NCAA Swimming Championships : On a Record Day, Stanford Pulls Away

Stanford, seeking its first NCAA men’s swimming and diving title since 1967, took command of the 62nd championships Friday night behind the American record-shattering performance of Olympian Pablo Morales.

The depth-laden Cardinal team piled up 266 points with just one day left. Defending champion Florida was in second place with 209, followed by Texas with 191, California with 187 and USC with 135.

Three American records fell Friday night, including Morales’ 100-yard butterfly mark of 46.64 seconds, which he set earlier in he day. Morales bettered that time by winning the final in 46.52, with Texas A&M;’s Chris O’Neil second in 47.48.

“We’ve got the ball rolling to the championship, and we’re getting more confidence,” Morales said. “A lot of things can still happen, but we’re happy with the way things are going.”

Thomas Jager of UCLA won the 100-yard backstroke in 48.21 to break the record of 48.25 set by Texas’ Rick Carey in 1983. Stanford’s Dave Bottom took second place in 48.68.

“I know Rick, and we are good friends, but it is a great feeling to break his record, especially at Texas,” Jager said.

California’s Matt Biondi broke the 200-yard freestyle record of 1:33.80 set by Auburn’s Rowdy Gaines with a time of 1:33.22.

Stanford’s Jeff Kostoff took first place in the 400-yard individual medley relay in 3:47.11. But he was clocked in 3:46.54 in the afternoon trials to better the American record of 3:47.79 set by Florida’s Patrick Kennedy in 1984.

The Cardinal procession to the victory stand continued when Olympian John Moffet won the 100-yard breaststroke in 53.62.

“The atmosphere on our team has been just great,” Moffet said. “It’s not uptight. People are just having fun.”

California, with Biondi on the anchor, won the 400-yard freestyle in 2:53.15. UCLA holds the American record, swimming the race in the identical time in 1982.

Favored UCLA was disqualified from the event during Friday’s preliminaries because of a false start.