FEDERAL WAY, Wash. – The 2015 Pac-12 Conference Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships came down to the wire, and USC won the 400-yard freestyle relay finale to claim the title over Stanford and the six-team field.
Stanford held the lead heading into Saturday’s action and received a gold finish from Danny Thomson in the 1,650-yard freestyle, but the Trojans scored 287 points in the final session for its first title since 1979. It was the first Pac-12 meet in 36 years won by a school other than Stanford or Cal.
USC totaled 818.5 points and the Cardinal finished second for the third straight season with 809.5 points. The Golden Bears placed third with 673. Arizona finished fourth with 508 points, Arizona State (309) moved up to fifth and Utah (283) finished sixth.
USC’s eight-point win over Stanford was the closest in the Pac-12 showdown since the Cardinal beat Cal by the same margin in 1999.
Thomson started the final session by taking home the win in the 1,650 free with a 14:50.19, fighting off USC’s Pawel Furtek (14:51.81) for Stanford’s sixth win in the event in the last seven Pac-12 meets.
David Nolan (1:40.02) took silver in the 200-yard backstroke behind defending champion Ryan Murphy of Cal. Murphy broke his meet record in 1:38.34. Patrick Conaton (1:41.36) took fourth and Drew Cosgarea (1:42.32) was one spot behind.
Sam Perry, Stanford’s only performer in the 100-yard freestyle finals, touched eighth in 43.35 after going 42.79 in the finals. Curtis Ogren had a 1:56.53 in the 200-yard breaststroke finals for ninth. Gray Umbach (1:43.75) took fourth and Tom Kremer (1:44.10) had a sixth-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly.
USC, which nursed a three-point lead heading into the meet’s final race, sealed the victory in the 400 free relay with its third straight title in the event in 2:49.50. Stanford’s NCAA A-cut of 2:52.63 claimed the second slot.
The NCAA Zone E Diving Championships take place March 9-11 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Stanford’s swimmers will be competing in the NCAA Championships (March 26-28) in Iowa City, Iowa.