MEET NOTES: USC Swimming & Diving hots ASU on Friday, Arizona on Saturday

The following is a press release courtesy of USC:

The USC men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams continue their fall season with the annual November match-up with their Pac-12 rivals from the desert as the Trojans host Arizona State on Friday (Nov. 14) at 7 p.m. and against Arizona on Saturday (Nov. 15) at 2 p.m.

The USC men (2-0, 2-0) are ranked No. 13 in the latest CSCAA poll while the Wildcat and Sun Devil men’s teams are unranked. The Trojan women (2-0, 2-0) are No. 5 while the Arizona women are No. 13 and the ASU women’s squad is unranked.

The Trojans have collected a handful of early NCAA ‘B’ cuts. On the men’s side, sophomore Santo Condorelli posted one in the 100y free (44.19), freshman Ralf Tribuntsov has one in the 100y fly (48.03).

For the women, sophomore Chelsea Chenault has ‘B’ cuts in the 200y (1:45.31) and 500y free (4:42.44) and the 200y fly (1:57.82). Junior Kendyl Stewart has them in the 200y IM (2:00.85), 100y fly (53.83) and the 200y back (1:54.59) while junior Jasmine Tosky has them in the 200y fly (1:55.59) and the 200y breast (2:11.08). Senior Andrea Kropp has one in the 200y breast (2:14.05) while freshman Hannah Weiss has ‘B’ cuts in the 100y (52.77) and the 200y back (1:57.91). USC also has ‘B’ cuts in each relay but the 400y free relay.

USC Women Notes

The Trojans return seven All-Americans, led by senior diver and two-time NCAA platform champion Haley Ishimatsu as well as juniors Kendyl Stewart, Jasmine Tosky, Kasia Wilk and Joanna Stenkvist and sophomores Chelsea Chenault and Evan Swenson.

Other top returning contributors include senior breaststroke specialist Andrea Kropp, a 2013 All-American, sophomore freestyler Lexie Malazdrewicz, who competed as a freshman at last year’s NCAAs, junior diver Sam Adams, a three-time 2014 Pac-12 Championships finalist, and improving sophomore IM’er Maggie D’Innocenzo. USC also has a host of young breaststrokers including sophomore Riley Hayward and Kelsey Kafka looking to break through.

Stewart and senior sprint freestyler Rebecca Heyliger are the captains for the 2014-15 squad.

USC, under ninth-year head coach Dave Salo, will have to replace a trio of 2014 senior standouts in Kasey Carlson, Stina Gardell and Meghan Hawthorne. Carlson was a six-time All-American and three-time individual finalist whose 50y and 100y free and 100y breast will be hard to replace while Gardell and Hawthorne were both stalwarts in the 200y and 400y IM and the 200 breaststroke.

Among the top newcomers to the squad are freshmen Hannah Weiss, Kindle Van Linge and Alexa Cacao. Weiss is a 2013-14 Junior National team member strong in the fly and back. Van Linge is strong in the 100y fly and back while Cacao is an up-and-coming diver who won the 2014 U.S. springboard title in the 16-18 age group. Also now available is 2014 transfer Lucy Worrall, a butterfly specialist who was an NCAA point scorer for Miami in 2013 in the 100y fly.

USC Men Notes

The Trojans return seven All-Americans, including senior freestyler Cristian Quintero, senior backstroker Luca Spinazzola, senior breaststroker Sergio Lujan Rivera, junior butterflyer and sprinter Maclin Davis as well as a talented group of sophomore freestylers Dylan Carter, Reed Malone and Santo Condorelli.

Other returning Trojans with NCAA Championships experience include senior breaststroker Andrew Malone, senior freestyler Chad Bobrosky, junior distance freestyler Ted Singley, junior breaststroker Morten Klarskov and senior distance freestyler, butterflyer and IM’er Cary Wright.  Senior diver Jordan Gear and junior diver Collin Pollard both return with NCAA Zone experience and look to qualify for their first NCAA Championships.

Quintero joins Andrew and Reed Malone (no relation) as 2014-15 co-captains. Quintero, who was granted a fourth year of eligibility by the NCAA after he initially was granted three years when he enrolled, is not competing this fall but will resume competition in the spring semester.

USC is the defending NCAA champion in the 800y free relay and won that and the 400y free relay at last year’s Pac-12 Championships. Three quarters of the 800y free title team are back (Quintero, Reed Malone and Carter) while Quintero and Carter also swam on the 400y free relay.

Among the top newcomers figuring to make a big impact this year are freshmen Pawel Furtek, Jonathan Knox, Ralf Tribuntsov, James Clausen, James O’Brien, Ian Silverman, Jonah Hu, diver Dashiell Enos and junior diving transfer Deon Reid.

Tribuntsov is an Estonian national record holder whose versatility can help in many events, Knox is a talented freestyler and Furtek is a Polish distance freestyler. Silverman comes to USC an accomplished Paralympian who looks to be a regular contributing member of the team despite the mild form of cerebral palsy affecting his lower extremities. Enos is a rising junior national diver while Reid is a transfer from Duke.

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About Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson swam for nearly twenty years. Then, Jared Anderson stopped swimming and started writing about swimming. He's not sick of swimming yet. Swimming might be sick of him, though. Jared was a YMCA and high school swimmer in northern Minnesota, and spent his college years swimming breaststroke and occasionally pretending …

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