The No. 2 Stanford men’s swim team wons its 26th consecutive Pacific-10 Conference Championship title Friday, tromping its regional competition with 990.5 team points. California finished second with 657 points, and Arizona rounded out the top three with 625.

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Bernard Bluhm

Senior Hongzhe Sun helped lead the Cardinal in the Pac-10 Championships

The Cardinal’s impressive performance included six individual titles, four relay titles and 18 NCAA-qualifying times. Senior Ben Wildman-Tobriner was named the Pac-10 Swimmer of the Meet, having racked up three individual titles over the course of the four-day competition.

“It feels good [to be the Pac-10 Swimmer of the Meet], obviously, but the Pac-10 is really just a stepping stone to the NCAA,” Wildman-Tobriner said. “It’s an honor, but it confirms that I’m on the right track.”

No. 2 Stanford started off the meet with an early victory in the 200 medley relay. Wildman-Tobriner, senior Hongzhe Sun and sophomores Paul Kornfeld and Jason Dunford captured first with a time of 1:26.07. After day one of competition, the Cardinal held an early lead with 74 team points, but was followed closely by Arizona (72), Cal (66), Southern California (60) and Arizona State (56).

Day two opened up with the 500 freestyle in which Larsen Jensen racked up valuable points for USC with a first-place finish at 4:13.52. Stanford seniors Shaun Phillips and Andy Grant took second and third at 4:18.00 and 4:21.04, respectively. In the 200 IM, first place went to Adam Ritter of Arizona, who finished with a time of 1:45.51. Stanford again swept up the following spots, with sophomore Nate Cass taking second at 1:45.91 and Sun taking third at 1:46.12.

The Cardinal wrapped up the day with first-place finishes in the last three events. In the 50 freestyle, Wildman-Tobriner came in with a time of 19.23, followed by Cal’s Jernej Godec at 19.75. In the 200 freestyle relay, Wildman-Tobriner, Dunford and seniors Kyle Ransom and Matt Crowe posted a time of 1:17.50. Cal again finished second with William Copeland, Jernej Godec, Nathan Adrian and Mark Whittington coming in at 1:18.05. Day two closed with Stanford still leading at 352 points, trailed by Cal (229) and Arizona (217).

Wildman-Tobriner continued his outstanding performance on day three with a first-place finish in the 100 butterfly with a time of 46.00. In the 200 freestyle, Cal made some valuable gains with Dominik Meichtry placing first in the 200 freestyle at 1:33.82. Stanford’s Grant came in second at 1:34.46, and Arizona’s Nicolas Oliviera rounded out the top at 1:34.78. Cal had similar success in the 100 backstroke, where David Russell pulled out a narrow victory against Stanford’s Sun; Russell came in first with a time 46.93, followed very closely by Sun at 47.08.

The Card had another strong showing in the 100 breaststroke, with Kornfeld coming in first and Nate Cass finishing third, with times of 52.75 and 53.97, respectively. The Card ended the day with a solid performance in the 400 medley relay: Sun, Kornfeld, Dunford and Wildman-Tobriner captured first with a time of 3:07.32. By the end of day three, Stanford had widened its lead to more than 200 points — a total of 655.5 points — leading Arizona (433) and Cal (429).

Day four began with the 200 butterfly, in which Sun captured his first top finish of the meet with a time of 1:41.86. Cal swept up the second and third spots with David Russell and Mark Eckert posting times of 1:43.12 and 1:44.59, respectively. Wildman-Tobriner earned his third individual first-place finish in the 100 freestyle with a time of 42.51. Crowe placed second at 43.10 and Arizona’s Oliviera placed third at 43.31. In the 200 breaststroke, Stanford snagged the top three spots, with sophomore Chris Ash coming in first at 1:58.87, Kornfeld in second at 1:58.88 and senior Keenan Newman in third at 1:58.98. The Stanford streak ended with the final event of the meet, the 200-Yard Butterfly, but by then the Cardinal had already taken a commanding lead.

“A major team strength is that we’re really talented as a team,” Wildman-Tobriner said. “We have a lot of guys that can swim a lot of events, and that have the potential to be really fast. It makes for a very exciting dynamic.”

Stanford will compete in the NCAA Championships, Mar. 15-17 at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center in Minneapolis.

“There’s going to be some pretty intense competition, but I think we’re among the best teams in the nation,” Wildman-Tobriner said. “It’s going to come down to having our entire team clicking, and that’s what we’re going to try to prepare for in the next couple of weeks.”