By KENAN JIANG

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The No. 3 Stanford men’s swimming team will face stiff competition going into the Pac-10 Championships, which start tomorrow. However, tough opposition didn’t stop the men’s dive team last week at its own Pac-10 Championships.

Competing in Federal Way, Wash., the Stanford divers capped off a strong showing at the Pac-10 Championships last Saturday.

The first day of competition featured the three-meter competition, in which Stanford freshman Brent Eichenseer placed second and senior Nathan Kim finished fourth. Eichenseer placed a solid 365.85 while Kim entered a 335.85. Arizona State’s Mickey Benedetti won the Pac-10 three-meter competition with an incredible 398.85.

The second day of Pac-10 diving championships featured the one-meter competition. Kim finished third with 356.65 while Eichenseer finished fifth with 308.35. Benedetti won the one-meter again with 366.20.

The final day featured the platform competition. Kim finished fourth with 344.00 while Eichenseer finished third with 344.75. Eichenseer and Kim both garnered three top-five finishes on the weekend, giving the Cardinal swim team great momentum heading into its own Pac-10 Championships, which begin tomorrow and run through Saturday.

Skip Kenney, head coach of the men’s swim team, has won 26 consecutive Pac-10 championships. Tradition is certainly a big part of the program and contributes to Stanford’s amazingly strong team mentality in a largely individual sport.

“By having a great team like the one we have at the moment, each time you step up on the blocks it is not about racing for yourself, you do it for your teammates,” said junior Jason Dunford. “This enables people to do extraordinary things, things they did not think they were capable of.”

The main goal of the team will be to get as many people qualifying for NCAA cuts in order to bring as big and strong a team as possible to the NCAA Championships — which will also be held in Federal Way — on March 27. Junior captain Nate Cass has an automatic A cut in the 200 breaststroke, while Jason Dunford and freshman Austin Staab have A cuts in the 100 butterfly.

An A cut means that a player is automatically eligible to compete in the NCAA Championships, while the fastest B cuts will be allowed to compete to form 22-23 competitors with A and B cuts in any single event.

Currently, Stanford is focusing on the taper period, when swimmers rest their bodies after intense workouts earlier in season. Taper also refers to focusing on little things like turns, underwater kicking and starts as opposed to building aerobic capacity with lots of yardage.

“Training for sprinters differs in that we lift weights during the mid part of the season and then during our taper period focus on short, fast quality sets,” said Dunford. “There is less yardage swum by the sprinters than distance and mid distance swimmers, with more of an emphasis on power and quickness in short bursts.”

“On our team, the only people to have made ‘A’ cuts thus far are Nate Cass in the 200 [breaststroke] and Jason Dunford and Austin Staab in the 100 [butterfly],” explained junior captain Paul Kornfeld. “The 400 medley relay from this weekend was just off the A cut by a couple tenths, I believe, so that also means that Eugene and I should qualify easily.”

The men’s swim team will seek to extend its consecutive Pac-10 win streak to 27 tomorrow when competition starts at the Weyerhauser Aquatic Center.

Contact Kenan Jiang at kenanj@stanford.edu.