Sophomores Hannah Weiss and Jon Knox swept the backstroke events and freshman Riley Scott swept the 100y and 200y breast to lead the USC men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams to wins over visiting Wisconsin in a rare Tuesday (Jan. 12) meet at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center.
The No. 4 USC women defeated the No. 16 Badgers, 174.5-124.5 while the No. 17 Trojan men downed the No. 15 Wisconsin men, 186-113. Both USC teams improved to 6-1 this year. It was the fifth straight year USC and Wisconsin squared off in January action. The Trojan women have won all five meetings, the men four times as they avenged a one-point loss from last season.
Weiss won the 100y back in 53.86 with freshman Hanni Leach taking second in 54.98. Weiss came back to dominate the 200y back in 1:56.14, winning by 2.30 seconds. Knox won the 100y back in 48.70 and doubled up in the 200y back with a victory in 1:48.00.
Scott took first in the 100y breast in 1:02.14 and then ran away with the 200y breast in 2:12.80.
Four Trojan men’s freshmen made their season debuts today and three of them became first-time winners as Carsten Vissering won the 100y breast in an NCAA ‘B’ cut of 54.75, Patrick Mulcare claimed the 400y IM in 3:54.68, just off a ‘B’ cut, and Alex Valente won the 100y fly in 48.98. Freshman Tim Wynter posted a second in the 100y back (49.21) and a third in the 200y back (1:48.49).
Junior Reed Malone won the 200y free in 1:37.67 while Mulcare hit the wall a hair later for second in 1:37.97, good for a ‘B’ cut. Junior Chelsea Chenault won the women’s 200y free in 1:49.43.
Junior Anika Apostalon won the women’s 100y free in 49.61, out-touching Wisconsin’s Chase Kinney (49.72). Kinney won the 50y free (22.71) ahead of Apostalon (23.12). Junior Michael Domagala took first in the 200y fly (1:48.50).
A handful of Trojan vets saw their first action of the 2015-16 season, including senior Kendyl Stewart, who won the women’s 100y fly in 53.85 (B), and sophomore Ralf Tribuntsov, who took the men’s 50y free in 20.55, winning by 0.01.
Other Trojan winners included senior Morten Klarskov in the 100y free (44.97), junior Steven Stumph in the 200y breast (2:00.05), freshman Destiny Nelson in the 400y IM (4:18.93), freshman Madison Witt on 3-meter springboard (311.18) and senior Deon Reid on men’s 3-meter (359.78). Senior Sam Adams just missed a win in women’s 1-meter, her 263.33 less than a point out of first.
USC’s women’s 200y medley relay of Weiss, Scott, Stewart and Apostalon won in 1:40.30 while the men’s squad of Tribuntsov, Klarskov, Domagala and David Morgan Jr. won in 1:28.88. Troy closed the meet with wins in the 400y free relay.
USC divers are in action Friday through Sunday at the Bruin Diving Invitational. The women’s swim team hosts Cal on Jan. 29 and Stanford on Jan. 30 before wrapping up at UCLA on Feb. 12. The men host Cal on Feb. 5 and Stanford on Feb. 6 before finishing the regular season at Utah on Feb. 20.
Wisconsin
In its first test of 2016, the Wisconsin men’s and women’s swimming and diving program fell against USC in a Tuesday afternoon dual meet at Uytengsu Aquatics Center. The Badger women were beaten by the Trojans, 174.5-124.5, while the men’s team was topped by USC in a 186-113 final.
“We’re coming off of two weeks of really good training in Hawaii at a very high and difficult level. To turn right around and face one of the top teams in the country is always difficult, but we don’t shy away from challenges like that,” UW head coach Whitney Hite said. “I thought we did a nice job of competing. I know that we had every excuse in the book as far as being tired and traveling, but I didn’t hear any of that. We did a nice job. We fell a little short, but USC is a very, very good team and we had some good performances.”
Despite the pair of team losses, the Wisconsin distance swimmers shined on the west coast, as the pair of Danielle Valley and Matthew Hutchins each recorded career-best times to win their respective 1000-yard freestyle race.
Valley’s time of 9 minutes, 43.37 seconds shattered her previous personal best of 9:49.88, and the time was good for first place and ranks as the third-fastest nationally. Valley also claimed a title in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:44.81.
Cruising to an impressive time of 8:58.45 in the men’s 1000-yard freestyle, Hutchins also smashed his previous personal best of 9:03.13 and won the event. He moved up to fourth place nationally in the event. Hutchins also won the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:22.96.
“Danielle Valley and Matt Hutchins were outstanding,” Hite said. “Those are some of the top times in the country and certainly in a dual-meet situation.”
Nathan Mueller swam a personal best in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 9:26.47, which was good for third place. Michael Sullivan was fourth in 9:29.73.
Four other Badgers claimed first-place finishes in Tuesday’s dual meet, including Grace Wold’s swim in the 200-yard butterfly. Wold’s winning time of 2:00.11 just out-touched the second-place finisher by seven one-hundredths of a second.
Sprinter Chase Kinney continued on her fast track in the 50-yard freestyle with a first-place finish and a time of 22.71 seconds. Kinney was also second in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 49.72 seconds.
Freshman diver Hazel Hertting claimed the title in the women’s 1-meter diving discipline with a combined score of 264.30 points after a six-dive rotation. For the men, Clark Carter also won the 1-meter diving event with a personal-best score of 311.18 points.
“I can’t recall the last time that we won a board event at a dual meet against anyone that’s really good,” Hite said of the pair of diving wins. “I feel like that’s a huge step and a huge piece for us. I’m really excited about that.”
In the women’s breaststroke events, Anna Meinholz led the Badgers with a second-place finish in both the 100- (1:03.45) and 200-yard (2:16.35) events.
Jake Mandli led the way for Wisconsin in the men’s breaststroke, as he finished second in both the 100- (56.13) and 200-yard (2:00.71) events.
Cannon Clifton claimed a pair of second-place finishes as well, as the sprinter’s time of 20.56 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle was just short of first place by one-hundredth of a second. Clifton was second in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 45.13.
Both UW’s men’s and the women’s teams went 2-3-4 in the 400-yard individual medley event, as Valley and Josh Anderson led the efforts. Valley was second in the women’s event with a time of 4:19.43, while Madeline Hazle was third in 4:23.30 and Jenny Holtzen was fourth in 4:26.51. For the men, Anderson finished second at 3:57.39. Right behind him was Todd McCarthy with a time of 3:59.02 and Chris Wills was fourth in 4:06.73.
Wisconsin takes a short two-week break from competition before returning for back-to-back dual meets at Auburn and at Georgia, Jan. 29-30.
