SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – No. 8 Stanford kicked off a weekend road trip with a 108-91 win against UC Santa Barbara at Campus Pool on Friday.
Stanford (6-0) puts its six-meet winning streak on the line when it faces No. 4 USC at noon (PT) on Saturday at Uytengsu Aquatics Center
“Some of our swimmers handled the challenge of racing after a five-hour bus ride better than others,” Goldman Family Director of Men’s Swimming Ted Knapp said. “We need to expect to be better tomorrow.”
The Cardinal was on fire right out the gate, taking the first six events on the day, including three by junior David Nolan. Nolan won the 50 free (20.67), 100 fly (49.22) and 200 medley (1:31.26) together with Will Gunderson, Daniel Le and Connor Black.
Underclassmen played a pivotal role once again for the Cardinal as freshman Jimmy Yoder won the 1,000 free (9:20.52) ahead of Drew Consgarea (9:33.82), and sophomore Gray Umbach took the 200 IM (1:50.79) and 100 back (50.51).
Mitch Stoehr claimed the top spot in the 200 free (1:40.12), as Thomas Stevens (1:41.39) and Max Williamson (1:41.62) placed third and fourth, respectively.
Sophomore Tom Kremer placed second in the 100 back (50.54), fourth in the 50 free (21.16) and helped the B-squad to a third-place finish in the 200 medley (1:32.51) with Ryan Arata, Mason Shaw and Umbach.
The Cardinal was edged out in the 100 free by Santa Barbara’s Ryan Hanni and Lucas Norman as Connor Black (45.95) finished third for Stanford.
Santa Barbara closed out the day with a pair of victories in the 100 breast and 400 free relay, but it was the Cardinal’s strong opening that squashed any chance of a Gaucho comeback.