The No. 12 USC men's swimming and diving team finished the final home meet of the season strong, following up an upset over No. 2 Cal with a 167-133 triumph over No. 9 Stanford on Saturday (Feb. 6). USC improved to 8-1 overall, 4-0in the Pac-12, Stanford is now 5-1, 3-1. This win marks the first time USC swept Cal and Stanford since 1997. Freshman Patrick Mulcare and sophomore Pawel Furtek came in clutch placing first in multiple events.
Mulcare clinched three first place wins with 48.22 in the 100y back, a season best 1:43.24 in the 200y back, and 1:46.89 in the 200y IM. Furtek dominated the 1000y free (9:07.17) and the 500y free (4:25.52). Junior Reed Malone trailed Furtek by 0.40 seconds in the 500y free (4:25.92).
A photo finish in the 50y free, freshman Kyle Grissom (20.16) edged out sophomore Ralf Tribuntsov (20.17) by 0.01 second, establishing a season best. Several first place finishes included: Malone in the 200y free (1:37.21); freshman Carsten Vissering in the 100y breast (53.80); and junior Steven Stumph in the 200y breast (1:57.85).
The Trojans commanded the top spots in the 1- and 3-meter dive events. Sweeping the first, second and third places in the 3m dive, senior Deon Reed came in first—setting a personal best (421.35), sophomore Dashiell Enos (398.63) and senior Collin Pollard (390. 75) followed closely behind. Pollard grabbed first in the 1m dive with 354.60 points and Enos placed second with 326.85.
The Trojans went 1-for-2 in the relay events, nabbing first place in the 200y medley relay and falling to Stanford in the 400y free relay. Tribuntsov, Vissering, senior Maclin Davis and Grissom comprised USC’s 200y medley relay finishing in 1:27.31. In the 400y relay, Stanford finished in 2:57.06, beating USC by 0.11 seconds.
USC finishes out the regular season at Utah Feb. 20 and heads into the Pac-12 Championships March 2 in Federal Way, Wash.
Stanford
No. 8 Stanford lost its first dual meet of the season to No. 12 USC on Saturday at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center.
The Cardinal (5-1), coming off three consecutive dual meet wins to start 2016, was unable to erase an early deficit to the Trojans (7-1). USC won by a score of 167-133.
"We are really happy with a lot of swims from today," said Goldman Family Director of Men's Swimming Ted Knapp "Not a lot of wins, but our depth continues to get better; the final relay was a prime example of that."
The Trojans seized the l ead early, winning the 200-yard medley relay with Ryan Dudzinski, Christian Brown, Andrew Liang and Sam Perry (1:27.76) placing second.
Liam Egan (9:12.34) finished third in the 1000-yard freestyle, followed by second and third-place finishes in the 200-yard freestyle by Cole Cogswell (1:37.60) and Sean Duggan (1:38.09).
Dudzinski (48.47) was narrowly out-touched in the 100-yard backstroke by .25 seconds, finishing second.
Matt Anderson (54.66) and Daniel Le (54.66) took second and third place, respectively, in the 100-yard breaststroke.
The Cardinal put a dent in the Trojans’ lead with a sweep of the podium in the 200-yard butterfly by Gray Umbach (1:44.90), Liang (1:46.21) and Abrahm DeVine (1:47.48).
Sam Perry (20.21) narrowly lost the 50-yard freestyle by .05 seconds, taking third place. At the first break. Stanford trailed USC, 76-55.
After the break, Perry (43.79) bounced back with a win in the 100-yard freestyle, with Spencer DeShon (44.69) and Jeff Garnier (44.85) picking up points in third and fourth place, respectively.
Anderson (1:58.85) followed it up with a third-place finish in the 200-yard breastroke. Egan (4:26.12) claimed third place in the 500-yard freestyle, with Curtis Ogren (4:29.66) in fourth.
Liang (47.10) and Umbach (47.40) finished one-two in the 100-yard butterfly with Connor Black (48.08) in fourth place. At the second break, Stanford trailed, 138-107.
Williamson (1:46.85) finished second in the 200-yard individual medley with Ogren (1:49.74) finishing in third place.
Stanford finished the meet strongly with a one-two finish in the 400-yard free relay. Perry, DeShon, Garnier and Cogswell (2:57.06) took the top spot while Black, Liang, Umbach and Duggan (2:57.17) finished second by .11 seconds.
On the diving side of the competition, Connor Kuremsky (324.75) and Bradley Christiansen (313.20) took third and fifth place, respectively, in the 1-meter.
“Coming to USC was a great experience for Connor and Brad today,” said diving coach Patrick Jeffrey. “We learned some valuable lessons today to take forward into the postseason.”
Christiansen (367.95) placed fourth in the 3-meter with Kuremsky (351.30) in fifth.
The Cardinal returns to action Feb. 20, hosting Cal at Avery Aquatics Center.
