Press release courtesy of USC Sports Information.
The No. 4 USC men’s swimming and diving team, led by senior All-Americans Dimitri Colupaev and Cristian Quintero, will celebrate the official opening of the new Uytengsu Aquatics Center on Friday (Feb. 21) with a dedication ceremony at 3 p.m. and then host Utah at 5:30 p.m. in the first part of a two-day meet which continues Saturday at noon.
The Trojans are 3-2 overall, 2-2 in the Pac-12 while Utah is 5-1.
The dedication ceremony for the UAC that begins at 3 p.m. will feature USC Athletic Director Pat Haden and Fred Uytengsu, the former walk-on swimmer and 1983 swim captain whose $8 million lead gift is the largest ever by a former Trojan student-athlete made to Athletics. Uytengsu is now president and CEO of Alaska Milk Corp., the leading publicly listed dairy company in the Philippines, as well as an active triathlete. Senior co-captain Chase Bloch is also scheduled to speak.
USC will also be honoring its departing seniors on Saturday prior to the noon start time. In addition to senior co-captains Colupaev, Bloch and Jack Wagner, others participating in their final home meet include Quintero, Michael Godbe, Nick Johnson and Sean Mulroy.
Scouting Utah
Utah is led by junior Nick Soedel, who owns the nation’s third-fastest 100y free, eighth fastest in the 50y free and 19th in the 200y free. Sophomore distance swimmer Bence Kiraly has top 20 times in the 500y, 1000y and 1650y free while sophomore Kristian Kron has a top 20 time in the 200y back.
USC In The Top 25
Senior Cristian Quintero leads the Trojans who have top 25 times with the top-ranked mark in the 500y free this year (4:12.85). He is also third in the 200y free (1:33.50) and tied for fourth in the 100y free (42.66). Senior Dimitri Colupaev is seventh in the 200y free (1:34.13), tied for 10th in the 100y free (43.10) and 13th in the 200y IM (1:44.57). Senior Chase Bloch is 11th in the 100y fly (46.59). Junior Luca Spinazzola is third in the 100y back (46.12). Junior Sergio Lujan Rivera is 10th in the 100y breast while sophomore Morten Klarskov is tied for 17th (53.65) in the 100y breast. Sophomore Maclin Davis is sixth in the 100y fly (46.39). Freshman Santo Condorelli is 24th in the 50y free (19.68) and 19th in the 100y free (43.35). Freshman Reed Malone is eighth in the 500y free (4:17.08) and 14th in the 200y free (1:34.84) while freshman Michael Domagala is 13th in the 100y fly (46.65), 20th in the 200y free (1:35.10) and 22nd in the 200y fly (1:45.05). Sophomore Ted Singley is 16th in the 1650y free (15:06.21) and freshman Steven Stumph is 23rd in the 200y breast (1:56.44). USC also has the nation’s second-ranked 400y medley relay, third-ranked 200y and 800y free relays and sixth in the 400y free time.
Quintero has registered USC’s lone individual NCAA ‘A’ cut this year with a 1:33.50 in the 200y free. Troy’s 200y, 400y and 800y free relays and its 400y medley relay have also notched ‘A’ cuts.
In the diving well, sophomore transfer Collin Pollard and junior Jordan Gear are 1-2 on all three boards and have both qualified for the NCAA Zone E Championships in each specialty.
The Trojan men return eight All-Americans from a squad that placed fourth at the 2013 NCAAs (its best finish since 2001) and third at the 2013 Pac-12s (scoring their most points since 2003). The Trojans also finished with seven swim titles at the Pac-12 meet, their most at a conference meet since 1977.
Trojans Get a New Home – Uytengsu Aquatics Center
The USC men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams and the men’s and women’s water polo programs celebrate Friday (Feb. 21) the grand opening of the Uytengsu Aquatics Center. The project owes its biggest debt of gratitude to an $8 million lead gift from former USC swim captain Fred Uytengsu. Uytengsu, a former walk-on who captained the Trojans’ men’s team as a senior in 1983, is now president and CEO of Alaska Milk Corp., the leading publicly listed dairy company in the Philippines, as well as an active tri-athlete. The $16 million Uytengsu Aquatics Center, which had a ceremonious groundbreaking on Nov. 2, 2012, will include a new stadium entrance, diving and dryland training areas, men’s and women’s locker rooms, coaches’ offices, meeting rooms, a new scoreboard, permanent seating and renovation of the diving tower and pool deck. Uytengsu’s $8 million gift was the largest ever made to the USC athletic department by a former student-athlete. At Uytengsu’s request, the pool will be named the Peter Daland Pool, after USC’s legendary men’s swim coach who directed USC to nine NCAA team and 93 individual and relay titles between 1958-1992.
