With one of the most impressive streaks in all of the NCAA, the Stanford men’s swim team won the Pac-10 Swimming Championships for the 27th straight year this past weekend in Long Beach, Calif. The Cardinal faced stiff competition from the likes of Arizona and Cal.

Stanford finished well ahead of the Wildcats and Bears though, with 865 points to Cal’s 769 and Arizona’s 748.5.

“Stanford is always competing for a national title,” said junior Dan Priestly. “There is always a chance, and never a guarantee. . . .The underclassmen have really stepped up and made this team a contender.”

Sophomore Eugene Godsoe was the lone backstroker for Stanford in the competition, placing fourth in the 200 backstroke and third in the 100 backstroke to Arizona’s Albert Subirats, last year’s NCAA champion in the event. He also finished behind Cal’s David Russell, who had the nation’s fastest time coming into last week’s championships.

“Performing this well at the Pac-10 Championships is a great sign for NCAAs,” freshman Joshua Charnin-Aker said. “All of our qualifiers have prepared themselves to peak at the national championships, so this meet is simply a springboard.”

The breaststroke squad had an expectedly dominating swim in the 200 breast as junior Paul Kornfeld took first. Freshman John Criste finished second and juniors Chris Ash, Paul Zaitch and Nate Cass fourth, sixth and seventh, respectively.

Kornfeld won both the 100 and 200 breaststroke events while also swimming on the Stanford relays. He was named Athlete of the Meet.

Senior Daniel Beal won the 200 fly while freshman Austin Staab won the 100 fly in 45.36, tying a school record. Staab also swam 19.97 in the fly leg of the 200 medley relay, one of the fastest relay splits in history.

Sophomore David Dunford placed ninth in the 50 free while splitting an incredible 18.98 on the 200 free relay.

“His performance was outstanding and inspiring,” Cass said of Dunford. “It’s a testimony to the strength of the team as well as to his commitment to detail and perfection in all aspects.”

Despite the team’s near-perfect execution, Stanford has its work cut out for it at the upcoming NCAA championship.

Stanford has ten automatic qualifiers for NCAAs: freshman David Mosko, Ash, Beal, Cass, Criste, Jason Dunford, Godsoe, Kornfeld, Staab and Zaich. The team also has qualified five relay squads, with several other ‘B’ cuts pending for qualification.