Anderson, Lendrum lead men’s and women’s squads

The USC men’s and women’s swimming teams are both set to compete this weekend as the Women of Troy will split their squad to compete in the SMU Swim Classic on Friday, Oct. 19 and Saturday, Oct. 20 as well as at home against San Diego on Friday, Oct. 19. The Trojans will open their season at home against North Carolina State, also on Friday and Saturday.

The women’s team looks to build on its back-to-back third-place finishes at the NCAA Championships and a 165-88 victory in their opening meet against Utah. The team is led by a strong core of veterans, including senior co-captain Haley Anderson, an NCAA champion, three-time All-American, three-time Pac-12 champion and silver medalist at the 2012 Olympics. The Women of Troy other returning All-Americans are senior co-captain Christel Simms; seniors Lindsay Parrish, Yumi So and Jessica Schimtt; and juniors Stina Gardell, Meghan Hawthorne and Lynette Lim.

USC is one of six teams competing at the SMU Swim Classic; competitors include host SMU, Texas, Florida, North Carolina and Louisville. Each team can only use eight swimmers and one diver in the competition, with only one swimmer per team in the “A” and “B” finals of each event. The meet begins at 4:30 p.m. PT both days.

The rest of the women’s team will host San Diego in a non-conference meet, which starts at 2 p.m. The men’s team looks to bounce back from back-to-back seventh-place finishes at the NCAA championships as they take on North Carolina State.

The men’s team meet will start at 2 p.m. on Friday and 11 a.m. on Saturday.

The team returns five All-Americans, including senior Alex Lendrum; juniors Vladimir Morozov, Dimitri Colupaev and Jack Wagner; and sophomore Cristian Quintero.