The University of Southern California (USC) men improved their 2015-16 record to 4-0, as the Trojans handily defeated the RoadRunners of California State University Bakersfield (CSUB) with a final score of 192 to 95. Several Trojans stepped up and earned multiple wins on the day, while 1-2-3 USC finishes were also prevalent throughout the meet at Uytengsu Aquatics Center.
Freshman Kyle Grissom cleared two wins on the day, starting with the 50 freestyle. Grissom led a USC sweep of the event, touching first in 20.85, followed by teammates David Morgan in 21.02 and Maclin Davis in 21.48. The story was the same in the 100 freestyle, where Grissom also topped the field, winning the event in 45.93, followed by Morgan who earned 2nd again in a time of 46.34. 3rd place in that men’s 100 race was USA National Teamer Reed Malone who cruised to the wall in a time of 43.08. Malone later earned the 200 freestyle race in a time of 1:38.85.
Last year’s Pac-12 100 breaststroke 6th place finisher, senior Morten Klarskov, was another double winner on the day. He claimed the victory in the aforementioned event with his time of 55.65, a mark just outside of the NCAA’s top 20 as of this point. Teammates Steven Stumph and Jonah Hu completed the 1-2-3 Trojan finish in the race, touching in times of 57.40 and 57.78, respectively. Klarskov then made his move in 200 backstroke race where he cleared the field with the only sub-1:50 time of the competitors, a 1:49.35.
A trio of Trojans also threw it down during the 100 butterfly race, led by junior Michael Domagala who clocked the only sub-49 mark of the field. Domagala’s time of 48.56 beat runner-up Trojan Davis by over a second, as Davis registered 49.96 for 2nd and Grissom logged 50.23 for 3rd. Domagala had won the 200 butterfly event earlier in the meet, nailing a 1:48.29 for the only sub-1:50 time of the meet and also setting a mark that registers within the NCAA’s top 20 thus far this young season.
CSUB was able to pull down a couple of individual wins in the form of Owen Van Krimpen’s 500 freestyle time of 4:44.68 and Marco Vasquez’s 4:11.09 400 IM, but the score reflects the fact that this meet was all Trojans, all day.
