USC
Freshman Louise Hansson won three events in her Trojan debut meet while sophomores Hanni Leach and Elizabeth Stinson were also double winners as the USC women’s swimming and diving team – the 2016 Pac-12 champion -- captured its season opener at Washington State, 161-96, on Friday (Sept. 30) in Pullman, Wash.
Hansson, who represented Sweden in the 2016 Olympics, won the 200y free, 100y fly and the 200y IM to lead USC while Leach swept the 100y and 200y back and Stinson won the 500y and 1000y free.
Hansson led a 1-2-3 sweep in the 200y free with a 1:50.18 as freshman Tatum Wade touched second (1:50.68) and sophomore Allie Wooden took third (1:54.02).
Hansson just missed an NCAA ‘B’ cut in the 100y fly, winning in 54.66 while freshman Catherine Sanchez was second (55.74). Hansson completed her trio of wins with a 2:02.64 to claim the 200y IM as fellow freshmen Wade finished second (2:03.22).
Leach posted a pool record win in the 100y back (54.61). Her time, as well as senior Anika Apostalon’s second-place 54.97, were both NCAA B cuts. Freshman Abby Miller was third (58.72). Leach won again in the 200y back with a 2:00.18 while Miller was third (2:07.16).
Stinson, the 2016 Pac-12 champ in the mile, won the 1000y free tonight with a 10:19.78 while freshman Becca Mann was third (10:25.77). Stinson later claimed the 500y free in 5:02.29 with sophomore Sydney Lofquist third (5:09.11).
Apostalon dropped a pool record and another NCAA ‘B’ cut with a 49.92 to win the 100y free while freshman Stanzi Moseley was second (51.12).
Moseley won her first career race with a 50y free sprint in 23.67, Sanchez touched first to win the 200y fly (2:01.72) and seniors Kelsey Kafka (2:19.86) and Riley Hayward (2:21.23) went 1-3 in the 200y breast.
The Trojans also won both relays. The quartet of Leach, Kafka, Lily Dubroff and Apostalon won the 200y medley relay in 1:42.65 and the foursome of Toris, Sanchez, Stinson and Moseley out-dueled teammates Leach, Dubroff, Miller and Apostalon, 3:31.82 to 3:31.87.
USC returns to action Oct 14-15 at the SMU Classic in Lewisville, Texas.
Washington State
The Washington State swim team received impressive performances from some underclassmen in a 161-96 defeat to USC in the seaons opener at Gibb Pool, Friday. Sophomore Jasmine Margetts led the Cougars in scoring with 17 points on the night while competing against the Trojans, the defending Pac-12 Conference champions, opended the season ranked sixth by collegeswimming.com.
In the 100 breast, freshman Angela Mavrantza out-touched USC’s Kelsey Kafka to claim the top spot. Mavrantza finished in 1:04.54, notching her first career victory. Mavrantza added a second-place finish in the 200 breast with a time of 2:21.23.
Margetts impressed in the 200 fly, finishing second with a time of2.03.96, while also touching second in the 200 back at 2:03.52. The Torrance, Calif., native finshed the meet strong with a third-place finish in the 200 IM, with a 2:08.10.
Freshman Ryan Falk started her WSU career strong with a second-place finish in the 1000 free, clocking a time of 10:24.08 and later added another second-place finish in the 500 free touching in 5:02.37.
Junior Hannah Bruggman recorded a second-place finish in the 50 free with a time of 23.94, touching the wall ahead of Haley Rose Love (24.12). Senior Elise Locke placed third in the 100 fly with a time of 56.95, followed by a third place finish in the 100 free by Bruggman with a time of 52.60.
In the 400 free relay, the team of Bruggman, Love, Hailey Johnson and Falk finished the meet third in a tightly contested race that saw USC use a late push to steal a win.
Washington State hits the road for the first time Thursday, Oct. 20 at 5 p.m. with a dual meet against Stanford in Stanford, Calif. The Cougars will then travel to Berkley, Calif. to face California on Friday Oct. 21 at 5 p.m.
