In what has to be deemed the most surprising dual meet result of the 2013-2014 season so far, as the #6 USC Trojans topped the #1 Cal Golden Bears 180.5-119.5 in Los Angeles at the not-quite-finished remodeled Uytengsu Swim Center.
Uytengsu Update: Most of the cosmetic pieces of the upgrade to USC’s pool are completed, though locker rooms aren’t quite completed. The official grand opening ceremony will be held on February 21st.
Throughout this meet, USC hit all of their races, while the Cal women looked largely pretty flat. While Cal still has enough superstars to win a few races, even in those races USC made it a closer battle than was expected.
Take the 200 backstroke. The defending NCAA Champion and American record holder Liz Pelton took the win in 1:57.00, but that was only after a furious come-from-behind finish to make up a full second lead from USC’s Joanna Stenkvist. Stenkvist was 2nd in 1:57.01, just .01 seconds behind Pelton.
Meanwhile, Pelton, who didn’t swim any relays, was only 4th in the 200 free in a 1:49.22, which was well behind USC freshman Chelsea Chenault’s winning time of 1:46.84.
That was one of two individual wins for USC; she also beat her Cal freshman counterpart Missy Franklin in the 500 free by time of 4:46.88 to Franklin’s 4:47.14.
Franklin’s only win of the day, either individually or in a relay, came in the 1000 free where she swam a 9:47.44 to start her meet. That beat Meghan Hawthorne’s 9:47.70 in another very close finish.
Though Franklin only won that single race in the meet, her distance freestyle continues to look better-and-better. That’s a lifetime best for her by 8 seconds in the 1000.
In her other individual event of the meet (she swam 3 individuals and 1 relay), Franklin was 2nd in the 100 free in 49.75. USC’s Kasey Carlson won that race in 49.24, as she’s carried over her great junior season into this year. Carlson also won the 100 breaststroke in 1:00.94 over teammate Andrea Kropp (1:02.94), and that time ranks her as the 6th-best in the spring semester so far.
Cal’s top breaststroker Marina Garcia was the victim of a timing error in this race, and was just a 2:17 in the 200 breast later in the meet.
The 200 breaststroke went to Stina Gardell in 2:12.55, with Kropp again taking 2nd in 2:13.41. Gardell was the runner-up in the 200 IM, behind another star Cal freshman Celina Li, who was a 1:58.93.
Kasia Wilk of USC was the only swimmer under 23 seconds in the 50 free, winning that race in 22.89 over Cal’s Farida Osman (23.18).
Kendyl Stewart took a sweep in the 100 yard backstroke (53.34) and 100 yard butterfly (53.74) at this meet. None of Cal’s three big underclassmen backstrokers swam the 100, but they are deep enough in this race that they still had some fast results from Stepahnie Au (53.81) and Cindy Tran (54.29) for 2nd and 3rd, respectively.
USC closed the meet with a 3:19.89 in the 400 yard freestyle relay, with Cal placing 2nd in 3:21.03. USC was paced by a 49.16 leadoff from Carlson, and with Wilk really coming into her own this season, USC has a powerful 1-2 sprint punch as she was a 49.33.
The two teams split diving. USC’s Natalie Kalibat won the 3-meter with a score of 302.50 in a very competitive flight where 1st through 5th was separated by only 23.5 points. On the women’s 1-meter Cal’s Anne Kastler won a more-spread out competition with a score of 285.05.
The Trojans have swum extremely well in-season all year long, and against a smallish Cal travel squad that continued. This will have to be a huge confidence boost for USC headed into the pivotal month of February, and all eyes will be on Cal to see how they bounce back on Saturday.
Cal will regroup to swim against UCLA on Saturday and then Stanford on February 15th to finish off their regular season. USC will try and carry their momentum against Stanford on Saturday, and then UCLA on February 17th, after this dominant-looking win.
Caught the tail end of the USC/Stanford meet won by Stanford. Score after the diving before the. 4IM and the last relay was Stanford 153-USC 111. Felicia lee took the 100 back/fly in 52.6/52.9.Also the Stanford divers upset USCs Haley Ishimatsu in the 1 meter diving and Stan touched out USC in the opening medly relay 1:39.5-1:39.6. Kasey Carlson got a good win for SC beating out both Schaefer and Neal 49.3/49.4/49.6. And Chelsea Chenault touched out Lia Neal in the 200 1:46.92/1:46.96. The times were faster than the Cal/UCLA meet across the board. Maya DiRado just told me that the final score was something like 170-130.
Thanks for the reports!
Lol sure but probably not after 2 days of compact duel meets and after a 1000 and 500 yesterday. Not much rest between lots of events in a 90 minute duel meet. But yeah they all looked exhausted, sluggish, and a bit sloppy. Missy’s finish in the 2back was awful. Terry looked concerned and had them right back in the water for practice immediately after the meet ended. Missy was the only one smiling 😉
200 free relay
1 1:30.87 just off pool record Franklin anchored in 22.5 for win after about even at
150.
2 UCLA
3 Cal B
4 Ucla B.
team score without diving scores: Cal165.5- UCLA 95.5
Thanks for the news.
1.58 for Missy in the 200 back?
She must be very very very tired.
She swam that kind of times when she was 12 or 13.
I’m sure the stars will be at their best in March.
The questions are about Marina Garcia and Kristen Vredeveld.
The first swims very far from her best so far. Freshman year? New country? Problems with yards?
The second is a mistery for me. 22.17 and 48 low when she was 15 and she struggles since then.
4IM
1 Li Cal 4:15.66
2 Pelton Cal 4:17.4
3 Naze Cal 4:20.87
4 Tarazona Ucla 4:24.4.
Li beat Pelton on the back and breast legs
100 fly
1 Quah UCLA 53.6
2 Kinnear Ucla 54.2
3 Tran 54.9
4 Naze 55.3
Bootsma finished 8th and last 56.6 after being in 4th place at the 50. Interesting scene on deck afterward, Bootsma looked very upset as McKeever was talking to her, she kept trying to turn and walk away from her, MCKeever looked pissed and kept grabbing her arm and turning her around every time she tried to get away, about 4-5x. I remember having those scenes with my coach after a bad swim. 😉
Yeah that doesn’t surprise me about Bootsma. Hoping she gets through whatever in due time
Check your times… Bootsma finished 2nd in 100 fly
To clarify for all reading –
“Fact checker” I believe is referring to Saturday’s dual against UCLA, not the one actually in this report, and looking at official results is correct. Bootmsa was a 54.51 in the 100 fly for 2nd place behind Ting Quah.
Yeah sorry about that. The scoreboard was messed up several times during the meet. e.g. they had Kojasteh and KOng tied for 1st instead of 2nd, and Garcia in 8th and last after the 2Breast but they corrected. They had Bootsma in last in the 100 fly but I must have missed the correction.
Yeah sorry about that. The scoreboard was messed up several times during the meet. e.g. they had Kojasteh and KOng tied for 1st instead of 2nd, and Garcia in 8th and last after the 2Breast but they corrected. They had Bootsma in last in the 100 fly but I must have missed the correction. 54.5, that sounds more like it.!
Turns out I was right the first time; the official results have been changed for 100 fly and a couple other events, and Bootsma did finish last in the 100 fly in 56.6. I’m suspecting illness and/or injury for a time that slow.
500
Franklin 55.62, Baker of Ucla takes lead at 200 1:55.0-1:55.4, holds lead at 300 2:53.8-2:54.7, and at 400 3:53.14-3:54.22. Final:
1 Baker sprints to 4:51.5
2 franklin struggles to 4:53.8, nothing left after around the 300 mark
3 Li Cal 4:57
2Breast
1 Garcia 2:16.92
2
Khojasteh Ucla and
Kong Cal tied at 2:18.65
4Tse Ucla 2:20.3
2Back
1 Franklin 57.6/1:58.6
2 White UCLA 1:59.4
3 senko Ucla 1:59.7
4 Klaren Cal 2:00.8
Franklin looked tired.