By Sarah Lloyd, Swimming World College Intern
In one of the most exciting meets this season in the Pac-12, the No. 12 USC Trojans pulled off an amazing upset against the No. 2 California Golden Bears. The meet came down to the final leg of the final relay and the final score was 149.5-148.5. This is the first win against the Golden Bears for the Trojans since 2000.
The meet was kicked off with a California victory in the 200 medley relay. A team of Ryan Murphy, Connor Hoppe, Justin Lynch, and Tyler Messerschmidt touched at 1:25.39 and were followed by their B team of Jacob Pebley, Josh Prenot, Andrew Seliskar, and Dillon Williams (1:28.08). The USC team of Ralf Tribunstov, Carsten Vissering, Alex Valente, and Morten Klarskov was third (1:28.14). The USC sophomore Pawel Furtek struck back in the 1000 free with a 9:02.99 victory. He was followed by California freshman Nick Norman (9:05.65) and California sophomore Ryan Kao (9:13.57). The USC junior Reed Malone was the next Trojan winner when he touched with a 1:36.76 in the 200 free. California senior Trent Williams was second (1:37.78), while Williams’ sophomore teammate Kyle Coan was third (1:38.49).
California’s junior Ryan Murphy then grabbed the win in the 100 back (45.85), while USC’s freshman Patrick Mulcare was second (47.75), touching out California’s Pebley by two one-hundredths of a second (47.77). USC’s freshman Carsten Vissering claimed the top spot in the 100 breast (53.09), ahead of California’s Josh Prenot (53.64) and Connor Hoppe (54.34). The California freshman Andrew Seliskar answered Vissering’s victory with one of his own in the 200 fly (1:45.11). Alex Valente, a USC freshman, was second (1:47.37), while California freshman Mike Thomas was third (1:48.06).
The 50 free was a tight race, with Trojan’s claiming the top two spots–the sophomore Tribunstov was first (20.17), just three hundredths of a second ahead of freshman Kyle Grissom (20.20). California’s senior Messerschmidt was third (20.33). Murphy added another individual win to his meet when he touched in a 43.86 in the 100 free. USC’s Tribunstov was second (44.17), while Messerschmidt was third (44.54).
Pebley grabbed an individual win in the 200 back (1:41.55). He was followed by USC’s Mulcare (1:42.07) and sophomore Jon Knox (1:46.62). Josh Prenot was first in the 200 breast (1:55.46) and was followed by a pair of Trojans–junior Steven Stumph clocked in with a 1:56.70, good enough for second, while the sophomore Jonah Hu grabbed third with a 1:59.60. Furtek claimed another victory in the 500 free (4:25.81), while teammate Malone was second (4:26.87). California’s Kao was third (4:28.43).
The California sophomore Justin Lynch was first in the 100 fly (47.18) and was closely followed by Seliskar (47.46) and USC’s Valente (47.70). Prenot’s 1:44.94 was good enough for first in the 200 IM, while Mulcare was second (1:46.78) and Pebley was third (1:49.11). Both boards were swept by the USC divers. The final push of the meet came from the USC 200 free relay team of Tribuntsov, Malone, Klarskov, and Grissom, who beat the California team of Murphy, Messerschmidt, Lynch, and Seliskar by just four one hundredths of a second (1:20.32 to a 1:20.36) to grab the meet with a score of 149.5-148.5.
This upset for USC is the first against California in 16 years.
Full results: 2016 USC vs. California Dual – Results
yef
Wow!! Good for the Trojans!
Jayden Porter