No. 2 Stanford Upsets No. 1 USC in Battle of the Titans

STANFORD, California, February 2. NO. 2 Stanford paid tribute to its six seniors competing in their final home meet with a 158-137 win over No. 1 USC. The Cardinal dominated the highly anticipated top-tier showdown Saturday at the Avery Aquatic Center to improve to 7-1 on the season with its fifth straight dual meet victory.

“From the senior ceremonies to the end of the meet, we had two goals,” Stanford head coach Greg Meehan said. “First, and most importantly, to honor our seniors. And we did that with a really great ceremony. Our second goal was to give ourselves a chance to win the meet. And we did that.

“We were able to win because of a lot of things that our senior class did today. It was a very meaningful win for our team and our senior class. We wanted to be better than we were last week, and we were.”

Senior Andi Murez anchored the Cardinal to a win and Avery Aquatic Center record in the 400 medley relay to start the rout. Maddy Schaefer, Sarah Haase and Felicia Lee joined Murez to finish in 3:36.22.

Lee later reset her own pool record in the 100 back with a 52.90, sliding under her 52.99 recorded one day prior in Stanford's win over UCLA. Annemarie Thayer took second in 54.02.

Lee also won the 100 fly in 53.23.

USC's Haley Anderson (9:53.52) was successful in winning the 1,000 free with Andie Taylor (9:55.07) and Allison Brown (10:03.97) picking up second- and third-place points for the Cardinal.

Taylor went on to win the 200 fly (1:58.39) and was third in the 500 free (4:50.44).

Murez (1:47.06) was golden in the 200 free with Haase (1:00.64) finishing first ahead of USC's Kasey Carlson (1:00.91) and teammate Katie Olsen (1:01.38) to win the 100 breast.

Schaefer (22.48) won the 50 free by one second and change. Julia Ama (23.58) and Alex Whitford (23.85) were third and fourth, respectively.

Schaefer (49.00) double-dipped with a win in the 100 free as Murez (49.25) took second.

Maya DiRado streamed to a 200 back victory in 1:56.01 and Stanford produced a 1-2-3 finish to help secure the win as Megan Fischer-Colbrie (1:56.76) and Thayer (1:58.04) rolled in behind DiRado.

Olsen (2:11.73) took first in the 200 breast with fellow freshman Haase (2:13.07) touching third.

Sloane Brazina (285.08) and Stephanie Phipps (284.25) finished behind USC's Haley Ishimatsu (301.88) in the 1-meter event. Phipps (314.63) edged Ishimatsu (313.95) to win the 3-meter edition.

DiRado's 4:11.12 was the fastest among the 400 individual medley field, as was Stanford's 1:31.22 in the 200 free relay.

Stanford closes the regular season Feb. 16 at Cal.

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World Magazine. It has been posted in its entirety without editing. Swimming World offers all outlets the chance to reach our audience by contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However, Swimming World reserves the right to choose what material is posted.

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