USC sees mixed results against conference foes

USC women’s swimming and diving team held its winning streak against No. 5 California (153-147) on Friday but fell to an unstoppable No. 4 Stanford on Saturday (119–179).

In the second match in as many days, the Women of Troy were in for a quick turnaround after Friday’s dual meet with Cal, but with the knowledge that Stanford would be a tougher competitor.

“It’s a hard two-day meet especially after being so excited about beating Cal and then to come back the next day and face Stanford,” junior Presley Bard said during Saturday’s Stanford meet.

Freshman distance star Hayley Anderson managed to edge the competition in the 1,000-yard freestyle in 9:45.72 but was unable to back it up in the 500-yard freestyle where she and Stanford junior Kelsey Ditto fought until the last stroke. Anderson took second in a 4:46.51, just .11 seconds behind Ditto.

“Hayley may have lost the 500 but she showed a lot of growth as a freshman,” USC assistant coach Jeremy Kipp said.

Sophomore Katinka Hozzsu came second in the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 1:46.40 and was out-touched by Stanford junior Kate Dwelley (1:46.19).

Junior Lyndsay DePaul snatched a new USC pool record in the 100-yard butterfly in a time of 52.72, edging Stanford’s senior Olympian Elaine Breeden.

“DePaul’s 100 fly was definitely a highlight of [the Stanford] meet,” USC coach Dave Salo said.

Bard claimed first in the 100-yard backstroke (53.71) and second in the 200-yard backstroke (1:58.64), despite improving upon her time by two seconds from the day before.

Friday’s meet against Cal didn’t appear to start off well, with the Women of Troy being edged by Cal in the 200-yard medley relay, and Anderson coming second to Cal’s 2008 Olympian senior Lauren Boyle in the 1000-yard freestyle.

Junior Presley Bard and DePaul, however, helped the team come back from the starting slump by winning five events between them. Bard won the                                          100-yard backstroke (53.68), the 100-yard freestyle (49.53) and the 200-yard backstroke (2:00.07).

DePaul led a 1-2-4 in the         200-yard butterfly in a 1:55.62, with freshman Yumi So coming second (1:57.75) and sophomore Tanya Krisman taking fourth (1:58.40). In DePaul’s next event, the 100-yard butterfly, she scored first place and earned a new pool record in a time of 52.86.

Hosszu also claimed a USC pool record in the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 1:46.34. Hozzsu battled until the very end against Cal’s Olympic silver medalist sophomore Sara Isakovic, who touched a marginal .28 seconds behind Hosszu.

Anderson came back hard in the 500-yard freestyle to redeem her loss earlier in the meet and won in a pool record time of 4:45.15, with Hosszu touching a breath behind her (4:45.20). The previous pool record (4:45.85) was held by USC Olympian Lindsay Benko and was set in 1998.

Freshmen Ariel Rittenhouse won both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard for women’s diving team. The Trojans swept the 3-meter event, with sophomores Victoria Ishimatsu and Michela Fossati-Bellani taking second and third respectively.

“Overall, the [Stanford] meet was disappointing, but we were good versus Cal,” Salo said. “We have a young squad who are still learning how to swim tough back-to-back meets against top competitors like Stanford and Cal.”