Continuing a streak that began before its current members were born, the men’s swimming and diving team nabbed its 25th consecutive Pac-10 championship on March 4 with strong performances from Ben Wildman-Tobriner and Hongzhe Sun. The two juniors then led the Cardinal to a third-place finish at the NCAA championships March 23-25.
At the NCAAs, Sun, the 200-meter backstroke Pac-10 champ, notched a career-best 1:40.25, and Wildman-Tobriner set a new Stanford and personal record of 42.7 in the 100-meter freestyle. Both performances were good enough for second place. Junior Shaun Phillips also broke his own school record in the 500-meter free with a time of 4:14.20, a sixth-place finish, and freshman Paul Kornfeld shone with a season-best 1:54.41 in the 200-meter breaststroke, good enough for third.
The women’s team took fifth at the NCAAs, furthering its own 25-year streak of placing within the top six. The 400-meter freestyle relay team of Brooke Bishop, ’08, Madeline Rovira, ’09, Desiree Stahley, ’07, and Olympian Dana Kirk, ’06, rocketed past the USC Women of Troy in the consolation finals with a season-best 3:18.84.
“It was awesome to be able to hold USC off today,” said head coach Lea Maurer, ’94, MA ’95, after the event. “It was a testimony to our team’s focus and character, and the desire to swim at our best when we are swimming for the team.”
