March 19, 2012

Release | Live Swim Stats | Live Dive Stats

First in the Water...
Stanford Swimming, the only program to finish fourth or better in every championship since 1981, will look to win its ninth NCAA title when it embarks on the three-day NCAA Championships in Federal Way, Wash., home to this year’s Pac-12 Diving and Women’s Championships. The Cardinal were last in action two weeks ago, winning the conference title for the 31st-straight year. This year’s Cardinal features national top-five times in all five relays, the nation’s fastest 1650 freestyler in 2010 NCAA Champion Chad La Tourette, freshman David Nolan who leads the nation with the fastest 100 back and who also ranks No. 2 in the 200 IM and 200 Back and Zone champion Kristian Ipsen, who tallied the highest 1- and 3-meter diving scores in the nation.

Winning Ways
Stanford swimming has now won 31-straight conference titles, continuing the longest streak in Pac-10/Pac-12 history. Since Kenney took over the program, the Cardinal are the only program in the nation to have finished in the top three at the national meet 26 times and never lower than fourth since 1981. It has also won seven national titles under Kenney. Stanford’s last NCAA title came in 1998. Last year the Cardinal were third.

Endowed Coaching Position
The head coaching position for the men’s swim team is now endowed, courtesy of a gift from Marcia and John Goldman. The Goldmans endowed the gift last spring. John is a 1975 graduate of Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.  Additionally, John is a long-time Athletics Department volunteer and is a past chairman of the Stanford Athletics Board.

Kenney at the Helm
Three-time Olympic coach, six-time NCAA Coach of the Year and 21-time Pac-10 Coach of the Year, Goldman Family Director of Swimming Skip Kenney is in his 33rd season at the helm of the Stanford program.

Veteran Coaches
Dr. Rick Schavone is in his 34th year as the team’s diving coach and is a three-time NCAA Diving Coach of the Year. Schavone has coached eight NCAA individual titles-- all on the women’s side. Former All-American Ted Knapp is in 28th season, earning college swimming’s inaugural national assistant coach of the year award in 2011. Knapp has coached 19 Olympians and 10 swimmers who have set 20 world records.

Experience at the Top
The NCAA podium are no stranger to three Stanford upperclassmen. Senior Chad La Tourette won the 2010 title in the 1650 free and was a runner-up as a freshman and junior. Senior Bobby Bollier was twice a runner-up last season in the 500 free and 200 fly. Junior sprinter Aaron Wayne is the lone holdover from last year’s title winning 200 free relay team.

Conference Rewind
Stanford won its 31st-straight Pac-12 title thanks to six individual titles and three relay crowns. Freshman David Nolan was named the swimmer of the meet after setting carer-best bests across the board in winning the 100 and 200 back as well as the 200 IM. Nolan was also a part of all three winning relays. Chad La Tourette became a four-time champion in the 1650 free and also picked up a 500 free win. Freshman Drew Cosgarea won the 400 IM, continuing a streak of three-straight years the Cardinal have won that event at the conference meet.

Ipsen Zones In
Freshman Kristian Ipsen, who won all 12 regular season 1- and 3-meter events, swept through the 1- and 3-meter events at Zones. He was also eighth in his first ever collegiate platform. Ipsen with a 930.90, was the only diver in the 3-meter nationally to score over 900. He was one of eight over 800. In the 1-meter, his 823.10 scores was one of two scores over 800, joining Hayden Jones (811.10). Arizona’s Ben Grado swept through the Pac-12 Championships with Ipsen away with Team USA in London, where he and partner Troy Dumais were sixth in the 3-meter synchro. Ipsen and Dumais also won a silver at Pan Ams in the fall.

Seniors’ Last Go Around
Stanford features 10 seniors on its roster led by 11-time All-American Bobby Bollier, 10-time All-American David Mosko and nine-time breast stroke All-American Curtis Lovelace. Mosko and Bollier have both finished in the top-16 in the 500 free or the 200 butterfly throughout their careers.

Last Go Around for La Tourette
During his four-year career Chad La Tourette has won an NCAA title in the 1650 free (2010), was an NCAA runner-up twice (2009 and 2011) and won four-straight Pac-10/12 titles in the 1650 free. He also went 25-1 in four seasons in dual competition in the 1000, 1650 and 500 free. He closed out his career by winning 23-straight long distance dual events, with the lone loss to his own teammates his freshman year.

Charting the Field
Freestyle Sprints-- Aaron Wayne ranks No. 6 in the 100 free (42.77) and 13th overall in the 50 free (19.55). Wayne has two top-16 finishes to his career, both in the 200 free relay. Wayne is slated to leadoff both the 200 free relay (No. 4 nationally) and 400 free relay (No. 4). In the 200 free, Stanford has three swimmers in the top-25 led by David Nolan and his No. 7-ranked time of 1:34.40.

Mid and Long Distance Free-- Distance specialist Chad La Tourette has the nation’s fastest 1650 free time (14:41.90), two and four seconds faster than two Michigan sophomores. David Mosko ranks No. 11 (4:18.00) and sophomore Bryan Offutt (No. 20) make an appearance as well. Freshman Drew Cosgarea is five seconds shy of the top-16 in the 1650 free.
Backstroke-- David Nolan has the natioin’s fastest time in the 100 back (45.76) in front of Arizona’s Mitchell Friedemann (45.86) and Cory Chitwood (45.94) in what has a Pac-12 top-four entering the weekend. In the 200 back, Nolan (No. 2), Matthew Swanston (No. 7) and Matt Thompson (No. 10) all rank in the top-10 for the Cardinal at 1:42.56 or better.

Breaststroke-- The last go around for Curtis Lovelace has the senior ranking No. 15 in the 200 breast (1:55.67). Lovelace has finished in the top-16 in each event in each of his three seasons.

Butterfly-- Bobby Bollier has the nation’s sixth-fastest 200 fly time (1:43.47) and freshman Jack Lane makes an appearance on the 100 fly list at No. 24 with a time of 46.88. But take a look at the record books, four Cardinal rank in the Stanford top-15 in the 100 fly and Bollier and David Mosko rank 1-2 all-time in the 200 fly.
 
Individual Medley-- Freshman David Nolan’s time of 1:42.52 is No. 2 to Arizona’s Cory Chitwood (1:41.92) in the 200 IM as those two Pac-12 foes are the swimmers to beat. Nolan won the 200 IM title at Pac-12s. Drew Casgarea (3:44.97) and Matt Thompson (3:45.65) rank sixth and seventh in the 400 IM. Cosgarea is the defending Pac-12 champion in the 400 IM.

Relays-- Stanford is the only team in the country with all five of its relays ranking in the top-five nationally. Stanford is No. 2 in the 400 medley relay, No. 3 in the 800 free relay, No. 4 in the the 200 and 400 free relays and No. 5 in the 200 medley relay. Auburn, which leads the nation in the 200 free relay has five top-seven times and Cal, which is No. 1 in the 400 free relay, has five top-six times. Texas has four times ranked in the top-five, while USC has three. In the free relays, Cal, USC and Stanford all rank in the top-five in both relays with the shorter relay won by Stanford and the longer one, won by Cal at this year’s Pac-12’s. The Cardinal are ranked No. 3 nationally in the 800 free relay (6:18.99) with Nolan and Mosko book ending the Pac-12 champion team.

Diving-- According to divemeets.com, Ipsen has the highest average score (65.6) in the 1-Meter over Texas’ Matthew Cooper (63.9), Indiana’s Zach Nees (62.5) and Arizona’s Ben Grado (62.2). In the 3-Meter, Ipsen’s score of 74.8 leads the pack followed by Cooper (70.6), Texas’ Drew Livingston (70.5) and Missouri’s David Bonuchi (69.9).