Swimming and diving make championships


The women’s swimming and diving team will compete in this weekend’s 2015 Pac-12 Championship meet after finishing fourth in the conference during the regular season.

The No. 12 Women of Troy (5-3, 4-3) will travel to the Weyerhauser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Washington for the meet. It will take place between Wednesday, Feb. 25 until Saturday, Feb. 28.

The men’s diving team will also compete at the meet as the Pac-12 runs the diving championships concurrently with the women’s swimming championships. However, the men’s swimming championship does not begin until the following week on March 4.

The Women of Troy are led by redshirt senior platform diver and captain Haley Ishimatsu. The Seal Beach, California native is the two-time national diving champion. Originally from Duke, she transferred to USC after one collegiate season and began diving for the Women of Troy in 2013. Despite battling injuries in 2012, she competed for the U.S. national team at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, finishing 14th and 5th in the 10m and synchronized 10m, respectively.

She is the first woman to repeat as an NCAA diving champion since the 1992-1993 season, and if she can claim her third title this year in her third season with the Women of Troy, she will become the first ever to win three national championships in a row.

Other noteworthy Women of Troy set to compete in the competition are Andrea Kropp, a redshirt senior who swims the 200y breaststroke; junior All-American butterfly specialist Kendyl Stewart, Jasmine Tosky, a junior All-American, who predominantly competed in the individual medley; and Kasia Wilks, a junior All-American who swims freestyle.

The Pac-12 conference is arguably the toughest in the country, featuring five nationally ranked teams, including No. 1 Cal, led by Olympic gold medalist Missy Franklin, No. 3 Stanford, No. 11 Arizona and No. 16 UCLA.

The Women of Troy are led by swimming coach Dave Salo and diving coach Hongping Li. The Women of Troy have not won a national championship in swimming since the 1997. Last year, they finished third in the conference competition. USC has won at least two individual titles seven-straight years and 13 out of the last 14 years.

The Pac-12 Network will broadcast delayed coverage of the meet, which will start Friday, Feb. 27 at 10a.m.

1 reply
  1. Steve B.
    Steve B. says:

    Another Coach who talks a good game with really a lack of results. It is sad when the two northern California schools are ranked so high while the Women of Troy are not even top ten being from the land of sunshine. When top swimmer Missy Franklin comes to Berkeley from Indiana and not to USC says all you need to know about the head coach in my estimation.

Comments are closed.