‘The Melting Pot’: USC Women Have Pac-12 Title Hopes in 2nd Year Under Lea Maurer

LOS ANGELES — With USC returning only three NCAA scorers from last season — and just one non-diver in senior Kaitlyn Dobler — the Trojans’ forecast for the 2023-24 season did not look particularly bright just a few months ago. But so far in their second year under head coach Lea Maurer, USC is proving doubters wrong thanks to an influx of new talent.

It’s still early in the season, but four different Trojans currently own nation-leading times: Hungarian freshman Minna Abraham in the 200-yard freestyle (1:43.35), Virginia transfer Claire Tuggle in the 500 free (4:39.16), Dobler in the 100 breast (57.35), and Polish freshman Krzysztof Chmielewski in the 1000 free (8:47.53). With the emergence of senior Caroline Famous (3rd in the 100 back this season at 51.48) and Russian graduate student Vasilissa Buinaia (2nd in the 100 free at 47.52), the USC women are also ranked top three in the country in every relay. That includes a nation-leading mark in the 800 free relay (7:02.06) by more than seven seconds.

Maurer has tapped into the Trojans’ tradition of recruiting international stars to accelerate the rebuilding process in Los Angeles. Having notable program alumni such as Katinka Hosszu (Hungary) and Kasia Wasick (Poland) helped USC associate head coach Peter Richardson establish connections with Abraham and the Chmielewski twins. Maurer, herself an Olympic gold medalist, also credited the city of L.A. for being a powerful recruiting tool.

“I think L.A. just has an incredible reputation for a city of opportunity and diversity,” Maurer said. “So it’s always drawn a lot of attention from the internationals, so I think we’ve benefitted from the history that USC has and the culture that is present in L.A. and USC. I think we believe in both. The thing I love the most is that the international athletes have been paramount in this culture of team and feeling as though we’re contributing to the ‘us’ proposition. And so it’s just been a very American story, the melting pot.”

With new firepower bolstering a veteran core, the USC women are looking like a threat to make noise during championship season this spring, and maybe even win their second-ever Pac-12 title right before leaving the “Conference of Champions” for the Big Ten next year.

“I think we have a really good shot at winning Pac-12s and placing higher at NCAAs than we have in the past,” said Dobler, who has placed 2nd (57.46), 1st (56.93), and 4th (57.50) in the 100 breast at her first three NCAA Championships. “We have a lot of swimmers already ranked pretty high in the college rankings so far. We have a really competitive midseason next week at Texas, so we’re excited to see what we’re capable of.”

“I love the Pac-12,” said Maurer, who won NCAA titles swimming at Stanford from 1992-94 before going on to coach the Cardinal from 2005-12. “It’s been a formative force in my life. I think it has a great tradition. We want to honor it and enjoy this year as much as possible. Obviously I feel blessed that we’re going into the Big Ten, and I think that will have its own traditions that we’ll learn about and participate in meaningfully.”

The Trojan women finished more than 400 points behind Stanford at the 2023 Pac-12 Championships, but a lot has changed since then. USC added Abraham, Tuggle, and Buinaia while the Cardinal lost Torri Huske, Claire Curzan, and Taylor Ruck. Ultimately, though, Maurer has bigger goals for the Trojans than capturing a conference championship.

“I think we worked massively last year on culture, but that was intentional in terms of the story that I walked into and what I think needed to happen to build a championship team,” Maurer said. “We could put together a conglomerate of fast swimmers and put points on the board, but to build a championship team I felt that we really needed to invest in the concept of something bigger than ourselves, and swimming for each other instead of just with each other. That’s obviously not an overnight thing. We’re kind of climbing Mount Everest, and we’re at the bottom. But it’s something they know I’m committed to — I’m not changing to Mount Baldy.

“When I was coaching at Stanford, we missed winning (a national title) by 2.5 points,” she continued. “So my bucket list is to win a national championship. I think this year, the invitation is why did we do all that culture work? We did culture because it is necessary for the performances and the winning culture that we want to build. We’re pivoting into the why more thoughtfully and it’s paying off.”

Maurer says she’s looking for “process and performance” in recruits — swimmers who have “love of the game.”

“I feel like you wake up at 5:30 in the morning, dive into a cold pool, and it’s the best part of your day — if not your life,” Maurer said.

During practices at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center, music blares from speakers and cheers from teammates echo across the outdoor facility. Tuggle, a California native who’s from Fresno but now lives in Pismo Beach, called USC’s team culture “special.” Her transfer from Virginia reunited her with Justina Kozan, who she has known since attending the Western Zone Select Camp together in 2017. At the 2022 CIF State Championships, Kozan edged Tuggle by a few tenths for the 200 free state title (1:44.63 vs. 1:44.97).

“It’s so much fun,” Tuggle said. “Getting to train with people like Justina has been really fun for me because we’ve known each other since we were little. We don’t talk about swimming at all — we just have fun together.”

Abraham had been committed to the Trojans for a while, but Buinaia was a late addition to their squad this summer. However, Buiniaia’s journey to the program actually began five years ago when she moved to Southern California from Russia, applied to USC, but didn’t get in, she says, because her English wasn’t good enough at the time. After a couple years training with Dave Salo at the Trojan Swim Club and then working with Nova Swim Club, Buinaia passed the full English exam and her “dream came true” by joining the team this season as a graduate student with one year of collegiate eligibility.

“All those years I was like, ‘I want to get an education in the United States,’” said the 23-year-old Buinaia, who graduated from a Russian university online while living in Southern California. “I wanted to be part of a big team. I just love that I’m here. I was super excited to get into USC.”

Abraham, a 17-year-old who’s ranked 1st in the 200 free (1:43.35), 3rd in the 200 IM (1:57.32) and 6th in the 400 Im (4:11.77) this season, could have stayed in Hungary to focus on long-course meter swimming ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics. Last summer, she won a bronze medal at the 2022 European Championships swimming on Hungary’s 4×200 free relay with Hosszu.

“I was willing to take a risk and try something new,” Abraham said. “I enjoy seeing and hearing about people’s past trainings but also the trainings we’re doing here.”

Krzysztof Chmielewski, ranked 1st in the 1000 free (8:47.53), 3rd in 500 free (4:15.18), and 3rd in 200 fly (1:41.20) this season, had never been to the United States before arriving a few months ago. The weather is considerably warmer than the 40-degree days in his home city of Warsaw.

“I think it’s helping my training to have sun every day,” said Chmielewski, whose twin Michal has also been posting fast times for the Trojans.

Everything seems to be clicking at the right time for USC in the program’s second year under Maurer. But now the Trojans have to deal with a new challenge amid the influx of new talent: rising expectations.

“I love the fast times, because it means we can do more work and the meet is in March,” Maurer said. “That’s terrifying to them. That early October is an interesting space because they’re fit and not that tired. They’re getting tired now. There were no expectations, and now there’s expectations. It’s not as simple as just Xs and Os, there’s a lot of other variables as you get into Pac-12s, NCAAs, Olympic Trials. It gets complicated. So our job is to keep it uncomplicated.”