PACIFIC 10 SWIMMING : Stanford Widens Its Margin by Winning Five of Seven Events

Stanford won five of seven events Tuesday to increase its lead at the Pacific 10 Conference men’s swim championships at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach.

The Cardinal has 626 points, well ahead of second-place UCLA, which has 440. USC is third with 405 points.

Stanford opened the session by winning the 200-yard medley relay with a conference record time of 1:28.54. Arizona was second.

In the next event, Dave Wharton of USC waited until the last 25 yards to pull away from the field in the 400-yard individual medley. Wharton’s time of 3:51.10 was under the NCAA qualifying standard, but not as fast as Wharton wanted to go.

“I’d hoped to be under 3:50, but my backstroke and breaststroke need a little work,” said Wharton, the NCAA champion in the 200- and 400-yard individual medley events the past two years.

Stanford won the next two events when seniors Doug Lillydahl and John Witchel won the 100-yard butterfly and the 200-yard freestyle, respectively. Lillydahl pulled away from the pack with 25 yards remaining, winning in a lifetime best of 47.63. Keith Dennison of Arizona State was second.

“This time rearranges my goals,” said Lillydahl. “I hoped to break 48. This was my best time by nearly a second.”

Witchel out-touched UCLA sophomore Brian Kurza at the finish, with a time of 1:36.61.

In the 100-yard breaststroke, UCLA sophomore Andrea Cecchi held off Stanford’s Sam Schwartz and Matt Rodgers to win in an NCAA qualifying time of 54.32.

The last individual event of the night, the 100-yard backstroke, pitted three UCLA swimmers against three Stanford swimmers. Cardinal swimmers went 1-3-5, led by sophomore Jeff Rouse, who out-touched Bruin Mark Thompson, 48.89-48.97.

The meet concludes tonight, with finals starting at 6 p.m.