The No. 2 Stanford men’s swimming and diving team (5-0, 2-0 Pacific-10 Conference) has formed the habit of winning. Well, old habits die hard, and no opponent seems to be giving this one the boot.

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Junior Tobias Oriwol and the Stanford men's swim team were slightly confused over their most recent ranking at No. 2. According to the Cardinal, though, the change in the standings won't affect their attitudes when it really counts. #gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/4458
Nina Gonzaludo

Junior Tobias Oriwol and the Stanford men's swim team were slightly confused over their most recent ranking at No. 2. According to the Cardinal, though, the change in the standings won't affect their attitudes when it really counts.

Winners of 37 consecutive dual meets dating back to the 1999-2000 season, when the Cardinal lost a nail-biter to Texas, Stanford is seeking to keep its streak alive as it hosts No. 7 Southern California (4-1, 2-0 Pac-10) at the Avery Aquatic Center Saturday afternoon.

Stanford swimmers are confident heading into their final home meet of the season against the recently dethroned Trojans. One month ago USC sat atop the polls, only to be soundly defeated by a strong distance-swimming Michigan team. The Cardinal trounced the Wolverines less than a week later, 136-102.

“We’ve been able to do whatever is necessary to get wins,” senior co-captain Matt McDonald said. “Different people have stepped up in every meet and that will continue to happen against USC.”

The Cardinal have won their past seven meets against the Trojans, with Stanford's last defeat coming during the 1996-1997 season.

Strength through depth has been the trump card all season for the Cardinal, and the emergence of young swimmers has proven to be a great part of the winning formula for coach Skip Kenney. Stanford’s exceptional sophomore class —including Hongzhe Sun, Ben Wildman-Tobriner, Andy Grant, Shaun Phillips, Matt Crowe, Keenan Newman and Kyle Ransom — has contributed to each of Stanford’s five wins.

The freshmen are also coming on strong, and as the end of the season draws near, they could prove crucial to the Cardinal’s postseason success.

“We’ve worked primarily on race strategies earlier in the year, now it’s just time to race and see how all the work pays off,” McDonald said. “It should be fun to see our freshman improve every week from here on out.”

The race to finish at the elusive No. 1 position at the end of the season has presented some drama this past week. The previously top-ranked Cardinal dropped down to No. 2 – defending national champion Auburn (8-0) took over the top spot – despite decisively routing two strong Arizona schools.

“We were perplexed when we saw the latest rankings, especially considering our great performances in Arizona,” senior Gary Marshall said. “While mid-season rankings are not as important as our finish at the end of the year, they definitely provide motivation to excel.”

Despite the disappointing news, the Cardinal are still upbeat and concentrating on preparing to swim well at the Pac-10 and NCAA Championships.

“There’s always motivation to perform, to strike fear in your opponents, but I don’t see being bumped to No. 2 as a change in our attitude,” McDonald said. “We are more focused on the end-of-season swims at the Pac-10’s and NCAA’s and how we can contribute individually to team goals. Dual meet rankings are a nice indicator of how we’re doing, but they aren’t the end all.”

Though USC will provide rare top-notch competition, Stanford is bent on swimming fast and having fun in the seniors’ last collegiate meet on the Farm. In doing so, the Cardinal will face some of the fastest competitors they have seen all year, with Trojan sophomore olympian Larsen Jensen and junior Ous Mellouli already having performed NCAA “A” cut times.

Deemed a meet in preparation for the Cardinal’s Big Swim at cross-bay rival California, Marshall is ready to give his last collegiate meets his all.

“This meet is a warm-up for Cal,” Marshall said. “They will be our biggest challenge and would love nothing more than to beat us. I can’t wait to disappoint them in two weeks.”

Stanford will visit Cal on Feb. 19, before heading off to the Pac-10 Championships to be held March 2-5. NCAA Championships will be held March 24-26.

As the Cardinal finish the regular season, 39 consecutive dual meet wins and a 63-3 record since the 1997-1998 season are in sight.