The Stanford men’s swim team will travel to Southern California tomorrow for the three-day UC-Irvine sponsored Nike Cup Invite held from Nov. 15-17. The meet will take place at the Belmont Olympic Plaza in Long Beach, a facility with a history of elite swimming. The Cardinal has won the event four years in a row.

Also competing during the weekend will be the dive team; the men will compete at the Purdue Invitational running from Nov. 16-18 in West Lafayette, Ind.

The Nike Cup features 17 teams from all NCAA divisions, including some stiff Division I competition: Brigham Young, UC-Irvine, Air Force, Pacific, UC-Davis and Cal State Northridge will all be competing against the Cardinal. D-II UC-San Diego and D-III UC-Santa Cruz will represent their respective divisions.

Going into the meet, No. 3 Stanford has racked up two victories so far on the year: wins over LSU (139-123) and Washington (132-82).

“Team goals are fairly simple, as they are quite similar year after year,” explained senior Danny Beal. “Win NCAAs (our main competition will be Texas, Auburn and Arizona) and win our 27th consecutive Pac-10 title. In order to accomplish those things, we’ve also set a team goal of having every single person drop time in every event at NCAAs.

“Auburn did that last year and walked away with a victory,” he continued. “Our team is talented enough that if everyone swims their goal times, we’ll win. The team that walks off the deck with the trophy is the one that can get the most swimmers swimming their best times.”

Depth and consistently improving times will be key for Stanford to achieve their goals this season. Stanford has a particularly strong breaststroke squad with junior Chris Ash, senior Karl Boehringer, junior captain Nate Cass, freshman John Criste, senior Egan Gans, junior captain Paul Kornfeld and junior Paul Zaich scoring major points in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke for Stanford at each meet.

Cass and Kornfeld both scored for the Card at NCAA championships in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, with a 2-3 finish in the latter.

Stanford coach Skip Kenney is in his 29th season coaching the Cardinal and is known for his emphasis on team chemistry in a largely individual sport.

“As always, the most important part of finding success at the end of the season is

derived from the atmosphere that we create at the pool within the team environment,” said Zaich.

The Stanford divers will be a big part of the team’s success this year, especially in dual meets where their platform events can score crucial points for the team. Junior diver Dwight Dumais, an NCAA qualifier last year, leads a talented field consisting of freshman Brent Eichenseer, senior Nathan Kim and junior Casey Weston, who are coached by Dr. Rick Schavone, one of the premier diving instructors in the nation.

This will be a big weekend for Stanford, as the mid-season races start heating up after several months of intense training. After the weekend’s action, the Cardinal will be off until the end of the month when it competes at the Texas Invite held in Austin, Texas.