July 20, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

Cardinal swimmers shine at Evans meet

by Rick Eymer

Stanford senior swimmer and U.S. Olympian Dana Kirk won two events and Stanford grad Peter Marshall grabbed one title at the Janet Evans Invitational over the weekend at USC's McDonald Swim Stadium.

The Invitational was the final of four Grand Prix events (which also included stops at Stanford and Santa Clara) leading up to the FINA World Championships in Montreal and the World University Games in Izmir, Turkey.

Marshall, along with Stanford juniors Kyle Ransom and Shaun Phillips will compete in Turkey beginning Aug. 12.

Kirk won both the 100 fly and 200 fly during the four-day event. She swam the 100 fly in 1:00.64 on Sunday after wining the 200 fly on Friday in 2:11.86.

Marshall, a three-time NCAA champion and school record holder in the 100 back, took top honors in the 100 back with a 55.39. He also finished fifth in the 200 back in 2:05.21.

Stanford sophomore Brooke Bishop swam a pair of personal best marks to finish second to Kirk in the 100 fly (1:01.60) and second to Aya Terakawa in the 100 back (1:03.20). She was also second in the 50 free with a 26.44.

Stanford junior Hongzhe Sun recorded a second place finish and two third-place finishes. He was second in the 200 back in 2:02.67, and third in the 100 back (55.83) and 200 individual medley (2:04.77).

Phillips, who holds the Stanford record in the 500 free, recorded a 4:00.61 in finishing third in the 400 free and then swam a 16:08.94 to finish sixth in the 1,500 free. Ransom was sixth in the 100 free with a 52.37. Cardinal junior Andy Grant was seventh in 52.63.

Softball

After losing in international competition for the first time in over three years, the United States National Team roared back to win three in a row to reach Monday night's championship game against Japan at the World Cup of Softball in Oklahoma City.

Stanford grad Jessica Mendoza has a batting average of .300 with a home run and four RBI, and two stolen bases, in the four games.

Mendoza drove in USA's only run in a 2-1 loss to Canada on Thursday as the Americans collected just five hits, two by Caitlin Lowe.

It was the Americans first loss since July 4, 2002 when Japan won, 6-1, in the U.S. Cup.

Both of Canada's runs were unearned. Three-time collegiate All-American Alicia Hollowell combined with Jaime Southern and Jennie Finch to allow five hits and two walks. The trio recorded eight strikeouts.

Team USA beat Australia on Friday, 3-1, scoring all its runs in the first inning without benefit of a hit. Mendoza scored a run on a wild pitch.

Cat Osterman struck out 14 in pitching a one-hitter.

Mendoza had two hits and drove in three runs in the Americans' 11-3 victory over China on Saturday. Her three-run homer in the second made it 6-1. Vicky Galindo also had two hits and drove in three runs.

The U.S. clinched a spot in the title game with a 7-0 victory over Japan on Sunday as Galindo hit a grand slam and Finch tossed a two-hitter with eight strikeouts.

"That's more like USA softball," coach Mike Candrea said. "It was a combination of a good pitching performance and good solid defense."

Through the first four games, the Americans have outscored their opponents, 22-6, including a 16-1 edge in the first two innings.

Team USA is hitting .333 with four home runs and a slugging percentage of .548. UCLA grad Stacey Nuveman has two homers.

The pitching staff was an ERA of 0.58 with 37 strikeouts in 24 innings. They have yet to allow an extra base hit and are limiting opponents to a .165 average.

Beach volleyball

Stanford grad Kerri Walsh continued to add to her gold collection as she combined with Misty May-Treanor to beat Greece's Thalia Koutroumanidou and Maria Tsiartsiani, 21-12, 21-13, on Saturday to win the gold medal at the Portugal Open.

The Olympic champions won their 17th SWTACH-FIVB World Tour title and shared the first-place prize of $32,000, needing just 34 minutes to win.

"We still are not as sharp as we would like to be," Walsh said. "We have been constantly on the move with practice, physical training and outside responsibilities."

Walsh and May-Treanor are unbeaten in 13 international matches this season and improved to 192-27 with $730,140 in career earnings. Only the Brazilian team of Shelda Bede and Adriana Behar have won more titles and earned more money.

Women's basketball

Led by a record-setting performance from Stanford sophomore Candice Wiggins, the United States Under-19 national team swept its first three games at the World Championships in Tunis, Tunisia over the weekend.

Wiggins sank a record seven 3-pointers and matched the record with 28 points in leading the Americans past the Congo, 124-37, on Saturday.

She also scored 21 points in a 94-68 victory over Serbia and Montenegro on Sunday. Team USA opened with a 98-65 victory over Russia on Friday.

Wiggins credited USA assistant coach Felisha Leggette-Jack with helping her set the record against the Congo.

"She was talking about just being relaxed," said the All-American and Pac-10 Player of the Year. "The offense we run is really focused on our post players and getting the ball inside. In this game I just relaxed, and for me, if I relax, I shoot pretty well. It was nice to be in a rhythm."

The U.S. set or tied seven team records in the victory. The Americans also set the team scoring mark, highest field goal percentage (.063), most 3-pointers made (15) and attempted (25), highest 3-poin shooting percentage (.600), most assists (31) and matching the record with 66 rebounds.

Wiggins accomplished her feat in 19 minutes. No one played more than 20 minutes in the game, and five players reached double figures.

"Our team is so hard to defend because we can have scoring from everyone," Wiggins said. "Every game someone is going to step up. That's the best part of our team."

The United States was scheduled to meet Puerto Rico on Tuesday night and complete the preliminary round on Wednesday night against South Korea. The medal round begins Friday.

Wiggins scored 11 points and had a team-high three assists in the win over Russia.

Women's golf

Stanford freshman Mari Chun reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links on the Swope Memorial Golf Course in Kansas City before losing to Jane Rah of Torrence, 2-up, on Saturday.

Chun, the co-medalist on Friday, won two close matches to reach the quarterfinals.

She took her first lead over Renee Skidmore on the 17th hole and won, 1-up. She then came back to fend off UCLA junior Hannah Jun, 1-up.

Men's basketball

Stanford received a verbal commitment, according to www.scout.com, from Corpus Christi's Will Paul, a 6-foot-9 power forward out of Calallen High School after his application was accepted by the school in early July.

"That's where I wanted to go," Paul told theBootleg.com. "I knew I wanted to verbally commit before I was accepted, so it was just a matter of waiting to get accepted."

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