USC Women Beat Stanford For First Time Since 1996; Cardinal Men Victorious
The University of Southern California women’s swim team is in the midst of its most impressive season in years. The Trojan women have yet to lose a dual meet, and one day after defeating Cal, USC has now beaten Stanford as well, securing the win with a come-from-behind anchor leg on the final relay.
Entering the 400 freestyle relay, USC led Stanford 144-138, but a Cardinal win plus a third-place finish by the “B” team would have been enough for Stanford to move ahead and secure the win. Indeed, Stanford had the lead through the first three legs of the event, with Anna Shaw handing Lillie Nordmann a lead of more than one second heading into the anchor split, but USC freshman Minna Abraham split 46.59 to pull ahead and give USC the win.
For the Trojans, the 155-142 decision marked their first win over Stanford since 1996. The contest was also their final dual meet as conference rivals, with the Pac-12 poised to dissolve after this season as USC moves to the Big Ten and Stanford to the ACC.
Abraham played a key role in the win even before her relay split, as she topped the 100 free in 47.90 and also took second in the 200 free and third in the 200 IM. Also starring for USC were Caroline Famous and Kaitlyn Dobler, with Famous winning the 100 backstroke (51.36) and tying for first with Stanford’s Amy Tang in the 50 free (22.16) while Dobler, the 2022 NCAA champion in the 100 breaststroke, won her signature event in 58.63 before taking first in the 200 breast as well (2:08.70).
Famous, Dobler, Anicka Delgado and Vasilissa Buinaia opened the meet with a wire-to-wire triumph in the 200 medley relay. In diving, Nike Agunbiade won 1-meter (267.15) and 3-meter (299.90).
Stanford’s Aurora Roghair did her best to keep the Cardinal alive. She opened the meet by winning the 1000 free (9:35.29) and then coming back immediately to win the 200 free as well, overtaking Abraham on the final 50 to win in a swift time of 1:42.44, with Abraham second (1:42.88) and Kayla Wilson third (1:42.91) as all three swimmers now rank in the top-six nationally in the event. Later on, Roghair pulled away to win the 500 free by two-and-a-half seconds in 4:39.70.
Lucy Bell of the Cardinal also had a big day, winning the 200 butterfly in 1:52.62 before topping the 100 fly in 51.76. Natalie Mannion was the winner of the 200 back (1:53.51), and Caroline Bricker held off Bell to win the 200 IM (1:56.35).
Meanwhile, the Stanford men had too much firepower for the Trojans, coming out on top 175.5 to 119.5. Stanford bookended the win with relay domination, beginning with Rafael Gu, Ron Polonsky, Ethan Harrington and Jonathan Tan winning the 200 medley relay in 1:24.86 and concluding with Tan, Avery Voss, Henry McFadden and Gu swimming a time of 1:17.99 to win the 200 free relay.
Andres Dupont Cabrera earned the first individual win for Stanford in the 200 free (1:33.43), followed by Aaron Sequeira winning the 100 back (46.65) and Zhier Fan taking the 100 breast (52.55). Then, Stanford earned a big 1-2 finish in the 200 fly as Andrei Minakov pulled away to win in 1:40.00 while McFadden placed second (1:43.45), denying the USC twin brothers Michal Chmielewski (1:44.11). and Krzysztof Chmiewlewski (1:44.59). Krzysztof was the silver medalist in the 200-meter fly at last year’s World Championships.
Tan tied for the win in the 50 free in 19.37, and Dupont Cabrera won his second individual event of the day in the 100 free (43.04). Ethan Dang placed first in a tight 200 breast (1:56.01) while Rex Maurer, a Stanford freshman who is the son of USC head coach Lea Maurer, distanced himself from Krzysztof Chmielewski to win the 500 free in 4:18.77. Aaron Sequeira earned first in the 100 fly (46.29), and Polonsky claimed the 200 IM (1:43.45).
Krzysztof Chmielewski topped the 1000 free for USC in 8:50.29, beating Maurer by just under three seconds, while Artem Selin clocked 19.37 to tie Tan for the top spot in the 50 free. Vaggelis Makrygiannis held on to win the 200 back (1:42.64) while in diving, Laurent Paradis won 3-meter (353.10) and Sean Wang secured the win on 1-meter (352.40).