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The USC men won all but one event as they beat Cal Poly, 152-104 at in San Luis Obispo. Michael Domagala, a Trojan junior who represented Poland internationally this summer, shined in his four events in today’s dual. He kicked off the meet with a wicked 43.24 anchor on USC’s winning 400 medley relay, then won both the 100 fly (49.20) and the 200 fly (1:50.91) before closing out the meet anchoring the Trojan 200 free relay in 20.73.
Domagala is a guy that the Trojans will be heavily relying on this year, after mid-distance free star Cristian Quintero has exhausted his NCAA eligibility and elite sprinters Santo Condorelli and Dylan Carter are redshirting to focus on training for the Rio Olympics. Also of note was Ralf Tribuntsov‘s (USC’s 400 medley relay backstroker at NCAAs and 100 back All-American as a freshman) absence at this meet.
Without Tribuntsov or the graduated Luca Spinazzola, the Trojans backstroke group was looking thin. Morten Klarskov, who swam breaststroke on USC’s 200 medley relay at NCAAs and was a top breaststroker for the Trojans last season, provided a quick backstroke fix and actually led off the 400 medley relay in an impressive 49.98. Klarskov also had the fastest split on the 200 free relay (20.42) and won the 100 free out-right (45.48).
Also helping out in backstroke was sophomore Jonathan Knox, who won both the 100 (50.74) and the 200 backstroke (1:51.66). He was the only swimmer under 52 seconds in the 100.
Team leader and mid-distance stalwart Reed Malone got his hand to the wall first in the 200 free in 1:39.87, a day after winning the 200 free against UCSB in a 1:39.40. He also placed third in the 100 free.
While Domagala and Knox doubled down in their shorter events, distance specialist Pawel Furtek owned both the 500 and 1000 free races. He took the 500 in 4:34.05, after taking the 1000 free in 9:23.12, winning by over 16 full seconds over the next-best competitor.
The closest races came in both breaststroke events. In the 100, David Morgan (USC), Brandon Nguyen (Cal Poly) and USC frosh Billy Monjay were all tangled up at the 50 mark– 27.19 to 27.74 to 27.52, respectively. Morgan came back in 30.16 to claim first (57.35), while Nguyen snuck in front of Monjay 57.94 to 58.01. In the 200 breast, Trojan sophomore Jonah Hu edged out junior Steven Stumph 2:02.24 to 2:02.56.
Cal Poly did get a win from senior Mickey Mackle in the 400 IM. While USC was already swimming in exhibition, Mackle’s 4:01.35 and his teammate Zachary Cootes‘ 4:04.05 were both faster than the best USC swimmer: sophomore Scott Clausen (4:07.37).
The Trojans will take on Hawaii next weekend in a two-session meet, while Cal Poly has an intraquad meet this weekend.