow (Texas A&M) 20.27, 37T. Chris Olafson (Tennessee) 20.28, 37T. Razvan Petcu (Clemson) 20.28, 39. Lance Asti (Tennessee) 20.31, 40T. Mark Bennett (Nebraska) 20.35, 40T. Coley Stickels (Florida) 20.35, 42. Matt McVittie (Florida State) 20.38, 43T. Jeremy Reints (Minnesota) 20.39, 43T. Brian Malich (Ohio State) 20.39, 45T. Brian Hostetler (Penn State) 20.40, 45T. Ted Brisson (North Carolina) 20.40, 47. Ty Bathurst (Minnesota) 20.41, 48T. Casey Quilter (Tennessee) 20.45, 48T. Craig Hutchison (Arizona State) 20.45, 50. Alex Kurmakov (Harvard) 20.46, 51. Brandon Schindler (Minnesota) 20.48, 52. Greg Stacey (Penn State) 20.50, 53. Nathan Stallworth (Texas) 20.51, 54T. Frank Smardo (Purdue) 20.52, 54T. Rodney Panek (Tennessee) 20.52, 56. Eddie Ring (LSU) 20.53, 57. Brent Owen (Tennessee) 20.55, 58. John Cahoy (Minnesota) 20.57, 59. Dan Okoniewski (Penn State) 20.63, 60. Alfred Mansour (Texas A&M) 20.64, 61. Brandon Jernigan (SMU) 20.69, 62. Luis Lopez (Minnesota) 20.71, 63. Alex Shleifman (Nebraska) 20.76, 64. David Foster (Nebraska) 20.84, Jeff Gahan (Iowa State) 20.89.

One-Meter Diving: Semifinalists and Finalists: 1. Rio Ramirez (Miami of Florida) 592.95, 2. Michael Collier (Indiana) 545.75, 3. Bryan Gilloly (Miami of Florida) 535.70, 4. Judson Campbell (Georgia) 513.20, 5. Justin Damais (USC) 504.55, 6. Daniel Bergman (Nebraska) 498.35, 7. Daren Guertin (LSU) 494.10, 8. Shannon Roy (Tennessee) 492.45. Others: 9. Brent Roberts (Alabama) 489.65, 10. Grant Gritzmacher (Texas) 486.40, 11. Gabby Chereches (Tennessee) 486.00, 12. Paco Rivera (Kentucky) 484.45, 13. Mike McIntyre (Ohio State) 481.45, 14. Ryan Harmon (Texas) 476.80, 15. Thomas Davidson (Indiana) 472.95, 16. Chris Mantilla (Miami of Florida) 471.65, 17. Kevin Burke (Maryland) 468.60, 18. Mark Naftanel (Texas A&M) 464.90, 19. Drew Jackson (Penn State) 463.00, 20. Chad Sheldon (South Carolina) 461.40, 21. Justin Wilcock (BYU) 447.10, 22. Simon Chrisander (Iowa) 444.40, 23. John Eisler (Texas) 442.55, 24. Bert Locklin (Nebraska) 438.95, 25. Trey Hart (Georgia) 435.55, 26. William Dobbins (Navy) 433.30, 27. Brett Wilmot (Michigan) 431.00, 28. Chris Alderman (Penn State) 430.75, 29. Alex Wright (Southern Illinois) 426.30, 30. Seth Kane (Penn State) 421.05, 31. Nicholas Smith (Utah) 414.75, 32. David Garrow (Ball State) 399.80, 33. Dustin Jones (Utah) 386.15, 34. Matthew Dahl (Utah) 372.15. Semfinals: 1. Gillooly 209.90, 2. Collier 209.25, 3. Damais 208.95, 4. Ramirez 202.30, 5. Guertin 201.30, 6. Roy 194.65, 7. Campbell 190.00, 8. Bergman 182.20.

400 medley relay - Finalists: 1. Stanford (Tate Blahnik 47.08, 2. Tom Wilkens 53.59, 3. Matthew Pierce 46.36, 4. Dod Wales 42.85) 3:09.88 (new pool record), 2. Tennessee 3:11.28, 3. USC 3:11.52, 4. Auburn 3:12.31, 5. SMU 3:13.20, 6. Arizona 3:13.36, 7. Texas 3:13.49, 8. California 3:13.87. Consolation FInalists: 9. Minnesota 3:14.09, 10. Georgia 3:14.19, 11. Ohio State 3:14.30, 12. Nebraska 3:15.12, 13. Iowa State 3:16.37, 14. LSU 3:16.66, 15. Florida 3:16.69, 16. Arizona State 3:17.54. Others: 17. Michigan 3:17.67, 18. Harvard 3:20.30, 19. Texas A&M 3:21.34, Florida State DQ.