Feb. 9, 2013
STANFORD, Calif. - No. 3 USC struck early and often, yet had to hold off a resilient Stanford squad for a 156-139 men's swimming and diving dual meet win Saturday at Avery Aquatic Center. The ninth-ranked Cardinal battled the Trojans in each race as nothing came easy for either squad, with many outcomes decided by the narrowest of margins on Stanford's Senior Day.
"We knew that USC had some very strong frontliners and their strengths were our weaknesses," Goldman Family Director of Men's Swimming Ted Knapp said. "The challenge for us today was to win events, and although we raced really well, we didn't win enough races for the victory. If you look at the races we lost, the differences between first and second place were very slim. That goes to show you how important the details in racing can be.
"All of our seniors got to compete today in front of a very strong contingent of fans, family, alumni and students."
Stanford now looks ahead to its regular-season closer at Cal on Feb. 23, followed by the Pac-12 Conference Championships (March 3-6) and NCAA Championships (March 28-30).
"A win today would have been nice, but we have a greater goal in mind," Knapp said. "Our competition will get more talented and our seasonal plan is designed so we can move from training mode to racing mode."
USC made a late surge to clock a 3:11.78 to win the 400 medley relay in front of Stanford's 3:11.94. The Cardinal held the lead until Vladimir Morozov's 41.31 in the final 100 yards gave the Trojans the win.
Drew Cosgarea and Cristian Quintero mirrored each other for most of the 1,650 free in neighboring lanes. It was not until the final 25 yards that the race was decided, as Quintero touched .10 seconds ahead of Cosgarea with a 15:15.53.
Thomas Stephens (1:37.34) challenged Dimitri Colupaev (1:37.27) in the 200 free with Colupaev eventually touching first.
David Nolan shelved Stanford's first win by going 47.51 in the 100 back. The race also held implications for bragging rights in the Swanston household, as Stanford's Matthew Swanston (49.11) out-touched his brother, USC's Jeff Swanston (51.57).
Nolan's second win came in the 200 individual medley, capturing the event by over two seconds ahead of USC's Morten Klarskov (1:48.85).
Matt Thompson (1:44.52) topped the field in the 200 back with Nolan (1:45.01) taking second.
Mack Montgomery (1:46.25) was followed by Tom Kremer (1:47.04) for a 1-2 finish in the 200 fly to give the Cardinal a chunk of points.
Shaw later finished second in the 200 breast with a 2:02.64.
Morozov broke the Avery Aquatic Center record in the 50 free (19.33), going under the three-year old mark set by Cal's Nathan Adrian (19.34). Aaron Wayne was second in 20.10. Morozov (43.07) got the better end of the 100 free with Wayne (43.86) and Andrew Saeta (44.39) rounding out the top three.
In the 500 free, Casgarea (4:29.60) was third as teammate Robert Hommel (4:31.15) took fourth. Gray Umbach (48.07) and Jack Lane (48.16) finished second and third, respectively, in the 100 fly.
Kristian Ispen (374.10) and Noah Garcia finished 1-2 in the 1-meter diving event. Ispen (435.60) and Garcia (348.83) duplicated the feat in the 3-meter edition.
USC won the 200 free relay in 1:19.46 as Quintero held off a charging Saeta in the final stretch. Stanford clocked a 1:19.49 for second.