USC Swims Through Adversity On Road to NCAA Champs: ‘This is Only the Beginning’
In the past two seasons, the USC women’s swim program has graduated some top swimmers, changed coaches, dealt with coaching turmoil in-season and a pandemic. It would be easy for the Trojans to struggle amid this plethora of tough situations.
Instead, the USC women put together a stellar Pac-12 Championships, finishing third behind a slew of strong performances, and looks poised to return to the top 10 in the NCAA, and could be closer to the top five the way things are trending.
Kaitlyn Dobler won the 100-yard breaststroke in a new Pac-12 record, and she wasn’t the only USC champion.
Isabelle Odgers stunned the field to win the 200 breaststroke, Anicka Delgado sprinted to the 50 freestyle title and Caroline Pennington won the 1650 freestyle. Meanwhile, graduate transfer Calypso Sheridan and senior Laticia Transom had multiple stellar events.
Photo Courtesy: USC Athletics via Pac-12
“It is a really big deal. As a team, we have been through a lot in the last two years. We just got the opportunity to reset and rebuild and we are becoming stronger as a team and so happy to be on deck. That positivity really carried us through that meet. It gives us a really good opportunities going forward at NCAAs,” Dobler said. “We are looking like we can place really well at NCAAs. I am really hopeful for that.”
The success at the Pac-12 Championships is even more impressive considering that they accomplished all of this without USC head coach Jeremy Kipp, who was placed on administrative leave in October and resigned last week. Lea Loveless Maurer took over as acting head coach this season.
“Lea has been incredible. She has stepped up in the job. That has kept us super successful. We have four amazing coaches on staff,” Odgers said. “We have a retreat at the beginning of the year and we got on the same page with who we wanted to be when we walked on deck during championship season. Forming our identity as a team as swimmers that were going to show up and work hard every day was something that has carried us through no matter what ups and downs we face. It has obviously been hard with COVID and coaching (situations) but we have such a strong bond as a team as women and that has carried us unified to a common goal.”
Dobler continues to pursue her goal of winning an NCAA title. She was runner-up in the 100 breaststroke last year and has already been faster, breaking the Pac-12 record in the process at 57.31.
Photo Courtesy: Yannick Peterhans
She will be seeded third in the 100 breaststroke and ninth in the 200 breaststroke (2:06.56). She also is the 31st seed in the 50 freestyle (22.09).
“It has been really great. We had four people in that heat. It was so fun in the ready room. We were having such a good time that I wasn’t worried about the race, and I think ultimately, that is what made me swim even faster. I was happy that whole heat went under a minute, which was super fast, especially compared to last year. That meant a lot,” Dobler said. “It was definitely a good confidence booster. I had Mono earlier this year and had to take two weeks off. I wasn’t sure how I was going to be able to get back into it and it was really great to be able to drop time from what I did at NCAAs last year for Pac-12s. I am really excited for NCAAs. Personally, I really would like the NCAA title in the 100 breaststroke. I got second last year, and it was really close. I am hoping to go under 57. I am looking forward to seeing what I can do. That second place fueled me a lot. My goal is to eventually make an Olympic team. But I am more focused on the journey than the destination.”
Odgers, a senior, has worked her way to becoming a Pac-12 champion, winning the 200 breaststroke (2:06.42), going 1-2-3 with Dobler and Sheridan. Odgers is four seconds faster than she was at NCAAs last year in the event.
The USC senior is the eighth seed in the 200 breaststroke with her conference title time, and also is the 19th seed in the 200 IM (1:55.86) and the 33rd seed in the 100 breaststroke (59.72).
“Pac-12s was the perfect meet for me. It was such a culmination of the work put in over these four years. I think that particular race has always been my baby. Over the past couple of years I have gotten to experience swimming it in finals at Pac-12s and it has always been a really great experience, but this year was different. There were four of us and it became more about that than the race it self. It kept us all having great energy. That session started with Caroline Pennington’s victory in the mile, which was something that really got the energy moving. The opportunity to do that with my training partners, the people I look to for inspiration and the people that push me every day made it all the more special. Getting my hand first on the wall was very special because it is something that I have wanted for a long time,” Odgers said.
Photo Courtesy: Hali Helfgott/USC Athletics
Delgado has had quite a journey the past year, being a part of the Ecuador Olympic team in Tokyo after winning the South American Championships in the 100 free, 50 fly and 100 fly. In Tokyo, Delgado tied for 25th in the 50m free (25.36) and was 31st in the 100m free (55.56). Delgado lowered her own Ecuadorian national records in both events at the Olympics then returned to USC to stun the Pac-12 field in the 50 freestyle, tying for first at 21.89.
The USC sophomore is the 18th seed in the 50 free at NCAAs, the 34th seed in the 100 butterfly (52.25) and 45th in the 100 free (48.56).
“The biggest thing was preparation. Going into Tokyo, I had trailed for two years for it. There were lots of hardships during COVID, training by myself. It made it all worth it. Is was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I have raced on big stages, but never as big as that. It really was a dream come true. That really prepared me for coming to the college season. It gave me a boost,” Delgado said. “I have lived in California my entire life, but my dad is Ecuadorian. When I turned 13 I kind of had a choice to be on the U.S. junior team or Ecuador’s junior national team. I had so much fun learning about the culture, representing Ecuador and making my family proud. I have been doing it since I was 13.”
Delgado wasn’t seeded in the top three heading into the 50 free finals at Pac-12s, but got to the wall first.
“All of it went by super fast. I remember being a little nervous, being on the blocks and shaking a little bit — and then that is all I remember. I know there weren’t a lot of huge expectations going into it. I wasn’t seeded first, second or third. I was just going out there to have fun and hoping to drop my time. Touching first was better than I could have expected,” Delgado said. “The best part (was watching it build) at Pac-12s. It is my favorite meet in college. Watching my teammates swim is even more fun than swimming myself. It just gets everyone going. That is how we all succeed together as a team.”
Photo Courtesy: JOHN MCGILLEN/USC ATHLETICS
And that success isn’t over.
USC is looking extremely strong heading into the NCAA Championships in Atlanta, which begin March 16.
“We have an opportunity to show up with a really strong presence at NCAAs. That prospect is really exciting,” Odgers said. “I would love to go to this meet and make some finals. I want to score some points for my team. We want to be the team we know we can be.”
Which USC proved at Pac-12s. The Trojans will look to continue that bond of success together on the biggest stage.
“When we are on the pool deck, it is so evident what a close group we are. We have faced a lot in the past year, but we have been able to get through it all, and it is just starting to show,” Delgado said. This is only the beginning. We are only going to get better from here. I know we are going to have strong relays and strong individual swims. We are going to show up but we want to have fun. That is where the memories are truly made.”
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