Wisconsin vs. USC
- Results
- Hosted by USC
- Friday, January 13th
- 25 yards
- Dual meet format
FINAL TEAM SCORES:
Men:
- USC – 143
- Wisconsin – 114
Women:
- USC – 137
- Wisconsin – 120
Led by quadruple-winner Louise Hansson and triple-winners Riley Scott and Patrick Mulcare, the USC Trojans opened their spring season with a sweep of the visiting Wisconsin Badgers. Hansson, a superstar Swedish freshman who has been arguably the nation’s most impactful newcomer outside of Katie Ledecky, came away with sizable individual victories in the women’s 200 free (1:45.41, more than a full second ahead of teammate Tatum Wade) and 100 fly (53.00, a 1.5 second win), and also played key roles on the winning 400 medley (53.2 fly split) and 400 freestyle (48.3 second leg) relays.
Scott was the other top USC performer on the women’s side, dropping a 1:00.9 breaststroke split in the opening medley relay to give the Trojans a massive lead, and later coming back to match that split to win the individual 100 breaststroke the same time. With the meet sealed, Scott posted the fastest time in the 400 IM (4:15.36) by three full seconds.
However, fresh off their training trip in Hawaii, the Badgers didn’t make things easy for USC. Cierra Runge pulled away from Becca Mann in a tight battle to win the women’s 1000 in 9:48.49, with Mann touching in 9:49.74. Chase Kinney, one of the Big Ten’s best sprinters, topped USC’s Anika Apostalon in the 50 free, 22.54 to 22.85, and later gave Apostalon a tight race in the 100 (49.34 to 49.61). Freshman Beata Nelson also got a win, coming back to beat Hannah Weiss in the 200 backstroke, 1:57.68 to 1:57.70.
On the men’s side, Patrick Mulcare won three events, highlighted by an impressive negative split the 200 backstroke, going out in 53.13 before blitzing the field with a 52.37 to finish in 1:45.50. Mulcare also won the 200 freestyle (1:37.39) and 400 IM (3:52.17).
Dylan Carter continued his impressive season with a 19.69 in the 50 freestyle, a strong dual meet time, especially coming off holiday break training. Carter also split a wicked-fast 46.3 fly leg on USC’s winning 400 medley relay.
Like the women’s meet, though, it wasn’t all USC. Wisconsin All-American Matt Hutchins was double winner, cruising to a 9:05.61 in the 1000 before coming back to win the 500 in 4:21.54. Both of those times are among the fastest we’ve seen this year in dual meets. Teammate Cannon Clifton was also a winner on the day, taking the 100 freestyle in 43.99.
PRESS RELEASE – USC
Freshman Louise Hansson and sophomore Riley Scott won twice each and sophomore Patrick Mulcare won three times to lead the USC men’s and women’s swimming teams to wins over Wisconsin on Friday (Jan. 13) at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center.
The USC women defeated the Badgers, 137-120, to improve to 5-0 while the men won, 143-114, and moved to 5-1. This was the sixth straight year the Pac-12 and Big Ten rivals met at USC in January action.
Sophomores Hanni Leach and Scott, Hansson and senior Anika Apostalon won the opening 400y medley relay in 3:37.01 while USC also claimed the men’s race as junior Ralf Tribuntsov, sophomore Carsten Vissering and juniors Dylan Carter and Santo Condorelli won in 3:14.67.
USC freshman Becca Mann and Wisconsin’s Cierra Runge battled throughout the 1000y free and Runge, the transfer from Cal, won in 9:48.49, holding off Mann’s 9:49.74. Badger Matt Hutchins took command of the men’s 1000y and won in 9:05.61 to Trojan junior Pawel Furtek’s 9:13.70.
Hannson, who entered today’s meet with an eye-popping four NCAA A cuts in her pocket, won her first individual race, claiming the 200y free in 1:45.41 while fellow freshman Tatum Wade (1:46.60) was second. In the men’s race, backstroke stalwart Mulcare, who has shown himself to be a strong 200y free swimmer this season, won the event in 1:37.39 while Badger Brett Pinfold was second (1:38.41).
Leach won the women’s 100y back in 53.63 to Wisconsin’s Jess Unicomb’s 54.51. Tribuntsov (46.64) and fellow junior Jon Knox (49.27) then went 1-2 in the men’s 100y back.
Scott (1:00.90) and senior Riley Hayward (1:02.38) swept the women’s 100y breast while senior Ridge Altman (55.99), out of lane 8, led a 1-2-3 finish in the men’s race as senior Steven Stumph (56.15) and Vissering (56.27) followed him to the wall.
Sophomore Maddie Wright continued her strong work in the 200y fly to win her first 2017 race with a 1:57.53 while freshman Catherine Sanchez took second (1:59.78). Senior Michael Domagala, a co-captain with Steven Stumph, won the men’s 200y fly in 1:48.50 while sophomore Cash Deloache was second in 1:49.58.
Wisconsin’s Chase Kinney (22.54) held off a charging Apostalon (22.85) to capture the women’s 50y free. Carter dominated the men’s sprint, touching in an impressive January time of 19.69 while Condorelli was second in 20.50.
Following the diving break, Apostalon out-touched Kinney, 49.34 to 49.61, to reverse the order from the 50. Badger Cannon Clifton claimed the men’s race in 43.99, beating Tribuntsov (44.18) to the wall by 0.19.
Badger Beata Nelson came back on USC’s Hannah Weiss to out-touch the Trojan junior, 1:57.68 to 1:57.70. Leach was third in 1:58.68. Mulcare, the USC record holder in the 200y back, used a great back half as well to win in 1:45.50. Badger Todd McCarthy was second (1:47.30) with Knox third (1:47.75).
Hayward opened her final semester with a win in the 200y breast in 2:15.79 with Wisconsin’s Maria Carlson second (2:16.45) and senior Kelsey Kafka third (2:17.48). Stumph, two-time defending Pac-12 champ in the 200y breast, won the event today in 1:59.21 to Altman’s 2:00.32.
Wade, USC’s top swimmer in the 500y free this year, threw down an impressive come-from-behind win in the event to win in 4:45.94, just out-touching Wisconsin’s Danielle Valley’s 4:45.98.
Hutchins completed his distance sweep with a win in the 500y free in 4:21.54 with Badger teammate Victor Goicoechea second (4:28.53). Furtek was third (4:28.71).
Hansson comes back to win 100y fly in 53.00 with Sanchez second again in 54.63. Sophomore Alex Valente (47.98) and Domagala (48.25) also went 1-2 in the men’s 100y fly.
Scott, following the second break, dominated the women’s 400y IM in 4:15.36, just off her USC season-best time. Valley was second in 4:18.36 with Mann, finishing a grueling three-event set, took third (4:21.79). Mulcare posted his third win of the day with a 3:52.17 to win the 400y IM, coming back over the final 100 of freestyle to pass Badger Cooper Hodge (3:53.34).
The USC women closed the meet as freshman Stanzi Moseley, Hansson, Apostalon and sophomore Kirsten Vose won in 3:19.41. The Trojan men finished with a first as Tribuntsov, Condorelli, Domagala and Carter touched in 2:55.44, edging Wisconsin’s quartet by 0.17.
PRESS RELEASE – Wisconsin
LOS ANGELES – Double winner Matt Hutchins helped lead the way for the Wisconsin swimming program Friday in its first competition of the new year, a dual meet at USC.
USC swept the meet, with the Trojans men coming out on top, 143-114, while the USC women outscored the Wisconsin women, 137-120.
“If you look at the times we swam with where we are physically, where we’re at in our training, we did pretty well. We’re tired and we swam that way,” UW head coach Whitney Hite said. “We had some really great some swims, some that were OK and some that weren’t as good as we’d hoped. I’d give us a good solid B or B-plus.
“Against a really good team like USC, if everyone’s not on the same page performance-wise, you’re going to lose,” Hite added, “but this could be a win for us in the end, as long as we learn from it and get better from it.”
The meet fell at a tough point in the season for the Badgers, but that was the point of the dual, which came just as UW completed its intense, but valuable, training camp in Hawaii.
“Everyone thinks you go to Hawaii and you’re going just to have a great time – and we do have fun – but there’s 60 of us and it’s a business trip for us. It’s invaluable.” Hite said. “It’s a training camp with a competition at the end. To go off, be together, it’s very, very good for us as a program. I think one of the reasons we’re able to swim so well while being so tired today at USC is because we’re coming off that trip. I’m not sure that happens if we’re doing the same training at home.
“The training is better, they’re more focused, and there’s a lot of positives about being together.”
Competing in the two longest events of the day, Hutchins scored both his wins in dominating fashion at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center.
The senior started with a victory in the 1,000-yard freestyle, recording a time of 9 minutes, 5.61 seconds that was more than eight seconds faster than the runner-up, Pawel Furtek of USC.
Hutchins carried the momentum to his 500 freestyle race, where he reigned victorious once again by touching the wall in 4:21.54, just under seven seconds faster than teammate Victor Goicoechea, who grabbed runner-up honors in the event in 4:28.53.
“A :21 in the 500, at this time of the year? That’s one of the best in-season times in the nation,” Hite said of Hutchins’ effort. “That’s a really good swim.”
The Wisconsin women also saw success in the distance freestyle races, with Cierra Runge earning a win in the women’s 1,000 free. Runge held off the Trojans’ Rebecca Mann to seal the win with a time of 9:48.49.
Danielle Valley also put in a strong effort in the event to take third in 9:56.09.
Valley would later go on to lead the Badgers in the 500 free and 400 IM with runner-up honors in both events in 4:45.98 and 4:18.36, respectively.
Chase Kinney and Cannon Clifton led Wisconsin in the sprint freestyle faces with Kinney dominating the field in the women’s 50 free with a time of 22.54 and Clifton the top finisher in the men’s 100 free in 43.99.
Kinney also had an impressive showing in the women’s 100 free, finishing runner-up in 49.61 behind USC All-American Anika Apostalon.
Beata Nelson garnered the Badgers’ only win outside of the freestyle events in dramatic fashion.
Nelson seemed to have locked up second place in the 200 backstroke heading into the final turn, but the freshman turned up the heat in the final 50 yards to out-touch the Trojans’ All American, Hannah Weiss, by two-hundredths of a second to notch a time of 1:57.68.
Fellow freshman Cooper Hodge also had an exciting swim in the men’s 400 IM that came down to wire.
Going into the final turn, Hodge had the lead over USC All-American Patrick Mulcare, but Mulcare burst off of the wall heading down the final stretch to eventually claim the win while Hodge had to settle for a second-place finish in 3:53.34.
Wisconsin also earned a quartet of individual runner-up finishes against USC from Brett Pinfold, Jess Unicomb, Todd McCarthy and Maria Carlson.
Pinfold nabbed his second-place finish in the men’s 200 free, touching the wall in 1:38.41.
Unicomb and McCarthy earned their finishes in the backstroke, with Unicomb taking second in the women’s 100 back (54.51) and McCarthy placing second in the women’s 200 back.
Carlson garnered her runner-up showing in the women’s 200 breaststroke, registering a time of 2:16.45.
The Badgers opened the meet with both the men’s and women’s relay 400 medley relay teams achieving runner-up finishes.
The women’s team of Unicomb, Carlson, Nelson and Kinney ended up with a time of 3:39.63 while the men’s quartet of Pinfold, Griffin Back, Harrison Tran and Clifton finished in 3:17.31.
The team closed out its time in Los Angeles with the women’s 400 free relay team of Kinney, Runge, Emmy Sehmann and Marissa Berg placing second in 3:20.17 and the men’s team of Sean Maloney, Niko Stines, Kevin Braun, and Cameron Tysoe taking third in 3:06.30.
The team’s task is now to use its training and competitive experiences over the break to help usher in the next phase of its season.
“This really gives us a good transition into the championship part of our season,” Hite said. “The training won’t be as strenuous from now through March. We’ll have tough days, but it’s not like what we did in Hawaii. This gives us a signal, so to speak: ‘OK we’re starting to get into the championship season.’ It’s a really good indicator of that for us and for the kids.”
The Badgers will next see competitive action when they travel to Indiana in two weeks to partake in the Notre Dame Shamrock Invitational. The two-day meet begins on Jan. 27.
– #OnWisconsin –
