Swim and dive team takes first place at SMU Classic


The USC Men’s Swimming and Diving team picked up another first place win at the Southern Methodist University (SMU) Swim Classic in Dallas over the long weekend. Coming in at No. 5 in the country, the Trojans finished first with 330 points, swimming past the Michigan Wolverines (327). The University of Florida came in third (318) and was followed by Louisville (249), Purdue (226) and SMU (223).

In the same competition last year, the Trojans also earned the No. 5 national ranking. They won both relays and three of seven individual races to finish a close second to Michigan.

The Trojans began the event in strong fashion, ending day one (Saturday) of the two-day classic behind Michigan. They were able to cut the deficit thanks to superb performances by a few veteran members. Junior Vladimir Morozov clocked in a new personal best in the 100-yard freestyle, while senior Alex Lendrum won the 200y backstroke, and junior Dimitri Colupaev won the 200y IM.

The Trojans entered the final event behind Michigan by a point, but their 200y free relay of juniors Jack Wagner, Morozov, and Chase Bloch and sophomore Cristian Quintero glided into first with a season-best 1:19.08, beating Michigan by 0.49.

The competition was filled with record-breaking performances and high-place finishes. Earlier in the meet, Troy’s 200y medley relay of Lendrum, Colupaev, Bloch and Morozov was second in 1:26.63. Morozov, who tied the school record in the 100y breaststroke on Friday in addition to winning the 50y free, won the 100y free Saturday in 41.70, which established an NCAA ‘A’ cut and lowered his 2012 school record, previously set at 41.86.

Lendrum won the 200y back in 1:44.03, winning by more than a second, while Colupaev took first in the 200y IM in 1:45.07, edging Michigan’s Kyle Whitaker by 0.18. Freshman Morten Klarskov won the ‘B’ final of the race in 1:46.95.

The swim and dive men will try to keep the momentum going with a back-to-back coming up against Berkeley and Stanford on February 8th and 9th.

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