Press Release courtesy of UC San Diego
University of California San Diego swimming and diving head coach David Marsh has been tasked with leading the men and women of Team USA up against the Pacific-12 Conference All-Stars during this weekend’s USA College Challenge at the University of Southern California.
The nationally-televised event will take place this Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 21-22, at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center on the USC campus. At Marsh’s disposal will be 2016 Rio Olympians Jack Conger, Molly Hannis, Melanie Margalis, Cody Miller, Ryan Murphy, Lia Neal, Jacob Pebley, Josh Prenot, Tom Shields and Clark Smith. Conger, Margalis, Miller, Murphy, Shields, Smith and Matt Grevers are all gold medalists.
Among the top names on the opposite side for the Pac-12 All-Stars will be superstar Katie Ledecky of Stanford, and California’s Kathleen Baker and Abbey Weitzeil. All three Olympic champions swam for Marsh in Rio as the Team USA women brought home 16 total medals. Baker is also a Marsh pupil in the Team Elite program. Stanford sprint star Simone Manuel was a late scratch from the Pac-12 lineup.
The meet will run 6-8 p.m. PT on Saturday and 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m. PT on Sunday, with several two-hour blocks, both live and on delay in subsequent days heading into next week, programmed for the various channels of the Pac-12 Networks. Saturday’s day-one activity will air live in its entirety on Pac-12 Los Angeles, and again later that night from 9:30-11:30 p.m. on Pac-12 Network. Sunday’s day-two action will be joined in progress from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. live on Pac-12 Network and Pac-12 Los Angeles, with the first re-air that night from 9-11 p.m. on Pac-12 Bay Area. There are several options to tune in for non-subscribers, through the meet info link.
This will be just the second edition of the USA College Challenge, billed as the “most exciting head to head competition in the sport of swimming.” Team USA knocked off the Big Ten Conference All-Stars last November by the score of 349-247. The event is contested in short-course yards format.
Having served as the head coach of the Team USA women in Rio, Marsh is back in college swimming for the first time since guiding the men and women of his alma mater, Auburn University, to 12 combined NCAA Division I national championships between 1990-2007. He was named the new UC San Diego head coach on June 27.
Three Olympians and former Cal standouts, two of them competing for Marsh and Team USA at USC, will be training at UCSD’s Canyonview Aquatic Center this week as poor air quality from wildfires continues to be a problem in the Bay Area and the Berkeley campus where they normally swim. They are Nathan Adrian, Jacob Pebley and Tom Shields. Adrian, one of the all-time sprinting greats, three-time Olympian and five-time gold medalist, is not listed as a participant for the College Challenge.
The UC San Diego men and women both begin their initial campaign under Marsh as nine-time defending champions of the Pacific Collegiate Swimming and Diving Conference (PCSC) the following Saturday, Oct. 28. The dual meet with NCAA Division III program Claremont-Mudd-Scripps is slated for a 12 p.m. start at Canyonview Aquatic Center in La Jolla. Parking and admission are free.
2017 USA College Challenge on Pac-12 Networks
Expected showings through Wednesday, Oct. 25. Subject to change. All times Pacific. Check local listings.
Day One
Saturday, Oct. 21, 6-8 p.m., Pac-12 Los Angeles (live)
Saturday, Oct. 21, 9:30-11:30 p.m., Pac-12 Network
Sunday, Oct. 22, 7-9 p.m., Pac-12 Bay Area
Tuesday, Oct. 24, 12-2 a.m., Pac-12 Bay Area
Tuesday, Oct. 24, 12-2 p.m., Pac-12 Network
Tuesday, Oct. 24, 4-6 p.m., Pac-12 Bay Area
Tuesday, Oct. 24, 5-7 p.m., Pac-12 Los Angeles
Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2-4 a.m., Pac-12 Network
Wednesday, Oct. 25, 6-8 a.m., Pac-12 Los Angeles
Wednesday, Oct. 25, 12-2 p.m., Pac-12 Bay Area
Day Two
Sunday, Oct. 22, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Pac-12 Network (live – joined in progress)
Sunday, Oct. 22, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Pac-12 Los Angeles (live – joined in progress)
Sunday, Oct. 22, 9-11 p.m., Pac-12 Bay Area
Monday, Oct. 23, 4-6 a.m., Pac-12 Los Angeles
Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2-4 a.m., Pac-12 Bay Area
Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2-4 p.m., Pac-12 Network
Tuesday, Oct. 24, 6-8 p.m., Pac-12 Bay Area
Tuesday, Oct. 24, 7-9 p.m., Pac-12 Los Angeles
Wednesday, Oct. 25, 4-6 a.m., Pac-12 Network
Wednesday, Oct. 25, 8-10 a.m., Pac-12 Network
Wednesday, Oct. 25, 8-10 a.m., Pac-12 Los Angeles
Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2-4 p.m., Pac-12 Bay Area