STANFORD, Calif. – No. 12 Stanford and No. 22 USC battled to the end of Saturday’s Pac-12 Conference men’s swimming and diving dual meet at Avery Aquatic Center. The visiting Trojans prevailed on Stanford’s Senior Day, 157-142.
The setback move Stanford’s dual meet record to 5-1 on the season. Stanford’s regular season ends Feb. 21 with a dual meet against rival Cal in Berkeley. USC improved to 5-2 overall.
USC struck first by going 3:13.06 to win the 400-yard medley relay. Stanford was close behind at 3:13.47 and its B-unit took third in 3:14.56.
Liam Egan’s 9:13.08 gave him a second-place finish in the 1,000-yard freestyle. He was second in the 500-yard freestyle with a 4:27.50.
In the 200-yard freestyle, Stanford went 2-3-4 with strong racing from Tom Kremer (1:38.03), Drew Cosgarea (1:38.82) and Sean Duggan (1:39.21).
David Nolan bested the field with a 47.54 in the 100-yard backstroke.
“It was great going out with these guys,” said Nolan. “Definitely the best group we’ve had in the last four years. We raced really hard, and got some great racing experience.”
USC’s Morten Klarskov went 54.76 to win the 100-yard breaststroke, less than a second off the pool record. Daniel Le (55.99), Max Williamson (56.19) and Christian Brown (56.28) were next in order.
Andrew Liang (1:46.99) won the 200-yard butterfly and Sam Perry (20.22) was second in the 50-yard freestyle. Liang (47.87) added another win in the 100-yard butterfly.
Bradley Christensen (402.30) and Kristian Ipsen (398.55) went 1-2 off the 3-meter board. Ipsen (416.55) won the 1-meter edition in his home finale.
“Senior Day was really cool,” said Ipsen. “I was happy with the 1-meter, and felt like I dove solid. In the 3-meter, I tried some new dives to try to bump up my degree of difficulty heading into the Pac-12 (Championships), (NCAA) Zone (Championships) and NCAA (Championships.”
Nolan (44.15) touched second in the 100-yard freestyle. One race later, Cosgarea (1:47.44) turned in a silver-worthy swim in the 200-yard backstroke. Patrick Conaton (1:48.33) and Gray Umbach (1:49.17) were close behind for third and fourth, respectively.
Williamson (2:01.21) was Stanford’s highest finisher in the 200-yard breaststroke and placed third. Williamson closed the individual events with a 1:48.13 to win the 200-yard individual medley. Umbach (1:49.80) was second.
USC squeezed ahead of Stanford in the 400-yard freestyle relay, finishing in 2:55.50 compared to the Cardinal’s 2:55.86.