USC off to strong start after opening weekend


The USC men’s and women’s swim and dive teams opened up the 2011 season with impressive victories.

The Women of Troy defeated Washington State 120-74 in Pullman, Wash., and the Trojans defeated CSU Bakersfield 150-101 at McDonald’s Swim Stadium.

Led by junior Christel Simms and sophomore Stina Gardell, the women’s team featured winners in eight separate events. Simms won the 100-yard freestyle and was a member of the winning 200-yard medley relay team.

Gardell took first in the 200-yard freestyle and the 200-yard backstroke.

Haley Anderson contributed to the USC victory, winning the 1,000-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle.Meghan Hawthorne and Katka Hosszu who won the 200-yard IM and the 200-yard butterfly, respectively.

On the men’s side, the Trojans were winners in 11 events. With sophomore Vladimir Morozov leading the way with victories in the 100-yard breaststroke and 100-yard freestyle, USC did not have much trouble dealing with visiting CSU Bakersfield.

“It felt good,” Morizov said of the team’s effort. “We’re putting in a lot of work in the weight room and the pool, and it’s just the beginning of the season, but we’ve already been putting up fast times. It’s a good start to our season.”

Other winners for the Trojans included Julian Bonse in the 1,000-yard freestyle, Dimitri Colupaev in the 200-yard freestyle, Nick Karpov in the 100-yard backstroke and Chad Bobrosky in the 500-yard freestyle. The 400-yard medley team also took first place.

“It went really well,” assistant coach Jeremy Kipp said of the victory. “There’s been a lot of early season meets around the country from the SEC and some other Pac-12 schools and we wanted to put up times that were going to be comparable to the duel meets. I think we did that.”

Kipp also noted some specifics the Trojans excelled at.

“The freshmen looked pretty good,” he said. “They’ve seen the upperclassmen really compete and they have a better idea of what’s coming up in the next month or two months. All in all, there’s very few holes in the lineup.”

Both teams have a few weeks off until they get back in the pool for competitive action. The next swim meet for USC will not be until Nov. 4 when it hosts the USC Diving Invite. Teams expected to compete include conference foes from Arizona, Stanford and California.