USC has strong showing


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Senior women’s diver Victoria Ishimatsu started her season on the right foot last weekend, sweeping 1-meter springboard and the platform dive events as USC hosted the Trojan Diving Invitational.

Ishimatsu also won the preliminary rounds in the 3-meter with a score of 296.20 and scored 333.35 in the finals to win by more than 50 points over UCLA’s Emma Ivory-Ganja.

For the men’s team, freshman Jordan Gear finished in fifth place in the 3-meter dive as Arizona’s Benjamin Grado won all three events on the day by at least 13 points. Gear finished with a score of 301.70.

USC diving coach Hongping Li expressed satisfaction with the overall performance of Ishimatsu and his team in their first major competition of the young season.

“Ishimatsu stands out in winning all three events,” Li said. “Jordan Gear, the freshman, had a solid performance [too].”

The Trojans will next take part in their first Pac-12 meet when the swim and dive team travels to Arizona to face Arizona and Arizona State on Nov. 11 and 12.

“We need to have an injury free and healthier team for next week and the rest of the season,” Li said.

The meets in Arizona begin Saturday at 3 p.m., and Sunday’s activities start at noon.