USC Women’s Swimming and Diving Beats UCLA, Posts Nation-Leading 200 Medley Relay

Photo Courtesy: Griffin Scott

LOS ANGELES – The USC women’s swimming and diving team extended its winning streak over crosstown UCLA in dual meet action to eight in a row with a dominating win today.

The Trojans posted a 174.5-125.5 victory at their home pool to close out the dual meet season and get a boost heading into the Pac 12 championships. UCLA is a formidable opponent in dual meets, but could only muster one swimming victory and wins in both diving events.

That sole swimming win came in the 200 butterfly with Noelle Tarazona posting an impressive 1:55.20 in her final dual meet. Tarazona was just four tenths off her lifetime best of 1:54.80, which she swam at last year’s Pac 12 championships. She posted a 1:54.88 on her way to 11th place in the 200 fly at last year’s NCAA championships. Today’s swim moves Tarazona from ninth to seventh in the national collegiate standings. Teammate Katie Grover was also under 1:56 with a runner-up time of 1:55.88. That beats her personal best of 1:57.81, which she swam just two months ago at the USA Swimming nationals.

Perhaps the top swim of the day for the Trojans came in the first event, the 200 medley relay. Hannah Weiss (24.32 backstroke), Andrea Kropp (27.23 breaststroke), Kendyl Stewart (22.81 butterfly) and Katarzyna Wilk (21.58 freestyle) combined for a 1:35.94, the fastest swim of the season. Stanford previously held that position with a 1:35.99 from November.

Stewart, who is looking to complement her 100 fly USA Swimming long course national title with an NCAA title in the same event for USC, won the 100 fly today with a 51.25. Stewart posted a personal best with the win, and moved into third in the nation behind Kelsi Worrell (50.91) and Christina Bechtel (51.11). It’s also an automatic NCAA qualifying time, making her one of only four women to beat the 51.70 standard so far this season.

USC’s Chelsea Chenault put herself at the top of the collegiate rankings in the 1000 free with a stunning 9:33.87 to win by about a pool length. The last time she swam the 1000 was in November against Arizona State, where she swam a 10:26.67. Chenault inched closer to the top 15 nationally in the 500 free with a winning time of 4:40.70. That’s faster than the 4:42.56 she swam in the consolation final of the NCAA championships last year for 16th place, so the sophomore looks to be in a good place leading up to next year’s big meet.

The closest race of the meet came in the 100 breaststroke. Kropp, mostly known for her 200 breaststroke prowess, hit the 50-yard turn at 28.23, just four hundredths of a second ahead of UCLA’s Allison Wine. The race came down to the finish, with Kropp posting a 59.60 to break the 1:00 barrier for the first time in her career. Wine also posted a personal best in placing second with a 59.70. Those swims put Kropp and Wine 10th and 11th in the national rankings. Kropp had no competition in the 200 breast, posting a stunning 2:08.97 to move into seventh in the national rankings.

Weiss closed out her freshman dual meet season with two big wins in the backstroke events. The freshman won the 100 back with a 51.92, just two hundredths of a second off her personal best. Weiss, who is a member of the USA Swimming junior national team, will give the Trojans a boost for medley relay purposes if she can drop a few more tenths next month. She also took the 200 back in a 1:53.83, holding off Stewart, who was second with a 1:54.21.

Jasmine Tosky was a double winner for the Trojans, swimming in two off events. She took the 200 free with a 1:46.31 in holding off UCLA’s Monica Dornick, who was second with a 1:46.69. Tosky came back to win the 400 IM in an impressive 4:11.25.

Winning the sprint freestyle events was Wilk with a 22.37 in the 50 free and 48.97 in the 100 free. The time in the 50 puts her just outside the top 30 in the nation, but just four tenths off the NCAA automatic qualifying time.

UCLA swept the diving events thanks to a superb outing by Maria Polyakova scoring 342.45 on the 1-meter event and 316.20 on 3-meter. She was able to win both by a combined 68 points.

USC put a capper on the meet with a 1:29.68 to win the 200 free relay, good enough for 11th in the national standings.

Southern California women vs. UCLA Dual Meet – Results

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