Men’s swim surrenders weekend meets


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Men’s swim and dive during its meet against Stanford Saturday.
Men’s swim and dive cheers at the finish line during its meet against Stanford Saturday. The Trojans lost 182-118. (Richard Tao | Daily Trojan)

No. 8 USC faced No. 2 UC Berkeley and No. 11 Stanford this weekend in a tough two-meet stretch. The Trojans dropped both meets, losing 198.5-94.5 against the Golden Bears and 182-118 against the Cardinal. 

USC is now 4-2 overall,  2-2 in Pac-12 play. 

The Trojans suffered a definite loss against Berkeley Friday. Freshman Daniel Matheson scored a personal record in the 1000-yard freestyle and placed third (9:11.90). Junior Ivan Puskovitch followed close behind in fourth (9:27.50). 

Freshman Artem Selin placed second in the 50-yard freestyle with a 19.76. The freestyle swimmer holds the German national age record in the men’s 50 short course meter, 21:25.

While the Trojans did not produce any individual wins against Berkeley, USC lessened the gap against Stanford on Saturday despite the loss. Senior Victor Johansson hit a season record in the 1000-yard freestyle and placed second (9:08.18), followed by Matheson in third (9:11.65). 

The 50-yard freestyle start was challenging for Nikola Miljenic after his diving block’s failure; however, the senior still managed to take third place in the event. Miljenic later placed first in the 100-yard freestyle (43.94), followed by junior Max Saunders in second place (44.31). 

Senior distance freestyler Owen Kao said he felt confident about the team’s long-term goals, including the Pac-12 championship. 

“As we’re coming down to the end of the season, it’s a lot about putting everything together and getting ready for the championship swims,” Kao said. “So just kind of honing in on the very small details is really big, and I think we were doing that today.”

Johansson, a distance freestyler from Sweden, said he felt confident about his swims despite great fatigue from intense post season training. 

“We’re training pretty hard,” Johansson said. “[Head Coach Hongping Li] has been very thorough with [emphasizing], ‘This is not the end goal, we’re training for Pac-12s and then ultimately NCAAs.’” 

Kao and Johansson emphasized the importance of maintaining high energy for the duration of the meet, whether on the deck or while swimming in the events. “I think the energy is really big, as Stanford is probably our biggest rival in the Pac-12, so bringing the energy and really not backing down from each individual race is gonna be huge,” Kao said. 

Johansson specified his goals for this meet and the rest of the season, specifically regarding his long course races like the 500-yard freestyle and the 1000-yard freestyle. 

“I definitely want to be on the podium for NCAAs. That’s been the goal basically since I got here my freshman year,” said Johansson regarding his personal goals for the season. 

After some health struggles over the past two years, Johansson came back strong by making the Olympic team and is now focusing on his mental as well as his physical health. 

“This year it’s only been, like, happiness and, you know, enjoying what I’m doing here, but definitely I’m working toward the podium for the 500 free, and it feels like I’m on track for that,” Johansson said. 

There are some improvements Johansson can take from the meet against Stanford. 

 “I think just getting after it more, being more aggressive in the second half, especially in the 500 [yard freestyle],” Johansson said. “I need to work on my turns. I’m a long course meter kind of guy.” 

The Trojans head out of state to their final dual meet of the season against Utah Feb. 12.