Cardinal Tames TrojansCardinal Tames Trojans
Men's Swimming & Diving

Cardinal Tames Trojans

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STANFORD, Calif. – No. 11 Stanford beat No. 15 USC, 179-121, on Saturday in a Pac-12 conference dual meet at the Avery Aquatic Center.  

"Before the meet started, we talked about racing the guys on either side and letting the scores take care of themselves," said Goldman Family Director of Men's Swimming Ted Knapp. "At this point in the season, our main focus is preparing for the Pac-12 and NCAA meets."

Prior to the meet, Stanford's six graduating seniors -- Justin Buck, Bradley Christensen, Spencer DeShon, Tom Kremer, Maxwell Williamson and Jimmy Yoder – received recognition for their four years with the program.

"I remember this class on the day of their first home dual meet at Avery – I'm just as proud as them today as I was when they first set foot on deck," said Knapp. "They've been a major part of our program for four seasons."

Stanford jumped out to a big lead early on with a one-two finish in the 200-yard medley relay. The Cardinal quartet of Ryan Dudzinski, Matt Anderson, Andrew Liang and Sam Perry (1:26.22) took the top spot, with the B-team of Patrick Conaton, Hank Poppe, Yoder and Cole Cogswell (1:28.49) taking second place after USC's A-team was disqualified.

True Sweetser (8:59.73), Liam Egan (9:05.05) and Buck (9:09.62) swept the podium in the 1,000-yard freestyle, finishing nearly 14 seconds ahead of USC's top swimmer.

"I was very proud of what Justin Buck did today in the final home meet of his career," said Knapp. "Justin scored points in two events he wouldn't normally swim at a championship meet, and that sort of thing is what makes this entire group special to work with."

Grant Shoults (1:36.50) began his big day with a second-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle, with Kremer (1:37.91) placing third. Dudzinski was next with a third-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke, followed by Matt Anderson's (54.87) runner-up finish in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Stanford dominated the 200-yard butterfly, led by Yoder (1:44.73), who was .71 seconds off his Avery Aquatic Center pool record. Abrahm DeVine (1:46.19) finished second, Andrew Liang (1:47.10) was third and William Macmillan (1:48.31) took fourth.


Perry (19.75), the defending Pac-12 champion in the 50-yard freestyle, won the first freestyle sprint of the day, beating out two USC swimmers for the top spot. Following a 15-minute break, Perry (43.67) claimed the 100-yard freestyle, which he also won at the 2016 Pac-12 Championships.

Junior captain Patrick Conaton (1:44.99) finished second in the 200-yard backstroke, before Anderson (1:59.54) took runner up in the 200-yard breaststroke.

The Cardinal essentially clinched the meet with a sweep of the top three in the 500-yard freestyle, led by Shoults (4:18.40), who broke Shaun Phillips' pool record of 4:19.26 from 2006. Sweetser (4:22.53) and Egan (4:22.65) rounded out the top three, giving the Cardinal podium sweeps in both distance freestyle swims.


"Pool records are always special,­ but the thing we've been most impressed about with Grant is how he's taken what he does in training into the competition pool," said Knapp.
 
Liang (47.32) took the top spot in the 100-yard butterfly, while Yoder (49.08) placed third. DeVine (1:46.50) won the 200-yard individual medley by over two seconds, with Williamson (1:49.21) and Curtis Ogren (1:49.58) finishing third and fourth, respectively.

 

The Cardinal claimed the final swim of the day in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The team of Perry, Cogswell, Kremer and DeShon (2:56.70) won the race, with Benjamin Ho, Liang, Shoults and Conaton (3:00.46) in third.

In the diving portion of the meet, Christensen was Stanford's highest finisher in both events, winning the 3-meter springboard (411.15) and taking second place in the 1-meter springboard (329.40).

Stanford returns to action Feb. 18 when it travels to face Cal in a Pac-12 dual meet to wrap up the regular season. Live statistics will be available at GoStanford.com.