Cristian Quintero’s Return Not Enough For USC To Beat California

Cristian Quintero

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

BERKELEY – The Trojans of the Southern California men’s swimming and diving teams put up a valiant fight this afternoon against the reigning national champions from UC-Berkeley, but lost a few key races by a few tenths and fell short of a team victory. California won the meet 173-127.

One of the big boosts for Southern California today was a 1-2 finish in the 200 medley relay over the reigning relay champions. Luca Spinazzola, Morten Klarskov, Dylan Carter and Cristian Quintero combined for a 1:27.93, while the Trojans’ “B” team shared the second-place points with Cal’s “A” team, as both squads posted a 1:28.05. California’s “B” team made it one of the most exciting races of the day, finishing fourth with a 1:28.30 as the top four teams finished less than four tenths apart.

Quintero, racing in his first meet of the season after taking the fall portion off to train for the world championships, was one of four winners in individual events for the Trojans. Quintero, the reigning NCAA champion in the 500 free, sat out that event today but won the 200 free in a close race with Cal’s Trent Williams. Though the two were separated by just .02 at the 150-yard mark, Quintero blasted a 24.24 on the final 50 to win by 45 hundredths of a second, 1:36.99 to 1:37.44.

Quintero was denied a win in the 100 free by the slimmest of margins, placing second to Cal sophomore Ryan Murphy, 43.98 to 43.99. Santo Condorelli was the leader at the 50-yard mark with a 21.23 split, but faded to third with a 44.05. Murphy continues to show improvement in the 100 free, putting up his third unshaved swim under 44 seconds this season. Murphy is not likely to skip the 200 back for the 100 free at the NCAA championships, but it strengthens Cal’s hopes of a 400 free relay victory at the Big Meet.

Santo Condorelli, a Trojan sophomore, posted a quick 19.89 in the 50 free, the only sub-20 second swim of the day, to take down Messerschmidt and his 20.37 and teammate Dylan Carter’s 20.39.

As expected, Southern California dominated in diving. The Trojans took the top three places on the 1-meter springboard, led by the 379.05 from Collin Pollard. Deon Reid (326.10) and Dashiell Enos (319.20) rounded out the top three. Finn Scribbick prevented a Southern California sweep in the 3-meter competition, finishing second with 364.80 points. Reid took the event with a score of 370.80, while Pollard was third with 359.18 points and Enos was fourth with a score of 310.05.

Another close race that didn’t go Southern California’s way was the 500 freestyle. USC’s Reed Malone traded the lead with Cal’s Adam Hinshaw throughout the race, but Hinshaw got to the wall first when it really mattered, posting a 4:28.07 to Malone’s 4:28.45. The Trojans nearly got a relay sweep today, but couldn’t get past Cal in the 400 free relay despite a valiant anchor leg by Dylan Carter. The Golden Bears won the relay with a 2:57.28 to Southern Cal’s 2:57.75.

One of the highlights for Cal was a 1-2-3 finish in the 200 IM. Josh Prenot dominated the race with a 1:46.19, one of the quickest unshaved performances of the season. Chuck Katis didn’t have the freestyle leg to hang onto second place, which was taken by Will Hamilton with a 1:49.51 to Katis’ 1:50.14.

Prenot and Katis were practically inseparable in the 200 breaststroke, as Prenot got the win with a 1:59.12 to Katis’ 1:59.19. Earlier in the meet, Katis won the 100 breast handily with a 53.97, nearly 1.5 seconds ahead of USC’s Morten Klarskov, who was second with a 55.36.

As they head toward the big rivalry meet against Stanford in two weeks, the Golden Bears continue to perform strongly. The team fell to number seven in the recent CSCAA rankings but are likely to show their true strength when racing Stanford. Other wins today for California include:

• Hinshaw’s 9:11.55 in the 100 freestyle, his fastest swim of the season by five seconds;

• Murphy’s 46.53 in the 100 backstroke that keeps him alone at the top of unrested swims in the college rankings. No one has been able to swim under 47 seconds in the event unshaved this season;

• A double win for Long Gutierrez in the butterfly events, with a 1:45.79 in the 200 fly over Prenot’s 1:46.25 and a 47.64 in the 100 fly;

• A two-second victory for Jacob Pebley in the 200 back with a 1:44.44, his fastest unrested swim this season.

California men vs. Southern California dual meet – Results

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