Press Release courtesy of USC Athletics
The No. 4 USC women’s swimming and diving team and the No. 10 Trojan men make the biennial visit to their Pac-12 desert foes this week with a 2 p.m. meet at Arizona State in Tempe on Friday (Nov. 3) and a noon meet at Arizona in Tucson on Saturday (Nov. 4).
USC’s women’s squad is 4-0 overall, 2-0 in the Pac-12 while the men are 3-0 in non-conference action. The Sun Devil men (ranked No. 8) and women are both 2-0, 1-0. The No. 24 Arizona women are 2-0, 2-0, the men 1-0, 1-0.
Friday’s meet at Arizona State will be streamed live at Pac-12.com.
The Trojans have had a strong start to the 2017-18 season. The women have opened the season with dual meet wins over San Diego, Oregon State, CSU Bakersfield and Washington State as well as winning the SMU Classic in Dallas. The men have posted wins over UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly and CSU Bakersfield. USC also contributed in a major way to the Pac-12’s win over Team USA in the exhibition USA College Challenge in mid-October on the Trojan campus.
FAST TIMES
The Trojans have wasted no time posting numerous strong NCAA qualifying times and have even registered a couple automatics on the women’s side, including sophomore Louise Hansson’s 1:43.19 in the 200y free and freshman Maggie Aroesty’s 2:06.88 in the 200y breast.
Hansson also has B times in the 50y free (22.74), 100y free (47.57, 0.04 off A), 200y IM (1:55.80), 100y fly (51.28, 0.09 off A) and 100y back (52.79). Aroesty also has B times in the 400y IM (4:10.18) and the 100y breast (59.98). Junior Riley Scott has B times in the 100y (59.56) and 200y breast (2:07.99) and the 200y (1:57.75) and 400y IM (4:14.96), junior Maddie Wright has B times in the 100y (53.25) and 200y fly (1:54.97) and the 500y free (4:47.21) and senior Hannah Weiss has B times in the 100y (53.65) and 200y back (1:58.54). Sophomore Tatum Wade has B times in the 200y (1:46.99) and 500y free (4:45.95) and the 200y fly (1:59.58), senior Lexie Malazdrewicz has B cuts in the 100y (49.99) and 200y free (1:46.92) and freshman Marta Ciesla has B times in the 50y (22.63) and 100y free (49.56).
For the men, senior Dylan Carter has NCAA B cuts in the 50y free (20.16), 100y free (42.95) and the 200y free (1:34.16), junior Patrick Mulcare has B cuts in the 200y IM (1:46.57), 100y back (46.29), 200y free (1:37.75) and 200y back (1:40.44) and senior Ralf Tribuntsov has them in the 50y free (20.04) and the 100y back (46.38),
2017-18 HIGHLIGHTS
* The USC women won eight A heats and six B heats to capture the six-team 2017 SMU Classic, finishing with 331 points, edging second-place Louisville by a half point. Sophomore Louise Hansson earned Swimmer of the Meet honors with wins in the A heats of the 100y fly (51.56), 200y back (1:52.26) and 200y IM (1:55.80). Junior Riley Scott swept the A 100y (59.56) and 200y breast (2:08.20) and won the B heats of both IM races. Freshman Maggie Aroesty won the 400y IM (4:10.18) and took the B heats of both breast events. Freshman Marta Ciesla won the 50y free (22.63) and junior Maddie Wright won the 200y fly (1:54.97).
* The Trojans had four women and four men race for the Pac-12 team that defeated Team USA, 326.5-286.5 in the two-day, USC-hosted USA College Challenge on Oct. 21-22 that pitted current Pac-12 swimmers against current U.S. national teamers. Sophomore Louise Hansson won two races, taking the 100y fly in 51.28, 0.03 off Kendyl Stewart’s pool record, and later won the 100y free in 47.57 to lower Anika Apostalon‘s pool mark by 0.21. Freshman Maggie Aroesty crushed the 200y breast to win with a PR of 2:06.88, breaking former Trojan and Olympic champion Rebecca Soni’s pool record of 2:07.86. Junior Riley Scott was just off Soni’s pool record for third (2:07.99). Hansson was later second in the 200y free in 1:43.19, also under the old pool record, while junior Maddie Wright was third in the 200y fly (1:55.09). Hansson also led off the final and first-place 400y free relay with a 47.58 while Aroesty (59.98) and Scott (1:00.16), finished fourth and fifth, respectively in the 100y breast. Meanwhile for the men, junior Patrick Mulcare (1:40.44) and freshman Robert Glinta (1:40.50) turned in a huge 1-2 finish Saturday in the 200y back, finishing just ahead of Olympic champ Ryan Murphy in third (1:40.62) and fellow former Cal swimmer Jacob Pebley in fourth (1:40.90). Mulcare broke Pebley’s pool record of 1:41.55. Sunday’s men action was highlighted for USC by Glinta’s win in the 100y back as he won in 45.97, defeating Matt Grevers (46.10) and Murphy (46.15), the 2012 and 2016 Olympic champions in the event. Dylan Carter was second in the men’s 100y free in 42.95, 0.22 back of Tom Shields, who lowered Trojan Vladimir Morozov’s pool record of 42.93. Carter (1:34.16) was also second to Shields (1:33.70) on Sunday in the 200y free.
* Hansson was named SwimSwam’s Swimmer of the Month for October for her strong work at the SMU Classic and USA College Challenge.
* USC’s women’s captains for the 2017-18 season are senior Lexie Malazdrewicz and juniors Allie Wooden and Lily Dubroff. Seniors Jason O’Brien, Santo Condorelli and Ralf Tribuntsov serve as captains for the men.
LAST YEAR
The women’s team was ninth last year at the NCAA Championships and returns five of its seven All-Americans from last season, led by sophomore Louise Hansson, who was a six-time All-American as a 2017 freshman. Also back are a quartet of junior All-Americans in Hanni Leach, Riley Scott, Kirsten Vose and Maddie Wright. Others back with NCAA experience are senior Hannah Weiss, juniors Allie Wooden, Elizabeth Stinson and diver Maddie Witt as well as sophomores Becca Mann, who was an NCAA ‘B’ finalist last year, Tatum Wade and Catherine Sanchez.
The Trojan women finished third at the 2017 Pac-12 Championships a year after winning their first team title, led by Hansson and Scott. Hansson, the Swedish Olympian, won a Pac-12 title in the 100y fly in a school-record 50.39, took third in the 200y IM and tied for third in the 100y free. She was part of three relay records (both medleys and the 400y free) and her lead off 100y free (47.03) and lead off 200 (1:42.10) in the 800y free relay also set records.
Scott was USC’s other Pac-12 winner, claiming her first conference crown in the 200y breast. She was also second in the 100y breast and won the B final of the 400y IM. Vose was a three-time finalist for the second year in row while Wade was USC’s other three-time finalist. Wright challenged for a title in the 200y fly and finished second to go with an eighth in the 100y fly. Leach reached her first A final in the 100y back and Sanchez debuted as a 200y fly A finalist while divers Witt (3-meter, platform) and now sophomores Naomi Gowlett (1-meter, 3-meter) and Carly Souza (platform) also reached finals.
The women bring in a quartet of swimmers ready to make an immediate impact this year including current U.S. national teamer Isabella Rongione as well as Maggie Aroesty, Marta Ciesla and Caitlin Tycz.
The men’s squad is coming off a sixth-place finish at the 2017 NCAA Championship and return six of its seven All-Americans from last year, including seniors Dylan Carter, Santo Condorelli, Ralf Tribuntsov and diver Dashiell Enos and juniors Patrick Mulcare and Carsten Vissering. Sophomore diver Henry Fusaro, an NCAA ‘B’ finalist, is also back as well as other NCAA vets in senior Jon Knox and juniors Kyle Grissom and Alex Valente. Carter highlighted USC’s NCAA efforts last year as a six-time All-American, including his first three A finalist performances.
The Trojans finished third at the 2017 Pac-12s, highlighted by graduated senior Steven Stumph’s third straight title in the 200y breast, Vissering’s first win in the 100y breast (school record 51.45) and Enos’ repeat title on 3-meter springboard. Carter was also a first-time three-time finalist, highlighted by a then-school record in the 200y free (1:31.98), good for second in the race. He was also sixth in the 50y free and seventh in the 100y free.
Condorelli was another three-time finalist, for the second time, with fifth places in the 50y and 100y free and a seventh in the 100y fly. Mulcare was a two-time finalist in the 400y IM and 200y back, finishing second in the latter while breaking his school record in the race twice. Other returning finalists from last year included Tribuntsov in the 100y back and senior Pawel Furtek with a fifth in the 1650y free. Enos was a three-time finalist and Fusaro was second on 3-meter.
NOTES
On Oct. 21, five members of the USC swim team visited the UCLA Children’s Hospital through the Big Smiles Program. For about 3 hours they painted, played games, and hung out with the kids. The five members were Thomas Reed, Allie Wooden, Marta Ciesla, Caitlin Tcyz, and Billy Monjay.
