The Stanford men’s swim and dive team took fifth place at the Texas Invitational last week in a competition held on the University of Texas campus in Austin.

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Junior Paul Zaich, a National Team competitor in the 200 breaststroke, and the Cardinal finished fifth at the Texas Invitational in Austin last week. The No. 3 Stanford women finished second in the same meet, highlighted by a school-record-breaking relay and several NCAA qualifying times by both squads. #gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/8299
Stanford Daily File Photo

Junior Paul Zaich, a National Team competitor in the 200 breaststroke, and the Cardinal finished fifth at the Texas Invitational in Austin last week. The No. 3 Stanford women finished second in the same meet, highlighted by a school-record-breaking relay and several NCAA qualifying times by both squads.

Texas captured the title with 704 points, Arizona took second with 610.5 points and Longhorn Aquatics finished third with 393 points. The Invitational featured several U.S. Olympic team members in action. For the Cardinal, junior captain Nate Cass is on the national team for the 200 intermedley and 200 breast while junior Paul Zaich is competing in the 200 breast.

One of the bright spots for the Cardinal was freshman Brent Eichenseer’s continued streak of solid performances as he finished in second on the platform event with a score of 314.45. Eichenseer has placed in the top three at Junior Olympic Nationals twice and also has international experience. He is Stanford’s only freshman diver, complementing junior Dwight Dumais, senior Nathan Kim, and junior Casey Weston. Kim earned a fourth place finish with a score of 284.10 for platform.

The big names of college swimming were all in action at the Texas Invitational including top-ranked Texas, No. 2 Arizona, No. 3 Stanford, No. 6 Tennessee, and No. 25 Southern Methodist. The competition brings in strong sprint squads, which are the key to garnering big points on the 4x50 free, 4x100 free, 4x50 medley, and 4x100 medley relays.

Stanford’s top backstroker, sophomore Eugene Godsoe, firmly established himself as one of the nation’s premier 100 and 200 backstrokers last weekend, when he earned fourth place with a NCAA “B” cut of 1:44.00. Godsoe is also the starting backstroker for the 4x50 medley and 4x100 medley relays, and swims on the sprint freestyle events. Josh Charnin-Aker turned in a preliminary time of 1:49.18 and Scott Lathrope also swam a 1:52.53.

Stanford’s strong 100 free squad turned in quick times as junior Jason Dunford finished eleventh with a 43.85, and freshman Austin Staab followed closely behind with a time of 43.97 in twelfth place. Senior Daniel Beal, who is trying his hand at sprinting this year and vying for a place on the 4x100 free relay, turned in a time of 44.92 during Saturday’s morning preliminaries. Senior captain Phillip Morrison turned in a time of 45.31.

Stanford’s breaststroke squad again turned in a strong performance in the 200 breast as Cass made a NCAA automatic qualifying time of 1:56.86. World record holder in the event, Brendan Hansen, won the yards version of the race by almost four seconds over Cass and two seconds faster than the nearest competitor. Stanford freshman John

Criste followed in sixth in 1:57.57 while junior captain Paul Kornfeld finished in seventh place at 1:58.25. Paul Zaich finished in 11th place with a time of 1:58.69 and junior Chris Ash finished 1:59.29 in 14th place.

“At this point of the season, the team is focusing on the little things that will help us at Pac-10 [championships] and NCAA [championships] like attacking our turns, underwaters, and hard kicking,” Kornfeld explained.

“I am always looking for ways to help the team reach and exceed its potential. Our team goal is for the whole team to get [its] best times at the end of the season.”

Stanford had five competitors in the 200 fly as freshman David Mosko finished in 1:45.92 in fourth place, Josh Charnin-Aker in 11th place with a time of 1:48.38, sophomore Sven Hinrichsen in 18th place at 1:48.98 and Scott Lathrope in 25th with 1:48.43. Morrison came in 28th place with his mark of 1:49.95.

Stanford won’t be back in action until next year on Jan. 25 at Avery Stadium, when it faces Arizona State. The near two-month layoff will give the team a good block of time to train and adjust strokes without interrupting meets, until the spring when they will be tapered, shaved and swimming towards Pac-10 championships, which start on March 5.