Men’s swim and dive takes on the NCAAs
The men’s swim and dive team is ready to compete in the NCAA championships, held in Minneapolis, after a promising performance at the Pac-12 championships. In swimming, sophomore Chris O’Grady finished fifth in the 200-yard breaststroke and sophomore Artem Selin finished 12th in the 50-yard freestyle. O’Grady and Selin both qualified for the NCAAs, with O’Grady set to compete in the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke, while Selin will swim the 50-yard freestyle.
“[The] Pac-12 is always kind of a rough meet just because it’s so close to the NCAAs,” O’Grady said in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “[But] overall as a team, I think we performed pretty well.”
Though USC will not be able to participate in any of the relays at the NCAAs, O’Grady emphasized the team’s support this season.
“This year, everyone gets along very well with each other, and the team environment has been great,” O’Grady said.
Freshman diver Laurent Gosselin-Paradis also spoke about bonding with his teammates, despite the individual aspect of diving.
“It’s really about supporting each other and being there for each other and cheering on each other no matter what,” Gosselin-Paradis said. “I don’t think I could have had as successful a year without the team.”
The men’s diving team combined to secure a comfortable first-place finish at the Pac-12s. Gosselin-Paradis took first in 1-meter and platform, as well as second in 3-meter. Senior George Korovin placed first in 3-meter and sixth in 1-meter. Sophomore Shangfei Wang finished seventh in 3-meter, and freshman Robert Gref took eighth in 1-meter.
Diving Head Coach Li Hongping expressed his excitement about the success at Pac-12s, referring to the men’s results and senior Nike Agunbiade’s win on women’s platform.
“I really feel a tremendous amount of appreciation and gratitude for what they have done for themselves, for the team, as well as for USC,” Li said. “This has been the best ever [result] from my coaching for the last 24 years. So as their coach, I’m so very proud of their accomplishment and [am] just thrilled to bring such honor back to [USC].”
All four divers who competed in the Pac-12s also qualified for the NCAAs at the Zone E Diving championships. Korovin is set to compete in every event at the NCAAs. Wang qualified for both springboard events and Gref qualified for platform. Gosselin-Paradis is only competing in the 1-meter after missing the other events at Zone E championships due to illness.
“I wasn’t able to compete on 3-meter and platform, which are usually my strongest events. So I’m definitely disappointed about that,” Gosselin-Paradis said. “But I’m also happy to have an easier week and to focus on my weakest event, 1-meter, just to try to make it as strong as I can and as consistent as I can.”
Coach Li stressed the importance of his divers’ personal growth, instead of worrying about competitors.
“I want to avoid mentioning [rankings] because that will distract them from what they need to do in each and every step of their dive,” Li said. “The result will be good if you only focus on the present time, not the future. This is a rewarding moment for them to show [their] last six months of hard training.”
Gosselin-Paradis said he is dealing with some nerves ahead of his first NCAA championship, but he’s working on staying concentrated.
“I walked in yesterday and felt a little bit overwhelmed because the level of caliber was way more than any competition that I’ve competed in this year, but today I went into practice and just wanted to focus on myself,” Gosselin-Paradis said. “I wasn’t really paying attention to anyone else. It’s been working out so far, so I’m excited.”
O’Grady expressed a similar mindset, especially with his experience competing in last year’s NCAAs, where he finished 16th in the 200-yard breaststroke.
“I’m a lot more calm. I’m not really all that anxious about the results,” O’Grady said. “I’m just ready to swim fast.”
O’Grady will start in the 200-yard individual medley on Thursday, along with Selin in the 50-yard freestyle and the qualified divers on 1-meter. Men’s swim and dive will compete through March 25.