Oct. 20, 2012
STOCKTON, Calif. - Stanford posted a clean sweep with victories in each of Saturday's nine events during the 21st annual Pacific Invitational held at the Chris Kjeldsen Aquatics Complex.
Stanford only competed on the latter of the two-day event, but totaled 1,063 points which ranked second among the four-team field. Pacific (1,079) finished ahead of the Cardinal, BYU (681) and UC Santa Cruz (179).
Gary Umbach notched a pair of individual victories while contributing to a first-place relay effort in Stanford's season opener.
"There were some very good and competitive swims by our team including several top collegiate times to date," Stanford Goldman Family Director of Men's Swimming Ted Knapp said. "All in all, it was very encouraging for this time of year considering the workload the team is dealing with. The performances by our relays were indicative of a great team attitude."
The Cardinal returns to competitive action with its Nov. 2 home opener against Wisconsin at the Avery Aquatic Center.
Stanford's A-unit (Aaron Wayne, Ben Lovell, Jeff Garnier and Jack Lane) opened the day by going 1:23.10 to win the 200 free relay, finishing ahead of Andrew Saeta, Sean Duggan, Cole Davis and Christian Brown, who teamed for second-place honors in 1:23.52.
Umbach (1:48.58) won the 200 fly in front of Mack Montgomery (1:48.84) and Tom Kremer (1:49.98) as Stanford claimed the top seven spots in the event.
The 100 free was just as fruitful for the Cardinal, who staked the first nine slots in the event with Wayne (43.65) coming out on top. Saeta (44.60) was second in front of Duggan (45.57).
Nine Cardinal swimmers filled the top nine spots in the 200 individual medley with Lane picking up the win in 1:50.88. Umbach was close behind in 1:50.97 and Will Gunderson (1:51.11) took third.
David Nolan (4:24.50), Danny Thomson (4:26.68) and Montgomery (4:30.42) were the first three Stanford swimmers to finish the 500 free as the Cardinal dominated the event by capturing the first 12 slots in the standings.
Matt Thompson (1:46.03) won the 200 back as Matthew Swanston (1:46.99) took silver. Gunderson (1:48.31) was third.
The 200 breast title went to Mason Shaw (2:01.91), who touched in front of second-place Gunderson (2:05.57) and third-place Robert Hommel (2:06.89).
Umbach's second win on the day came behind the strength of a 49.07 in the 100 fly, edging out Kremer (49.70) and Swanston (50.50) among the trio of top-finishing Cardinal.
Capping off the season-opener with a victory in the 800 free relay was the quartet of Hommel, Nolan, Chris Pickard and Thomas Stephens in 6:33.54. Stanford took the next three spots in the race with respective times of 6:34.24, 6:49.61 and 6:52.41.